Amadeus: Confutadis Maledictus

Milos Forman’s 1984 hit Amadeus bases its narrative format on the Gospel account of the Prodigal Son, with the talented Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tom Hulce) cast as the worldly and foolish prodigal and F. Murray Abraham’s Antonio Salieri as the unnamed second son who, seemingly obedient and faithful to his father, is eaten with jealousy at the love lavished upon the sinful prodigal.

It's easy to get caught up in the tension of the dueling musicians and overlook the most interesting character in the film:  God.  
God is what the film is about since it's called Amadeus which means "God's love."  The film is constructed to show how God loves, and, importantly, how God does not love.  

Joseph Lange's unfinished portrait of his brother-in-law, Mozart.

Mozart, dying in his bed, hums out the phrase, “Confutatis, Maledictus,” (“Confounded are the ways of the wicked”) and Mozart looks at Salieri and says, “Do you believe it, fire and brimstone?” and Salieri says, “Oh yes, let’s begin.” 

This is Mozart’s deathbed prophecy: “The curse you have tried to bring upon me will come upon you instead and you will be the one who fades into obscurity,” and that is exactly what happens, hence, God's Justice is an act of God's love.

Constanze (Elizabeth Berridge), the mediocre wife of Mozart, is the pivotal character:  she’s not pretty, intelligent, witty or accomplished in anything. And this is what Salieri and Constanze have in common, their mediocrity, but she overcomes it while Salieri sinks into it like quicksand. 

Constanze Weber Mozart as depicted by her brother-in-law, Joseph Lange.

Consider the beginning and end of the film: in the beginning, she and Mozart are rolling around on the floor and there’s the Pig Latin scene about “kiss my ass,” and it’s because of her that Mozart misses his queue.  At the end, Constanze holds Mozart, and in true Christian humility, she’s not “kissing his ass,” she’s washing his feet, she is being the help mate to him that their marriage vows bound her to be by helping him to get to heaven:  she forgives him and recognizes that she, too, needs to be forgiven.  Mozart dies with his eyes open and gazing up towards the sky, a symbolic gesture of Grace in final perseverance and, that this time, he didn’t miss his queue.

Constanze’s achievement is the greatest in the film: she forgives, amidst the pages of the greatest music ever written, God shows His greatest work, a soul in the state of Grace. We the viewers, however, are so taken up with the genius of the music, that we fail to notice God’s means of using Constanze as His instrument of Love and that, like Constanze, we too, are called to be God's instrument regardless of our lack of talents or our abounding talents.  The name "Constanze" means "firm of purpose" and her purpose was to be the wife of Mozart, and she was, to God's Glory as the Composer of the Symphony of Life, and we, his humble instruments. 

A facsimile sheet from the Requiem Mass 
in D Minor in Mozart's own handwriting.
It is located at the Mozarthaus in Vienna.

But Mozart, too, achieves a state of Grace when he confesses to Salieri, “I thought you did not care for me or my work” and asks Salieri to forgive him.  Salieri, however, fails to respond to God's Grace by "missing his queue":  Mozart doesn't need validation about the greatness of his work (but that's how Salieri responds because that's what Salieri wants from Mozart).  Mozart is looking for friendship and fellowship as his death creeps closer to him.  God's Justice exhibits itself even in this:  since Salieri failed Mozart in not providing him with friendship in this moment of Mozart's need, Salieri's valet (Vincent Schiavelli) at the very beginning of the film pounds on the door as Salieri is cutting his throat within the room, and the man says, "I won't come and visit you anymore!" and that a great court composer is reduced to relying on this rather uncouth man for companionship is a sign that no one comes to visit the once great composer and that he has essentially been abandoned.

Antonio Salieri by the painter Joseph W. Mahler.

Now, how God does not love.  God has answered all of Salieri's prayers, but it's not enough for Salieri:  he wants God to answer the prayers that he has not prayed (to make Salieri a better musician than Mozart, but Salieri never makes this prayer) and that is a way that God does not love.  The name "Antonio" means, "Praise God" and Salieri doesn't, he curses God and praises himself, even if the only praise he can give himself is that he's so mediocre, he should be their patron saint.
We know that Salieri is a wretch because the wheelchair he's rolled out in symbolizes his paralysis (think of all the paralytics mentioned in the Gospels); that his throat is slit and bandaged signals the paralysis of the vocal chords (he can't raise his voice to God in penance and prayer) and, lastly, he wears the medal awarded to him by an earthly king over his heart; his heart should be given to his Heavenly King, but isn't.
Salieri judges Mozart to be unworthy of the greatness of talent God has blessed him with, but the immaturity and even perversion of Constanze and Mozart at the beginning of the film is righted by the end; however, Salieri's bitterness and pride devours him as he himself devours sweets.
There is a great deal more that can be written of this incredible film... but this is only a blogspot.

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Kia and Hamsters: Signs and Dollar Signs

You are never just watching television. You are constantly being “fed” from the “boob tube” of society’s culture and agenda, and nowhere is that more apparent than a snappy little commercial like Kia’s hamster rap feature.

If I were to take a table with a red and white-checkered tablecloth, a big plate of spaghetti and meatballs on it, a candle stuck inside a waxy Chianti bottle, some crusty bread and a glass of red wine, those elements together would communicate “Italian-ness” to the viewer.  Each one of those items, taken individually, wouldn’t amount to much, but collectively, they communicate without words and that is why they are known as “signs” (it’s like body language for objects).  And “signs of rap culture” have expertly been employed in Kia’s latest commercial.

What’s important about this commercial is not that it’s using hamsters dressed like rappers to sell their vehicles, rather, that you will recognize that this is a mimicking of rap culture:  you can't imitate something that doesn't exist, and this parody validates that rap music has its own culture, its own fashion, its own gestures, language, expressions, and, yes, art; again, you can't make fun of it if it doesn't exist because your audience has to be informed of what goes into making rap culture in order for them to understand that rap culture is what is being implied.
The creativity they have used to recreate this in a new manner, is supposed to communicate to the potential customer that, “Hey, if we are this smart in understanding what goes into making rap culture, we must be just as smart in understanding what goes into making a car cool and comfortable.”

You don’t have to like rap—or hamsters—to buy a Kia, you just have to recognize the “signs” of rap culture and that Kia has successfully reproduced those signs in this commercial and it’s exactly because of this gap in the logic that it is so effective. 

In printed ads, television, billboards, films and music—nearly every facet of our culture—we have companies using signs to communicate to us that we need what they have (especially beer commercials using bikini girls) and the wiser we are to the ploy, the safer our wallets will be.  

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3 Davids, 3 Theologies: Donatello, Michelangelo and Bernini

The three “Davids” by these artists represent the beginning, height and ending of the Italian Renaissance, and three very different views on man’s interaction with God.

Donatello worked on the "David" between 1430 and 1432; it
currently resides at the Bargello Palace and Museum in Florence, Italy.

If you were in Ren Art Hist 101, the standard interpretation you would get for Donatello's “David,” is that it’s a homo-erotic work: young David is pubescent and the long curling feather from Goliath's helmet (at David's feet) goes up the back of his right leg in an erotic gesture… and that would pretty much be it. But I would like to suggest, that Donatello chose a young David to emphasize that David was too young to have accomplished this “miracle” on his own: it was the Holy Spirit inspiring him to take the challenge and slay the giant Goliath, using the shepherd boy as a passive vessel and not an active participant in Goliath’s downfall. To support this, the huge sword in his hand represents the Sword of Truth from Revelations.

Probably the best known work of art of the Italian
Renaissance, Michelangelo completed the work in 1504.

By comparison, Michelangelo's "David" is in his mid to late twenties, fully developed in his masculinity and poised just before the throwing of the stone. If you were still in that same Ren Art Hist 101 class, the standard interpretation would be that it’s symbolically depicting the Italian city state of Florence—Michelangelo’s birthplace—who defeated her Goliath enemies; while I don’t doubt this historical interpretation, I do think we can add another layer of experience to this masterpiece. 

The body is perfectly proportioned, except for the right hand. One art historian’s research indicates that the right hand is larger than the rest of the body symbolizing that—for Michelangelo—Goliath falls by the hand of David, not the Sword of Truth, or the Holy Spirit, as in Donatello’s. The moment that Michelangelo has chosen to depict differs with Donatello’s moment of triumph and victory; Michelangelo wants to present David in all his youthful strength, confident that there will be victory, although that victory has not yet been obtained.

Yet there is an additional facet to this sculpture: the small stump on David’s right. Art Historians have never commented on this beyond a sign of Classical influences that Michelangelo was imitating, but Michelangelo was too good to imitate anyone. This stump simultaneously represents the tree in Eden, the shoot from the stem of Jesse, and the foreshadowing of Christ’s Cross; in other words, this stump symbolizes that David slays Goliath because it is his destiny (in God's economy of salvation) for David to do so.

Bernini's 1623 marble statue of "David" resides in Rome.

Incorporating Michelangelo’s youthfulness into his own "David," Bernini also critiques Donatello’s use of David as a empty vessel for the Holy Spirit. Bernini’s “David” (click here for a link to view the sculpture in 3-D and scroll down) is responding to the Holy Spirit and with his will united to God’s will and as God’s instrument, David slays Goliath by the power of the Holy Spirit symbolized by the wind enrapturing him in God’s power (not in the Protestant sense of “rapture,” rather, like the foreshadowing of his “The Ecstasy of Teresa”). 

Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Theresa in the Cornaro Chapel demonstrates God's
messenger,  the Angel with the arrow, overwhelming the Saint with God's Grace.

It’s not that Bernini’s, David is only wearing half his clothes, or that the artist shied away from displaying the Old Testament hero in the “heroic nude” (as some art historians say) as Donatello and Michelangelo, rather, it’s more like Joseph and his coat of many colors: David is clothed in righteousness, and by showing that David removed his armor shows his closeness to the Spirit of God. The harp—usually associated with David, the writer of many Psalms—symbolizes a heart that cries out to God, for to “make music on the ten stringed lyre and harp” means to sing praises to God and worship Him. So, for Bernini, David overcomes Goliath not as an empty vessel, nor because it is his destiny, but because he has responded to God’s call and in preparing him to meet his adversary, God has clothed David in His Own Spirit.

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A VINTAGE YEAR: 1971 and the Year of the Law

Besides being up for Best Picture in the same year, what could "A Clockwork Orange" and “"Fiddler on the Roof" possibly have in common? What could a New York cop have in common with the last Czars of Russia? They all center around the law: “Fiddler on the Roof” focuses on the Mosaic Law, and what happens to the Jewish community when they abandon it; “A Clockwork Orange” shows what happens to a society willing to break the laws of sane and humane punishment to “rehabilitate” even its most disgusting delinquents while "Nicholas and Alexandra" discover the laws of labor, starvation and justice apply even to the most absolute rulers and, like Popeye Doyle (Gene Hackman) in "The French Connection" laws apply to the law keepers as well as the law breakers.

Topol as a milkman in Norman Jewison's Fiddler on the Roof of 1971.

The irony of “If I Were A Rich Man,” one of the most famous songs to ever come out of a musical is that HE IS a rich man by the standards of the spiritual life: he possesses the Mosaic Law, and what more does one need to dwell in the House of the Lord,” but the Law handed down by the Prophets? But he abandons this wealth as he and his family slowly abandons the Law: he dances with his wife at Tzeitel’s wedding; he lets Tzeitel marry whom she will instead of entering an arranged marriage, the other daughter runs off to support her future husband the Communist and the third daughter converts to Christianity. These are the woes causing the soldiers to encroach upon the Jewish community and turn them into exiles.

Alex wearing the false eyelash and holding the narcotic laced glass of milk, a clear conjunction of perverted symbols.

“A Clockwork Orange” is perhaps one of the most difficult films in the history of filmmaking to watch: you do not have anyone with whom you can identify. But no matter how despicable Alex (Malcolm McDowell) behaves, and no matter how greatly we want him punished, as a Christian society, we must behave--not as the worst among us--but as the best among us.

The "milky substance" is forced into his eyes to force the rehabilitation of a monster.

The most important symbol in the film is the eye: Alex’s false eyelash on his eye denotes “false knowledge” or wisdom (he’s street smart but not smart enough to make good decisions), but the forcing of his eye open by society to take in wisdom of how evil it is to be evil, is just as false and turns society into the same caliber of criminal it is trying to rehabilitate.
Milk is the second most important symbol. Alex drinks milk laced with narcotics, thereby perverting that which should be nourishing into that which is corrupting.

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, did he fire six shots, or only five? Now, to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and it'll blow your head clean off! You've gotta ask yourself a question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?"

Clint Eastwood’s "Dirty Harry" wasn’t up for Best Picture, but it was released in this year and clearly supports the idea of the law having to be better than the criminals it’s trying to put away. According to the film, he’s called “Dirty Harry” because he’s always stuck with the dirty work, and to do that dirty work, he himself must be pure. There is a scene where Harry is surverying a church to protect a priest whose life has been threatened and while he's "peeping tom" he sees a woman through a window in her apartment "preparing for an orgy" and Harry wishes that he were a part of it, at the same time that he’s protecting a Catholic priest from the Scorpio killer. It’s this sacrifice--not being a part of the sexual "excess" of the time--that permits him to fulfill his duty; later, however, when he recites that same lines from the beginning of the film about not knowing how many bullets he has left, and asks the unarmed Scorpio killer, “Ask yourself, do you feel lucky?” we have to assume that Harry knows he has a last bullet left and intentionally leads the killer to picking up his gun so Harry can claim self-defense and shoot him… realizing that he can no longer be a law keeper now that he has broken the laws he has vowed to uphold, Harry throws down his badge.

In “Nicholas and Alexandra,” the last Russian Czars are surrounded by laws, none of which they made or are working in their favor. The last Czars fail to realize that the most important laws aren’t made by men at all, but by God: the laws of genetics, the laws of life and of death, the laws of licit and illicit sexual conduct, the laws of starvation and property, the laws of labor and public opinion, all which work against them to end their reign as the absolute rulers of vast Russia.

Director William Friedkin also did "The Exorcist.

Gene Hackman plays Brooklyn narcotics officer Popeye Doyle in "The French Connection" and the summation of Hackman’s character comes from the name “Popeye”: his eye pops, his other eye is permanently squinted so that his vision (and this should be understood symbolically) is always faulty and this is proven throughout the film. Since his actions depict his “spiritual state,” it’s also the reason why the bad guy gets away: the “good guy” doesn’t have the power that comes from being good to overcome the evil the villain represents. If we are going to say that we are the good guys, then we actually have to “be good.”

Popeye's closed eye means he misses half of what he should be seeing while his other "popped" eye takes in too much of only part of the situation. That's bad for a police officer.

A society is only as civilized as the way it treats its outlaws: if you can’t follow your own moral structures, you don’t have the authority to enforce moral structures on others who have abandoned moral structures for a life of crime. These films validate the need for law and the need for all members of society to obey those laws; in 1971, those laws regarded drug use, homosexuality, promiscuity, and really bad fashion choices, nothing less than society itself was at stake and, in 1972 when President Richard Nixon’s Watergate Scandal began, it’s clear that the moral lessons these films were trying to impart were not just timely, but also not heeded.

He didn't make time to go to the movies.

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