Althouse: I'd love to see a movie, in the style of "Frost/Nixon" or "My Dinner with Andre"...

March 31, 2018

I'd love to see a movie, in the style of "Frost/Nixon" or "My Dinner with Andre"...

... made from the conversations between Eugenio Scalfari and Pope Francis.

This is as close as I can get:

55 comments:

mockturtle said...: I can think of few things more uninspiring.; 3/31/18, 11:41 AM
traditionalguy said...: I probably would not want to support a movie about more Joi de Vivre in the Vatican. Roman Polanski could certainly direct it well, but it would be a bad experience for the boy and girl actors.; 3/31/18, 11:42 AM
tcrosse said...: A couple of white guys sitting around talking. I'll pass.; 3/31/18, 11:55 AM
Roughcoat said...: I'd rather see Scalfari v. Ratzinger.

Or maybe not. Wouldn't be much of a conversation. Ratzinger would wipe the floor with him.

Scalfari and Francis are evenly matched, and I don't mean that as a compliment.; 3/31/18, 11:56 AM
Rob said...: The screenplay writes itself.

POPE FRANCIS:

I mean, I enjoy reading about other little plays that other people have written, and reading the reviews of those plays, and what people said about them, and what people said about what people said, and…. And I mean, I have a list of errands and responsibilities that I keep in a notebook; I enjoy going through the notebook, carrying out the responsibilities, doing the errands, then crossing them off the list!

And I mean, I just don’t know how anybody could enjoy anything more than I enjoy reading Charlton Heston’s autobiography, or, you know, getting up in the morning and having the cup of cold coffee that’s been waiting for me all night, still there for me to drink in the morning! And no cockroach or fly has died in it overnight. I mean, I’m just so thrilled when I get up and I see that coffee there just the way I wanted it, I mean, I just can’t imagine how anybody could enjoy something else any more than that! I mean…I mean, obviously, if the cockroach–if there is a dead cockroach in it, well, then I just have a feeling of disappointment, and I’m sad.

But I mean, I just don’t think I feel the need for anything more than all this.; 3/31/18, 11:57 AM
Luke Lea said...: Something someone in Madison would know. New to me. Great segment.; 3/31/18, 12:05 PM
Achilles said...: It is pretty clear Pope Francis is using his position to tear apart the institution he runs much in the same way Obama did when he was president.; 3/31/18, 12:07 PM
mockturtle said...: I'd rather see Scalfari v. Ratzinger.

Or maybe not. Wouldn't be much of a conversation. Ratzinger would wipe the floor with him.

Amen, roughcoat!; 3/31/18, 12:07 PM
YoungHegelian said...: I heard something like what Prof Althouse describes, years ago on NPR.

Steve Roberts was guest host on the Diane Rehm show, and, even though Roberts is of a reformed Jewish cast, he had the two guys, a Jesuit priest & a Lutheran minister, who had been a part of hammering out the then recent Articles of Understanding between the Lutherans & the Catholics..

It's clear that the two clergymen were old fishing buddies. Roberts just asked a question, & the two clergymen took off, talking the whole hour with nary any input from Roberts. It was great.

I've looked for a recording among the archives, but sadly I can't find it. Which is a real shame.; 3/31/18, 12:12 PM
Deep State Reformer said...: I can't imagine anything more boring Ann. Maybe Andy Warhol's film Empire (1964) which consisted of 8 hours and five minutes of still footage of the Empire State building, in black & white. That would be a worst bore, only bcause it's longer.; 3/31/18, 12:18 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "Something someone in Madison would know. New to me. Great segment."

It's the last segment of the movie "Coffee and Cigarettes." There's a tag for it. One of my favorite movies.; 3/31/18, 12:25 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "oberts just asked a question, & the two clergymen took off, talking the whole hour with nary any input from Roberts. It was great."

I'd like to see that format in a presidential debate.; 3/31/18, 12:26 PM
Ron said...: whew, that clip redlined my Pretentious Meter!; 3/31/18, 12:38 PM
tcrosse said...: I'd like to see that format in a presidential debate.

I wonder how good any of those people would be as conversationalists, a totally different skill.; 3/31/18, 12:48 PM
bolivar di griz said...: What I was referring to in the previous thread:

https://onepeterfive.com/interview-george-neumayr-author-political-pope/; 3/31/18, 12:55 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Frost/Nixon - outstanding historical interview of a prime mover (Nixon) of the 20th Century.

My Dinner with Andre? - 2 hours of soporific pseudo-intellectual nonsense by two dullards, making me want to repeatedly stab out my own eyes with an oyster fork.; 3/31/18, 12:56 PM
Fandor said...: I would have loved to have seen a debate between C.S. Lewis and Trotsky, with commentary afterwards by Jean Shepherd; 3/31/18, 12:58 PM
Fandor said...: How about a debate between two popes; Benedict vs. Francis.
Now, that would be something to see!; 3/31/18, 1:00 PM
Fandor said...: Hey, Stephan Hawking was buried today!
Anyone want to guess where he went, or if he went anywhere, Heaven, Hell, the Twilight Zone, no where or did he just become so much "star stuff" as Carl Sagan would say?
Do a poll, Althouse.; 3/31/18, 1:05 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/31/18, 1:07 PM
Etienne said...: Hawking was an adulterer. He's in hell. He went by Purgatory faster than the speed of light. Several warps faster...; 3/31/18, 1:11 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/31/18, 1:12 PM
Ann Althouse said...: This subject made me think of "Meeting of Minds":

"Meeting of Minds is a television series, created by Steve Allen, which aired on PBS from 1977 to 1981. The show featured guests (played by actors) who played significant roles in world history. Guests would interact with each other and host Steve Allen, discussing philosophy, religion, history, science, and many other topics.... Guests included: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Daniel O'Connell, Catherine II, and Oliver Cromwell."; 3/31/18, 1:19 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Daniel O'Connell, Catherine II, and Oliver Cromwell

All in Hell?; 3/31/18, 1:20 PM
tcrosse said...: This subject made me think of "Meeting of Minds"

Oddly enough, one of the participants was always played by Jayne Meadows.; 3/31/18, 1:22 PM
bolivar di griz said...: Bring back benedict

https://www.thedailybeast.com/italy-on-high-alert-officials-warn-of-flood-of-terrorists-across-the-sea; 3/31/18, 1:24 PM
tcrosse said...: IIRC there was a Monte Python bit which assembled a bunch of historical luminaries around a table and asked them to discuss Pop Music. Mao was the only one who knew anything about it.; 3/31/18, 1:27 PM
buwaya said...: Mao correctly answers "Sing a little birdie"; 3/31/18, 1:37 PM
buwaya said...: John Paul II was the dramatist and actor.
And a much better public speaker really.
A better choice for this.; 3/31/18, 1:46 PM
Bay Area Guy said...: Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Cleopatra, Marie Antoinette, Florence Nightingale, Thomas Paine, Francis Bacon, Thomas Jefferson, Voltaire, Karl Marx, Charles Darwin, Daniel O'Connell, Catherine II, and Oliver Cromwell

All in Hell?

Why not? You don't get a holy exemption for being smart. It's not like an elite faculty lounge meeting.

And Karl Marx damn well should be in Hell!

As for Plato, Socrates and Aristotle, well they all preceded the Big JC on this great planet. So, maybe they should get special exemption.; 3/31/18, 1:55 PM
tcrosse said...: It's not like an elite faculty lounge meeting.

An eternal faculty meeting. Now, that's Hell !; 3/31/18, 2:04 PM
mockturtle said...: tcrosse recalls: IIRC there was a Monte Python bit which assembled a bunch of historical luminaries around a table and asked them to discuss Pop Music. Mao was the only one who knew anything about it.

And Marx and Lenin being questioned about World Cup statistics.; 3/31/18, 2:36 PM
Darkisland said...: Will there be action figures?

Like the my dinner with Andre action figures?

John Henry; 3/31/18, 2:57 PM
Earnest Prole said...: Hawking was an adulterer.

Let he who is without sin cast the first . . . oops! Too late.; 3/31/18, 2:59 PM
tcrosse said...: Hawking was an adulterer.

Whatever. Now he's Purina Worm Chow.; 3/31/18, 3:32 PM
Fandor said...: Where do you think Steve Allen is? "Smock, smock!"; 3/31/18, 4:12 PM
Fandor said...: Imagine David Susskind doing MEETING of the MINDS? Better yet, William F. Buckley! That would be a hoot!
I loved Steve Allen, but he was a bit of a poser, who was really at his best as a funny man and composer. I wish he was around now.
If you want "high brow" comedy, watch Susskind and Buckley on the FIRING LINE interview available on youtube.
Great television!; 3/31/18, 4:20 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: While I hope that there are very few souls in Hell, I can indeed see several of those people in Purgatory for many, many long years and quarantines, specially Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell, and Karl Marx.

There was an Italian (?) movie made a few (?) years ago, the name of which I couldn't recall in a million years, that depicted a pope 'with issues' and his psychiatrist (?)... maybe there are some interesting conversations in it.; 3/31/18, 4:57 PM
tcrosse said...: Anthony Quinn got to play the Pope in Shoes of the Fisherman (1968). The review in Time called it Zorba the Pope.; 3/31/18, 5:11 PM
Lydia said...: That Italian movie about a pope and his psychotherapist is We Have a Pope.; 3/31/18, 6:34 PM
William said...: I think the better model of an interesting conversation would be Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Trim the dialogue down to fifteen or twenty minutes. Eliminate the theology and leave in the funny lines. Have a different guest every week. On every segment the Pope could wear a different hat and explain its origin and purpose.; 3/31/18, 6:34 PM
William said...: I thought Seinfeld's best show was his interview with Gary Shandling. There was a subtext of mortality and what it all means during the conversation. A little while later Shandling died, and this gave the interview added poignance........I think we all have a rooting interest in the immortality of the soul. This includes 92 year old Marxist atheists who wouldn't mind being proven wrong.. It's impossible to assert that you don't exist, and, after death, it's impossible to assert that you do exist.; 3/31/18, 6:44 PM
Fandor said...: William...great idea...Popes in Cars, concecrating hosts, talking theology, running red lights, in an (out of control, self-driving) Urber!; 3/31/18, 6:45 PM
mockturtle said...: specially Martin Luther, Oliver Cromwell, and Karl Marx.

Luther and Cromwell are heroes of mine. [Not Marx, of course]. Luther wanted to reform the Church, not replace it, but it refused to be reformed. Calvin was also a priest who was forced to flee from the Church when he studied Scripture. Cromwell was an able general who was also devoted to Christ.; 3/31/18, 6:51 PM
Lydia said...: It's not a movie, but if you want to read a truly intelligent conversation about all this, and much more, I suggest the 2002 book by then Cardinal Ratzinger and a German journalist -- God and the World: A Conversation with Peter Seewald.; 3/31/18, 6:57 PM
Unknown said...: I'm still waiting for the My Dinner With Andre action figures.; 3/31/18, 7:32 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: Yes, Lydia-- thanks! I didn't see it but the premise seemed intriguing, if far-fetched.; 3/31/18, 7:46 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: mockturtle, Perhaps that is part of the point. Even with the best of intentions, there are going to be serious (perhaps not schism or revolution...) parts of or places in my life where I end up, in an objective way, doing damage to the cause of Christ. My horizons are necessarily limited, after all, even if I try to pretend they aren't.; 3/31/18, 7:58 PM
Josephbleau said...: Tcrosse, your Quinn comment sure made me laugh. I liked Quinn with John Wayne as the Phillipine Scout captain even though young Maximo killed all the Japs. Off topic a bit I guess.; 3/31/18, 9:02 PM
mockturtle said...: Marc, we all damage the cause of Christ in one way or another. If we didn't, we would be prideful of the fact. ;-) But the Pope is, IMHO, damaging the cause of Christ by trifling with His Word while purporting to be His Vicar.; 3/31/18, 9:12 PM
mockturtle said...: I must say this is a refreshing change from politics. :-); 3/31/18, 9:16 PM
bolivar di griz said...: Why did our Lord, endure 40 days and nights in the desert, tempted by hunger thirst the elements if there is no Hell.; 3/31/18, 9:33 PM
Marc in Eugene said...: mockturtle, I agree with you of course, granted that what Dr Scalfaro said Franciscus said is what Franciscus actually said. Which of course only two people know, with certainty. And both the old Marxist and the old Jesuit seem to have trouble seeing and hearing, so am not even sure about that. But I'll repeat what I began with: it bespeaks a lack of prudent judgment that this should be allowed to happen at the high point of the Church's year-- this certainly being the Pope's responsibility (if there had been an undertaking on Dr Scalfaro's part e.g. not to publish any of this until after Easter, surely the Holy See would have said so by this time). Happy Easter! Surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia, alleluia.; 3/31/18, 9:51 PM
Sydney said...: They probably won’t make a miovie, but the Pope and his friend may have a book in mind. He already did a similar book when he was an archbishop. It was a series of conversations between himself and an Argentinian rabbi. It’s called “Heaven and Earth.”; 3/31/18, 11:06 PM
Daniel Jackson said...: "Calvin was also a priest who was forced to flee from the Church when he studied Scripture."

Ah, yes. Reading books is always dangerous. Especially the Bible. Horrid book, that; it gives one Ideas and Flashes of the Divine Word. Can't have that, now, can we in our enlightened laic culture.

I used to set up my telescope on Har Turan in northern Israel. The Bedouin cowboys would stop by to look at the moons of Jupiter. One night, the Sheikh from the Bedouin village was driven up the mountain in his WHITE SUV to look. I showed him the moons of Jupiter and said this is the same sight that Galileo Galilee saw that earned him the ire of the pope. He took that in and then looked through the telescope for a good fifteen minutes. He then turned to me and said, "what the fuck does the pope know?"

Indeed.; 4/1/18, 1:14 AM

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