Friday, 6 April 2012

No Passion

At this time of year, we never, ever get a straight BBC dramatisation of any of the New Testament Passion Narratives, which are read that way in Catholic and many other churches, so that the texts already exist. Why not? Whatever happened to public service broadcasting?
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5 comments:

  1. Anonymous6 April 2012 at 23:21

    I know that you probably won't post on Easter Sunday itself, but i do hope you will offer us an insight into the life of the parish when you blog about it. "Easter in Lanchester" would be a strong way to increase the number of postings about your life as a Catholic layman.

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  2. Miner's Boy7 April 2012 at 18:13

    Actually, I am surprised that you posted an entry on Good Friday; a day when most Catholic bloggers tend not to.
    As for Easter Sunday, I cannot think of a better day for a Catholic to blog about the good news.
    BBC1 had the Preston Passion at noon which I watched for a few minutes but couldn't see the relevance to Good Friday. Perhaps I watched the wrong few minutes. Channel 4 had King of Kings at 9.40 am which was reasonably appropriate for the day, but that was it. I thought that progammers are supposed to cater for the viewers rather than their own tastes (or lack of taste, in most cases).

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  3. Ttony8 April 2012 at 17:08

    What about the 2008 BBC version of the Passion? I seem to think I was in a minority but I wrote at the time: "This wasn't a production for Catholics, but it ended up as though, somewhere along the line, somebody in the production team decided that he didn't want to annoy anybody who was Catholic. So while the earlier part of the narrative went a bit wild about who did what, when, the Passion narrative showed Jesus and the Apostles from the Last Supper to the Resurrection and the road to Emmaus. It didn't try to suggest, for example, that there was a third thief crucified along with Jesus, or that Mary Magdalene wasn't a prostitute, or that Jesus commended Our Lady and John not to each other, but to some hypothetical counsellor who would make everybody feel comfortable with what had happened. It wasn't a Life of Brian for believers.



    It wasn't wonderful: it was much better than Robert Powell's 1977 Jesus of Nazareth, and miles better than The Greatest Story Ever Told. It felt like a sincere attempt to tell the greatest story ever told without resorting to capital letters. At the end Christ had died, and Christ had risen, and that was a miracle that nobody in Judaea could understand, even Jesus' followers. That was worth my licence fee for the week."

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  4. Miner's Boy8 April 2012 at 23:47

    The most glorious piece of music written for Easter Sunday is the Victimae Paschali Laudes. This is a link to Youtube. Play it LOUD.

    http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=zlSK8vn55ZA

    Forget the Hollywood King of Kings, or Robert Powell's 1977 Jesus of Nazareth,or The Greatest Story Ever Told, this is the music of the Faith that cannot be matched by any Hollywood or BBC epic.

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  5. Anonymous9 April 2012 at 10:48

    My own hope is that David will offer us an insight to his witness as a Lay Dominican in formation.

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