Fr. Raymond Lafontaine
Whatever happened to … “NOTHING SACRED”?
While I was pursuing doctoral studies inRomein the late 1990s, my brother Philip wrote to me one day about a new hour-long drama that was airing on ABC on Thursday evenings. Set inSt. Thomas’ Parish, a fictional inner-city parish in an unnamed urban centre, the show focused on the ministry and relationships within the close-knit pastoral team. My brother videotaped a few episodes for me, which I enjoyed when I was home for Christmas that year, and I was disappointed to learn that by March, the show had been cancelled after only 15 episodes.
Joyeux Noël
It’s been a long time since my last blog post, so I thought Christmas was a good time to start up again. Today’s entry is part film review, part Christmas reflection, so bear with me!
Recently, I rewatched one of my favorite Christmas films. Joyeux Noël (English: Merry Christmas). It is a 2005 film about the World War I Christmas truce of December 1914, depicted through the eyes of French, Scottish and German soldiers, and was written and directed by Christian Carion.[1] It proved both a critical and commercial success, and was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Oscars that year.
Inspired by the true story of the Christmas truce of 1914, Joyeux Noël tells of a miraculous occurrence of peace: in the midst of the First World War, for two days men laid down their arms, came out of their trenches, and celebrated Christmas together.
An Invaluable Resource for Christian Movie Buffs
What movies are really worth seeing? With the hundreds of film reviews available on individual websites, as well as the “compilation” sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and the Internet Movie Data Base (imdb.com – definitely on my favourites list!), it can be difficult to know which films are a worthwhile view for the discerning cinephile!