West Side Story (2021): Catholic flavor hidden within the classic Romeo and Juliet story. By: Sara Reathaford “Steven Spielberg rediscovers the breathing, troubling essence of a classic, building a bold and current screen musical with no pretense to perfection.” “West Side Story Review: In Love and War, 1957 Might Be Tonight” The New York Times, 8…
Deliver Us from Evil, but Keep Us Focused on a Film that is Truly Catholic
Catholicism has a way of showing up in many horror films. We see it in The Exorcist to later films, such as The Nun, but no Catholic horror film can match up to what Deliver Us from Evil is. This film brings depth to Catholicism instead of focusing on stereotypical priests, exorcists, and demonology. THE…
La Virgen de Guadalupe/ Tonantzin: La Virgen Vive Entre pre-Hispanic & post-Hispanic Worlds.
Published By Stacy Escobar November 24, 2020 Abstract/ Introduction of Mi Familia Mi Familia encompassed multiple facets of a Mexican- American family living in the southwest region. The film touched on various topics such as machismo, pachucos/cholos, familia, borders, trauma, police brutality, violent white patriarchy, capitalism, discrimination/racism, internal struggles for identity, and religious practice both…
Santitos: Devotion, Saints, and Gender in Mexican Catholicism
Santitos, based on a novel by María Amparo Escandón, is a somewhat comedic film about a Mexican woman who goes on a journey to find her daughter who she believes is still alive somewhere in Mexico. Esperanza, a beautiful and devoutly religious young widow, lives in the quaint Veracruz town of Tlacotalpan with her teenage…
Maintaining Faith in the Modern Era
The Rite (2011) Mikael Håfström’s “The Rite” (2011) is a horror/thriller movie that stands out amongst many other horror films out to date. The film follows the story of Michael Kovak, a college student majoring in theology in order to become a priest. However, early in the film, it is evident that Michael no longer…
Real Women Have Curves: Breaking away from generational Latinx, Catholic norms
Real Women Have Curves directed by Patricia Cardoso, based on the play by Josefina Lopez, is a film about a first generation Mexican-American teen who has just graduated high school and wants to go to college. Her family is not very supportive of her dreams and think that Ana should stay home and help provide…
Stick It to the Man: Hopelessly Devout
Hopelessly devout is a powerful comedic movie created by up and coming Spanish Director, Marta Díaz de Lope Díaz. Díaz’s film pairs exaggerated circumstances to extremely real gender-based bias and discrimination within the Catholic churches and communities. The film does a fantastic job in portraying the various forms of sexism, discrimination and struggle for equality…
Facing the Church, Not the Demon: Exploring Why the So-Called Scariest Movie of All Time is Inherently Catholic
“The leaders of the Catholic Church endorsed The Exorcist; virtually promoted it as much as they could. The Cardinals of New York and Los Angeles and Chicago and the other big cities, all over the world, they endorsed it because it represents a literal depiction of the Roman ritual of exorcism which still exists in…
Revival! This is the gospel.
What’s different about Revival! Revival imagines the gospel of John in a contemporary context with Black actors. Jesus is Black. Mary is Black. Only one of Jesus’ disciples are White. Is this the gospel reimagined? Or is this the gospel as it was intended? The Black experience is different – especially in contemporary America. Black…
Romero: Martyrdom, Justice and Unity Through the Eucharist
by Emma Schneider Sounds of helicopter blades whirring and people chanting begins the film Romero. The camera pans out as we see a crowd of people in the public square participating in a protest about election fraud that marks El Salvador’s political history. The camera continues to move back and forth between the crowd, the…
Catholics in the Americas 