Ireland IS Gorgo

Movie Review

Gorgo
1961

Directed by Eugene Lourie

A fifty year old British-made Godzilla-Wanna-Be Monster Movie gets me thinking about Irish Citizenship, the song 'Four Green Fields,' and Ireland in general.

What did I have, said the fine old woman
What did I have, this proud old woman did say
I had four green fields, each one was a jewel
But strangers came and tried to take them from me
I had fine strong sons, who fought to save my jewels
They fought and they died, and that was my grief said she

I am eligible for Irish citizenship, if I want to go through the trouble of getting it.  My mother's parents were both born in Ireland, and so all I need to do is show proof that my grandfather, Manus O'Donnell, was born over there.  After that, it should be simple to get ample proof that my mother is his daughter and that I am her son.  I thought it would be easy, until I looked over copies of some documents my mother had about Grandpop.  There was no copy of a birth certificate; in addition, the various documents all had my grandfather born on a different day.  It appears as if I would have to do more research in order to obtain duel citizenship.

Nowadays I have a better reason to forget about becoming an Irish citizen.  Recently, I read that Ireland closed its embassy to the Vatican.  The reason given was that the embassy was not producing anything of economic value for Ireland, and with the poor economy, certain government functions which had little benefit would have to go.  This just seems to be another part of the European Union's campaign to deny its Christian - or dare I say, Catholic - origins.  Economic value?  Was that the reason St. Patrick returned to Ireland to spread the Faith?  Now that the European economy is hurting - and ours is too - the Irish may find that they will be needing some of their cultural roots to make it through hard times.  Perhaps they will find out it Jim Stenson was right when he referred to CHARACTER as what you have left when all the money is gone......

Never mind about dual citizenship; I'll stay a Texan.  Sure, all my ancestors were from Ireland, but far more important is my Catholic Faith.  My Faith is reflected in the names of our children, which represent a lot of nationalities, from the Pole Maximilian Kolbe, to the Roman soldier St. Theodore Tyro, to the Mexican priest Blessed Miguel Pro.  This is far more important than my Irish heritage.  It does make me wonder, though, just how many of those saints were started on the road to Heaven thanks to an Irish missionary.

Plot Summary

These are the kinds of thoughts which kept running through my mind as I watched the movie Gorgo, which on the surface looks as if it is just a British version of Godzilla.  Briefly, Gorgo starts off the coast of Ireland by the fictional Nara Island.  A salvage ship enters the port after being damaged by a squall precipitated by some sort of undersea earthquake or volcano.  While making repairs, the crew witness a giant sea creature attacking the villagers.  After a pitched battle, the creature is driven back into the ocean.  For some reason Joe Ryan, the captain of the salvage vessel, and the First Mate, Sam Slade, decide that this creature may be worth capturing.  This is the first bad idea of the movie, and like all those Japanese monster movies, there is an annoying child around who warns the ambitious captain to leave the creature alone.

Long time ago, said the fine old woman

Long time ago, this proud old woman did say

There was war and death, plundering and pillage

My children starved, by mountain, valley and sea

And their wailing cries, they shook the very heavens

My four green fields ran red with their blood, said she

The salvage crew captures the sea creature in a sequence which defies logic.  When the Irish government finds out about it, they send a couple of experts from a Dublin university to claim it and take it to be studied.  Our salvage crew decides to follow the money and instead take an offer to display it at a carnival located in London.  This makes perfect sense to me, as I don't know of any famous buildings in Dublin which could be destroyed by a rampaging monster.  London, on the other hand, has a lot of cool tourist sites.

The annoying child stows away on the boat and tries to free the creature.  When he is unsuccessful, he once again warns Joe and Sam about the danger they face taking this creature away from his home.  Of course they ignore him.


Anyways, the creature is delivered to the carnival with a few of the crew of the ship getting killed in the process.  This doesn't seem to bother Joe, but Sam begins to have second thoughts about what they have done.  They also are responsible for the welfare of that annoying child, who was actually an orphan.  It is almost like a foreshadowing of the TV series Two and a Half Men.


At this point, Joe and Sam are informed by some British paleontologists that the creature they captured is probably not full grown.  And, to paraphrase one of the scientists, where there are infants, there are usually parents....


Reflections on Gorgo

What follows may be considered SPOILERS.  You have been warned.

What have I now, said the fine old woman

What have I now, this proud old woman did say

I have four green fields, one of them's in bondage

In stranger's hands, that tried to take it from me

But my sons had sons, as brave as were their fathers
My fourth green field shall bloom once again, said she.

So, two thoughts came to me as I watched this movie.  First of all, the mother monster behaves just like any creature with a maternal instinct.  She goes and retrieves her cute little hideous baby monster, defying all that the British Army, Navy, and Air Force can throw at her.  When she finds her child, she turns around and, ignoring all of London which has not been devastated, swims back to her undersea lair.

I initially took this as a metaphor for Ireland fighting for her independence from England, where the monster just wanted to get her 'fourth green field' back.  In this case the monster child is the last county still 'in bondage,' under the control of England.  I guess this was still an issue in 1960; I know that as late as the 1970's there were folks in the United States who were raising money for the Irish Republican Army.  At the time of release of this movie, this seemed like a plausible metaphor for the movie: the British steal something from Ireland, and Ireland goes and retrieves it.

With the current situation in Europe and Ireland, I have a little different take on this movie.  Perhaps the baby monster represents Ireland - and Europe too - being stolen away from its Christian roots in favor of a materialistic society.  Throughout the movie, money is the only thing which motivates Joe and Sam.  Warnings from the innocent - but still annoying - child are ignored.  The deaths of many islanders and sailors do not deter them from bringing Gorgo to the financial center of one of the world's former great powers.  And finally, all of the weapons that man can muster are unable to defeat the creature- a creature which only takes that which is rightfully hers.  In a strange way justice prevails, and the constructs of man are left in ruins.  Ireland is returned to the bosom of Holy Mother Church, we hope.

Or maybe, like the song says, "History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of man."

Postscript:  What does Samuel Beckett have to do with this movie?

I didn't buy this movie; nor did I get a free copy in exchange for this review.  No, I watched it on YouTube while walking on the treadmill.  Just to make matters more complicated, I actually watched the Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the movie, which featured Mike Nelson and the Robots making sarcastic comments throughout.  One of the more esoteric references made by the 'Bots was how one of the characters looked like the Irish poet Samuel Beckett.  For the remainder of that characters 'life' on screen, references were made to several works by Mr. Beckett.  One of the more famous of his works was an absurdist play called Waiting for Godot, which has been the subject of much speculation and controversy ever since its appearance in 1953. The play is about two characters waiting for another character named Godot, who never does arrive.

MST 3K did their own version of this play in one of their skits between commercial and movie:





If you like movie reviews and want to read some really good ones which usually tie in to the Faith, I recommend you look at the B-Movie Catechism.  This blog really does an excellent job and was my inspiration for writing this review.

Movie Review: Des Hommes et des Dieux, or Of Gods and Men

Des Hommes et des Dieux
Released in English as Of Gods and Men

Released in May, 2010

"Die Grosse Stille meets To Quell the Terror meets Charles de Foucauld"

I went to see this movie on the Solemnity of St. Joseph because one of my children wanted to see it with some friends. The movie had a limited engagement in Dallas, and we did not want to have him see it without screening it first. So, I found myself sitting in a darkened theatre during Lent quite against my will, and I really enjoyed what I saw.
THIS REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS.

Parental guidance: This movie has one graphic violence scene, and various corpses litter the screen at times, but nobody gets naked in this movie. There is one scene where a monk, totally out of character, says the F-bomb to another monk. Other than that inappropriate scene, the movie was excellent.

Des Hommes et des Dieux was released last May, and was released in English as Of Gods and Men - The title comes from Psalm 82, verses 6-7:

"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes."

The movie is about the seven monks of the Trappist monastery in Tibhirine, Algeria, who were beheaded in 1996. There is still some question as to who killed the monks, and the movie does not clear up that question. Algeria was torn by a civil war at the time, and the monastery found itself in the middle of the conflict. The monks saw the sick in their infirmary and sold produce in the local market. They got along very well with the local population, which was predominantly Moslem. As the conflict got closer, rebels started to 'visit' them for supplies and medical assistance. This brought the monks under scrutiny as possible rebel sympathizers by the military. They were ordered out of the country by the government of Algeria. The movie examines the monk's reasons to stay in the country despite the increased risk to their lives.

The movie reminded me of Die Grosse Stille because it used the same film techniques, and would sometimes linger on the monks praying, chanting, or performing some mundane task in the monastery. I think this was done to show how the monks kept up with their daily routine, relying on Divine Providence to see them through the conflict.

To Quell the Terror came to mind when one considers that the monks all decided to stay rather than abandon their vocation to pray and work in Algeria. I was struck by the actors who showed how their characters really wrestled with the decision to stay, and how they were still afraid at what might happen. These were real people, not fictitious religious who laughed at the possibility of martyrdom. Near the end of the movie, after celebrating Mass, the monks share their Sunday meal and a bottle of wine while listening to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. The emotions displayed by the monks, as they realize that this may be their last meal together, was heart-wrenching. I was reminded of the chocolate which the Mother Superior got for her nuns so they would have the strength to make it to the guillotine.

I was reminded of Blessed Charles de Foucauld because of his dedication to the Muslim people, his failure at converting any of them, and how he ended up being martyred by them. In addition, I am always reminded of the prayer he wrote, and I was given when I was a lot younger than I am now:

My Father,
I abandon myself to you.
Make of me what you will.

Whatever you make of me,
I thank you.
I am ready for everything
I accept everything.

Provided that your will be done in me,
In all your creatures.
I desire nothing else, Lord.

I put my soul into your hands,
I give it to you, Lord,
With all the love in my heart,
Because I love you,
And because it is for me a need of love
To give myself,
To put myself in your hands unreservedly,
With infinite trust.

For You are my Father.

The movie is in French, with English subtitles. The two 'stars' of the movie, Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale, have previously played in English-speaking movies as villains. It was neat to see them speaking their native language, and being good guys this time.

In one scene, the monks are eating their meal in the refectory, and it looks as if the only thing they are eating is 'French Fries.' It made me wonder what they call sliced pieces of potato....

I also wondered about the monks. Most were old men, and it reminded me to pray for more vocations to the priesthood and religious.

Now for a trailer or two:

Movie Review: Die Grosse Stille

My 8th, 11th, and 12th children in prayer:

Into Great Silence

Die Grosse Stille

“When the noise stops – the conversations, the music, the news, talk radio, the thought about what to say next in a discussion – then can one hear God speak.”

I thought these words years ago after attending a silent retreat at Featherock, a center run by Opus Dei, about an hour’s drive East of Houston. It has been our habit for my wife and me to attend separate, silent retreats at Featherock for the last 10 years. For us, it is an opportunity to spend time in silent prayer and meditation, away from the noise and activity that comes with a large homeschooling family. It is time for us to listen to God without interference from the outside world, to look at where we are and where we think God wants us to be. This process is done with spiritual direction from the priest in residence, spiritual reading, meditations, and most important of all with time spent before Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.

The yearly retreat is something we look forward to eagerly, and yet after three days, I find myself yearning for the company of my wife and children, and all the other things of the world that clamor for my attention.

I mention this before reviewing Into Great Silence because I know in my heart that I could never be a Carthusian monk. The three-day retreat has proved that many times. Despite this, I felt a bit of envy or desire to be a Carthusian. I can’t explain it any better than to recall one of my favorite quotes from St. John-Marie Baptiste Vianney:

“You see, the good God at times inspires us with desires of which he will never ask the fulfillment in this world.”

Abbe Francis Trochu go on to explain that “aspirations towards the monastic life were of this kind; and that, if they were carefully cherished in his heart, they would prove both a preservative against worldliness and a stimulus to the practice of every priestly virtue.”

(From The Cure D’Ars, by Abbe Francis Trochu, TAN Books, p. 309)

Before discussing the movie, some practical points to consider. The movie is almost 3 hours long, so consider a visit to the little boy’s room beforehand, and ration any drink that one consumes during the movie. Ignoring this advice may make you experience “Die Grosse Blase” instead of “Die Grosse Stille.”

Consider guarding one’s eyes before the movie starts. In the theater in Dallas, the movie trailers that preceded “Die Grosse Stille” were not appropriate for our children to view. Consider waiting until the movie is about to start before taking a seat.

The movie consists of short pieces of film depicting activities that take place in the Charterhouse located in the French Alps. Some of the scenes show the change of seasons, from winter to spring and then back to winter again. My wife pointed out that this showed how the seasons (or time) proceed, while the way of the monastic life remains changeless. Even the short vignettes have a kind of symmetry, where the movie begins and ends with scenes of the monks praying alone and together.

The movie is punctuated by the ringing of bells. Bells calling the monks to pray in unison in the chapel or alone in their cells. Wherever the monks are, they heed the call of the bell and pause for a few moments prayer. This is most touching in one scene where a monk is in the forest bowing in prayer before continuing his work in a small creek. The message I got was that prayer must be incorporated into all my daily work.

Rather than describing the movie (and giving away the surprise ending) I will discuss some of the notes I made of thoughts I had during the movie.

I was reminded of Switzerland, 1972, when I was just a Noisykid myself, and we were living in Switzerland at the time. I had forgotten how the mountains looked, and how thick snow could pile up on a roof. I had forgotten the sound of cowbells ringing on mist-covered slopes.

Seeing postulants, or novices being welcomed into the community, where the monks would embrace the new member and then purposely raise them up from the kneeling position. Such a sign of welcome and support was reminiscent of my brother’s ordination to the priesthood.

Seeing the meals delivered to the monk’s cells made me wish to be in a place where I could be taken care of completely. This thought was followed immediately by the realization that God does take care of me. I have never watched a movie which created such a feeling of being loved by God. I almost started crying – crying over lunch being delivered!

Touching on the subject of food, we all were impressed by the amount of food the monks seemed to get. Granted, if we were seeing the whole day’s ration it wasn’t that much. But if they get what appeared to be a large coffee can full of soup for every meal, they must be eating really well. We thought this until Fr. X noted that they probably need the calories for generating heat.

The only dialogue (not chanting or prayers) is in French, with subtitles. I remembered the saying that France is the ‘oldest daughter’ of the Church. Close-ups of the monk’s faces showed men filled with joy – especially the older monks. The close-ups also revealed these men to be fallible humans like me – some had glasses, bushy eyebrows; one even had a pacemaker or an AICD (Automated Implanted Cardioverter-Defibrillator) under the skin of his chest. A scene of the monks on their weekly exercise together, where they were sliding down a snowy hill, had to be the funniest scene in the movie. It also showed that even those who have forsaken the world for Our Lord still have a sense of humor.

The whole movie is a window into a world which I was always aware of but had never taken the time to examine. Granted, there are nuns and monks throughout the world who are remembering the intentions of the dadwithnoisykids family, but I realize now just how much I have taken their prayers for granted. Into Great Silence made me realize just what this other part of the Mystical Body of Christ looks like – what a tremendous gift we have by having men and women living the consecrated life, spending all their days in prayer and penance for those of us who live in the world. So when I look outside and see the Noisykids playing in the back yard, when I find myself falling asleep every time we pray, when the gloriously mundane life I lead seems to be summarized by nothing but failure, I can remember that somewhere there are monks and nuns who are awake, praying for the likes of me and my family. This thought gives me great consolation.

I recommend this movie without reservation. I took my children down to 9 years old to see it. This is also the first movie I have seen in a theater since 1999.

The '4K' is ready to cultivate some land!