"Mere Catholicism"

My title above, obviously, paraphrases the title of C.S. Lewis's famous book Mere Christianity. It seems appropriate in light of the weekend's hot topic, here at Newman Theological College: the C.S. Lewis symposium going on. Lewis, do not forget, was not Catholic, but the College is, the main speaker (Joseph Pierce) is, and the topic of tomorrow morning's talk is going to be on Lewis's orthodoxy-- "More than Mere Christianity".

It looks like it's going to be really good. I was waffling before about whether or not I'd go tomorrow (tonight was mandatory for us Seminarians), but it's a sure thing now. Mr. Pierce (apparently, he's not a doctor, professor, or anything similar) is a good speaker, and he knows his stuff. And with the whole Catholic connection, his talk is literally peppered with Tolkien references. I can't honestly say I'm learning anything new, but it's been really good thus far, and new thoughts float around in my head excitedly.

Perhaps because Mr. Pierce is a Briton, and not an American, his view on Lewis (and Tolkien, since the talk was really about both tonight) seems a good deal less legendary or ethereal than most modern literature would make out. His presentation of Lewis's view on Mythology and Philosophy (derived greatly from Tolkien) is a presentation, it feels, of what Lewis actually thought, rather than a Pentacostal or Evangelical modern American reworking.

Anyway, I'm really enjoying it, even if I'm not learning anything. It's almost enough to make me forget that I'm starting to get late-term cabin fever. I'm not sick of the seminarians yet, but I leap at every chance to get out of the seminary. Which reminds me-- I need to find something to do on Sunday.

Make Cultural Learnings for the Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.

So... it should be apparent that I went to see Borat over the weekend.

It was a... strange... movie. 90% of it was really good, I thought. Crude, yes. Definitely not a movie to take the kids to, or to take your grandmother to. Also rather racist. But before you explode over that, you have to realize that it is SO racist, in such an over-the-top way that the only thing it can reasonably do is make you take a look at yourself, and whether you're racist or not.

For the most part, therefore, I conclude that Borat was hilariously funny, but only to be seen by those who have: 1) thick-skin around raciness and 2) no over-sensitivity to over-the-top humour. The second is very important. It's easy to see WHY Kazakhstan is upset over the movie, but at the same time... they clearly have the 98th-worst-sense of humour in the world, as mentioned in the film. The movie is SO over-stereotyped that I don't think there's any way a half-intelligent being could really call it anti-Kazakh propaganda.

The movie was definitely enjoyable, from my point of view, if only because it tilted unrestrainedly at our holy cow of "Political Correctness".

However...

Now comes the bad news.

I cannot recommend Borat to anybody because of an ATROCIOUS scene 3/4 of the way or so through. WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW.

I definitely did NOT need to see a 10-minute chase/fight/sexual innuendo-laden scene of two naked men. And the fact that one of them was in the 400 lbs. range definitely didn't help any. It was brutal, awful, and I'm still scarred.

Good movie... but I cannot recommend it.

Meanwhile, I also saw "The Departed" over the weekend. Not any better in terms of moral offerings, but a much classier production. A very well-made film, and a well-written story. I've not decided if I like the way they wrapped up the denouément, but a well-done film regardless. Again, not a movie I'll ever preach about from the pulpit... but one that I'd be more willing to recommend to the less easily-offended of my acquaintances.