Exceptional research elevates Constantine's Sword from a talking heads documentary to a resonant and thought-provoking expose of the church's dark history.
Exceptional research elevates Constantine's Sword from a talking heads documentary to a resonant and thought-provoking expose of the church's dark history.
Academy Award-nominated director Oren Jacoby helmed this documentary adaptation of former Catholic priest James Carroll's nonfiction book of the same name. An anti-war activist, Carroll delves into Christianity's history to learn how a faith founded on peace could come to be used as a tool for war-mongers. Jacoby follows Carroll as he explores the phenomenon from its origins in ancient times up through the modern-day U.S. military. Constantine's Sword screened at the 2007 Los Angeles Film
Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi
The breadth of Carroll's scholarship and the depth of his religious understanding strengthen his assertion that our misadventure in Iraq is the beginning of a new holy war.
The movie covers an immense amount of shameful historical ground, but the soft-spoken Carroll's mission is less about winning an argument than prodding true believers
A powerful documentary which makes the case that the faith-based fanaticism which has destabilize the planet has been fueled as much by the West as by radical Islam.
Absolutely stunning mixture of the personal story of a disillusioned Catholic priest and the sordid Christian history that drove him to cut his ties--all the while remaining deeply committed to the ethical vision of Jesus.
Jacoby and Carroll make their case skillfully, carefully excerpting key scenes from Lenny (with Dustin Hoffman doing a Lenny Bruce monologue on anti-Jewish prejudice) and The Robe.
This exceedingly contemplative work is both topically important -- warning of what happens when military might and religious fervor are mixed -- and intellectually stimulating as all get out.
Former priest and author James Carroll is simply pointing out that the use of cover up and propaganda -- whether it's aimed at another religion or another country -- is still represented at the point of a sword. That sword is shaped like a cross.
James Carroll goes on a crusade of his own, exposing the hypocrisy of politically motivated religion and the violence of the evangelical Jihad in our own Colorado Springs.
[I]t was probably inevitable that such an audacious attempt would fail to succeed entirely. Which isn't to say that this bold and fearless film isn't worth a look.
A powerful documentary which makes the case that the faith-based fanaticism that has destabilized the planet has been fueled as much by the West as by radical Islam.
James Carrol's theory that the Cross is a violent rather than peaceful symbol is intriguing, as is the connections he makes between the Antisemitism from the formation of the Church, to the Holocaust, and finally the disquieting merge between Evangelical Christianity and the American Military. Carrol makes some bold,
possibly true, statements but his arguments are too thinly drawn for my taste. Its also hard for me to connect the Catholics with Evangelicals because of how much the latter dislikes the former.
Wow! I had no idea that I would enjoy this movie as much as I did. This movie tracks Christian anti-semitism from Constantine to the Holocaust to evangelizing going on in our Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.I was originally worried/frustrated that James Carroll had not tied Constantine and the Papacy during the
Holocaust to the current day issues. It was done very well and James Carroll is in a unique position to tell this story (Carroll was a Catholic priest who left the Church soon after Vietnam and his father was the first head of the Air Force).This documentary may seem rambling at times but it is very powerful and the message rings very forcefully. It seems a little too conclusive at the end (for my liking) but the shear weight of the story and powerfulness of the message carries this documentary to be one of the best of the year so far.Don't miss this movie!
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