Waiting for Superman will transform your understanding of the problems that besest our broken public school system. In my two commentaries for Headline Bistro, I begin with the fight over the soul of public education led by Michelle Rhee and end with a look at the Catholic Church's own "superman" moment, as large nubmers of Catholic schools continue to close every year, a trend hitting inner-city students the hardest. After I posted my comments, I found tht Archbishop Dolan of New York had already made another connection with the documentry film: he suggested that Catholic schools provided an answer to the problems of inner-city schools.
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The third in the new series of Narnia films, The Voyage of the Dawn Treaderd is decent family fare but offers a slightly different spin from the book's author, C.S. Lewis. -- at least that's my argument here, in my column for Headline Bistro. Below is the thrust of my critique:
"You and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness," C.S. Lewis, the bestselling Christian apologist, author and academic, once observed. And in his series of fantasy novels for children, The Chronicles of Narnia, this bestselling author of adult spiritual classics helped generations of young readers to awake from “the evil enchantment” before they were mired in its thrall.
A spellbinding Christian allegory disguised as a series of adventure stories, The Chronicles of Narnia are embedded with deep spiritual and moral insights that fly below the radar of the reader’s skeptical, self-protective reflexes. For some fans, the seven-book series constitute the author’s greatest legacy. Could we offer similar praise for the film versions of these beloved books, with the most recent – “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” – released in movie theaters last week? The short answer is: not likely.
Setting aside the second Narnia film -- the ghastly “Prince Caspian” – both the first adaptation, “Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe,” and the new “Dawn Treader,” offer acceptable family fare. But these cinematic makeovers aren’t ambitious enough to stand up to “evil enchantment.” If spiritual warfare is required, then these limited productions provide insufficient firepower.
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