2008 Athens International Film Festival
'Constantine's Sword' exposes Church's history
By Michelle Davey, Staff Writer
April 27, 2008 | 9 a.m.
During the fourth century, the Roman emperor Constantine was the first, but certainly not the last, to combine the cross and the sword and fight under the banner of Christianity. Oren Jacoby’s documentary "Constantine's Sword" tells the history of religion and violence.
Jacoby’s film, a feature at this year’s Athens International Film Festival, is a challenging adaptation of James Carroll’s original 750-page book detailing the Catholic Church and its history of oppressing and persecuting the Jewish people.
The ambitious film attempts to combine several different story lines, interweaving the tales through Carroll’s narration and interviews while trying to find a single connection point for the audience.
Jacoby follows Carroll on a religious crusade. Carroll grew up the Irish Catholic son of an Air Force general and eventually entered the priesthood. Although Carroll idolized his father and the Church as a boy, when he grew up and faced the complexities of a country torn apart by the Vietnam War, he began to question his past. Many years later, he is on a quest to discover the entire history of the Church.
Carroll narrates his journey beginning with Constantine and tracing a line through the crusades, the Spanish Inquisition and the Holocaust, while mixing in the details of his own life story.
Jacoby also introduces a controversy at the U.S. Air Force Academy, where Evangelical Protestants at the New Life Church are advertising to cadets who, in turn, are harassing a Jewish cadet to convert. Toss in a sprinkle of the War on Terror and that is “Constantine’s Sword.”
Each storyline is an important part of the overall discussion of religion, society and violence. Jacoby and Carroll make their point very clear: remember what religious zealotry has caused in the past so that we can prevent it from happening again. However, the film never finds that connection point, and the audience is left grasping for a center.
“Constantine’s Sword” incorporates beautiful cinematography. As Carroll travels, the audience catches glimpses of sweeping hills, old Christian monuments and rows of tombstones. More than once the camera pulls out to reveal a striking skyline of Rome. Bittersweet scenes fill the film as we see the gorgeous monuments and hear about the atrocities committed at the site.
Perhaps the film’s most valuable quality is the people interviewed. Carroll meets a family that has lived in the Jewish ghetto in Rome for centuries. He comforts a caretaker at a graveyard where hundreds of Jews killed during the crusades are buried. He commiserates with a Polish priest who is thinking of leaving the Church because he is not allowed to speak out about the Church’s past discretions against the Jews.
Each character brings a spark of life to the story, reminding the viewer that these historical facts, these names and dates and dusty relics, are not just in the past but are issues still dealt with today.
It is easy to see why Jacoby and Carroll made this film. It serves as a warning for all who watch to never forget, to never let it happen again.
---
Showings:
Tuesday, April 29 at Athena: 7:30 p.m.
“Constantine‘s Sword”
Speakeasy Rating: B
Running Time: 95 minutes
Not Rated
English/German/Italian/Yiddish with English Subtitles
Check out the official Web site of the Athens Film Festival for more information about the 31 feature films and 215 competition films playing at this year's festival, running April 25 through May 1.