Dead Pope Film Festival [View All]

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Let's turn off that non-stop Pope-a-looza currently playing in All Media, and go rent some DVD's!

Now let's see...what should we watch to honor the death of a Pope? Boy's Town...cough-cough-cough? Song Of Bernadette?

Uh...no. Here are a few of my favorite movies about the Church Militant. What are yours?

The Devils: who better than Ken Russell to take on an organization with a taste for flamboyant costumes, garish ceremonies, and sexual depravity? Based on Aldous Huxley's novel about real events during the reign of Cardinal Richelieu in France. The Inquisition judges in their KKK-like robes and hoods are unforgettable.

The Crime of Padre Amaro: Carlos Carrera's movie was predictably denounced and banned by You-Know-Who when released in 2002. The protagonist is a totally unlikeable shit who will do anything to advance his career in the priesthood. Sucking up to Mexican druglords for church contributions, arranging abortions, intimidating journalists...whatever it takes.

Amen: Costa-Gavras' account of how the Church ignored the Holocaust. Based on the true story of an SS officer who repeatedly warned the Vatican about what he had seen at Auschwitz and other death camps. The priest in the movie is a composite of several people who tried to help...to no avail.

The Magdalene Sisters: rent the DVD, so you can also watch the original BBC documentary that inspired the movie, "Sex In A Cold Climate."

L'Age d'Or: banned in most of Europe for about 40 or 50 years. What did they expect when Luis Bunuel and Salvador Dali got together? Made in 1930 and still hilarious. An upraised middle finger to all bourgeois values, and especially the church.

The Agony & The Ecstasy: Charlton Heston tells Pope Julius II he will take his paintbrush when he pries it from his cold, dead fingers. Julius II was the "Warrior Pope," which is reason enough to watch it. A Hollywoodized account of how the world worked when the Church still ran much of it.