More than 450 people came to the beautiful Coolidge Corner Cinema on Thursday night, May 29 for the opening night screening, followed by a Q&A with James Carroll and Oren Jacoby. The audience responded to the screening and so did the reviewers: Boston Globe review
The new documentary Constantine’s Sword
, directed by Oren Jacoby from the book by James Carroll, examines church-sanctioned violence, from the Middle Ages through today’s religious extremists. Jacoby and the film’s producer, Betsy West
, talk about the film and the issues it explores. Listen here
Letter to the New York Times, April 21, 2008
“This movie is trouble”
After an afternoon screening at Lincoln Plaza Cinema in New York a woman in her mid-sixties stood up during a smattering of applause and yelled out “This movie is gonna cause a whole lot of trouble.” She was visibly shaken. As the lights slowly came up I could see a kind of wild terror in her eyes, as the rest of us turned to look at her. Someone else yelled “ahh shut-up!” Another said, “why don’t you go home.” Then the woman screamed out “Don’t forget that we fought a war to kill Hitler and saved your asses.” Then an old man being propped up by his wife on one side and leaning on a cane with his other hand spoke up in a quivering voice, “look lady, I fought in that war. I was there and I didn’t fight as a Christian or as a Jew. I fought as an American.” To which the woman replied “yes thats right. You Jews owe us.”
Thank God that I was the only person there young enough to actually throw a punch or at least my shoe at her. She quickly high tailed it for the exit. A little while later I saw her in the lobby complaining to one of the theater attendants. “That was truly a horrible move.” He just looked at her and smiled. She stomped off, her red scarf dragging on the floor behind her.
GO SEE THIS MOVIE. IT IS IMPORTANT.
- clayneck
Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to a synagogue in New York this week will evoke his visit to the oldest synagogue in Germany nearly three years ago. On that occasion, addressing leaders of Cologne’s Jewish community, Pope Benedict properly addressed the question of the Shoah. He deplored Hitler’s campaign to eliminate the Jewish people, and he condemned Nazi antisemitism – words which still need to be spoken. That this Catholic leader is himself a German, having had his own youthful glimpse of Hitler’s death-regime, made his remembrance of that history all the more compelling. read full post
By Jeremy Gerard
April 24 (Bloomberg) — Oren Jacoby’s film “Constantine’s Sword” begins and ends in Colorado Springs, Colorado, home of the U.S. Air Force Academy and several of the country’s biggest evangelical Christian ministries.
These include the New Life Church, the 14,000-member Pentecostal congregation founded and run by Ted Haggard until November 2006, when he was removed following allegations that he had a relationship with a male prostitute and a fondness for methamphetamines. read entire entry
By LUCHINA FISHER
April 20, 2008
Call it coincidence or providence. A new documentary about Christian anti-Semitism that has drawn the ire of some Catholic groups premiered Friday in New York — the same day Pope Benedict XVI visited a synagogue on the city’s Upper East Side. see interview
Illuminating! In Constantine’s sword, the Documentary, James Carroll is unafraid, but not reckless, in shining light into some particularly dark corners of the edifice of Christianity regarding its treatment of Jews in particular, and its Cross-and-Sword stance in general. Read the full entry »
Air Force Academy Pulls Anti-Catholic Movie Clips
By: Joe Murray, The Bulletin
04/10/2008
Officials from the U.S. Air Force Academy announced clips from the movie “Constantine’s Sword” would not be shown during a forum on religious tolerance and terrorism held at the Academy’s Colorado Springs, Colo. campus. The announcement was made just two days after a prominent Catholic civil rights group voiced concern over the film.
“I am delighted that the Air Force Academy made the right decision not to show footage of this movie; the film is based on an anti-Catholic book written by an angry ex-priest who has no credentials in the subject area,” stated Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. more
Letter to the Editor from Oren Jacoby:
As the director of Constantine’s Sword, I am writing to correct the headline and article in Saturday’s paper calling the film “anti-Catholic.” Constantine’s Sword
is based on a much-praised history of antisemitism written by James Carroll, a National Book award-winner and practicing Catholic who has lectured all over the world on this tragic legacy. The book is not anti-Catholic, nor is the film, which has been endorsed by many Catholics, including those most involved in efforts to further peace and understanding among the world’s religions.
We invite your readers to go to www.constantinessword.com for more information and details about how to see the film, which opens in theaters this week. We would also be happy to supply a copy of the film to your reporter, who never contacted me or Mr. Carroll before repeating the scurrilous opinions of Bill Donohue, who I do not believe has seen the film.
Oren Jacoby
Director, Constantine’s Sword
By Elisabeth Donnelly
The gripping new documentary Constantine’s Sword
examines former Catholic priest James Carroll’s personal struggles against the backdrop of centuries of religious intolerance, in an effort to understand why people think they can kill in the name of God. Read the full entry »
News and Updates