Skip to main content

Catholic Values in A Walk in the Clouds

 



Screenwriters: Robert Mark Kamen & Mark Miller

Director: Alfonso Arau

Rating: 👍(10 of 10)

Watch for the fascinating sense of humor and depth of Catholic values in the film.

The Review

The film is inevitably Catholic for its theme of chaste love and traditional contexts without saying anything about Catholicism. Moreover, the plot makes the story tasteful, glorious, and passionate, as Chicago Sun-Times film critique Robert Ebert noted: “A Walk in the Clouds is a glorious romantic fantasy, aflame with passion and bittersweet longing. One needs perhaps to have a little of these qualities in one’s soul to respond fully to the film, which to a jaundiced eye might look like overworked melodrama, but that to me sang with innocence and trust.”[1]

The great things about the film do not end with its Catholic theme and plot. The great musical score from Maurice Jarre successfully set the beautiful tone of the movie even from the opening credits. The score, with the percussion removed and the guitar emphasized, is reminiscent of Only the Lonely’s “It Couldn’t Be Better” (1991) and Lawrence of Arabia’s “Main Title” (1962). Set in post-World War II 1945, the film transitioned from the starkness of wartime America to the scenic beauty of the Californian vineyards.

The best of Catholic movies demonstrates Catholic values with greater accuracies than movies that simply use Catholic elements to push the film in its plot without care of accuracy. A Walk in the Clouds is among those that best reflect in film traditional Catholic values. In fact, several of these values can be picked up anywhere in the film for personal reflections. Among these, we will reflect nine with as great a depth as can be possible. 

Consequently, there are several Catholic values being expressed in this movie. I will only mention here the major value themes that can be found in the movie (for a more complete and thorough review, order a copy at paracletus.writers@yahoo.com.ph). 

  • The Catholic 'Home': Finding Home in Others
  • The Irreplaceability of the Family
  • Embracing the Ugly Faces of Love
  • Familial Respect in Marriages
  • Leadership for Unity
  • Chastity and Faithfulness
  • Self-Sacrifice for Others
  • Sin as Betrayal but a Forgivable One
  • Males Who Respect Their Women
  • Providential Nature of Life
  • The Option of Annulment

Several lighter scenes in A Walk in the Clouds also provide the film a dimension that makes its viewing high entertaining as well as deeply reflective.

Points for Reflection
  1. How did God's providential hands bring Paul Sutton and Maria Aragon into each other and into a large Catholic family?
  2. Which Catholic family value is strongly emphasized in the film?
  3. What saved the chaste relationship between Paul and Aragon bringing them freely into a lawful Catholic marriage?  

[1] Roger Egbert, “A Walk in the Clouds,” Robert Egbert (11 August 1995), https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/a-walk-in-the-clouds-1995

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Utilitarianism in Ender's Game (2014)

Scriptwriter Gavin Hood Rating 👍(8 of 10) Watch for the beautiful and absorbing story, the digital wonders, as well as the thought-provoking moral issues that character face and make choices. Review The story is tight and interesting, particularly to young viewers. The plot is unpredictable enough to be fascinating with twists that are logically reasonable as well as well thought out. The characters are well-fleshed out with the main characters shown with enough depth to be convincing. The graphics are convincing too as well as credibly imaginative. Above all, the content handled many positive lessons that the Catholic audience will find valuable and useful to learn. First is man’s primal instinct to survive. When placed in a tight situation, a person will expectedly do what it takes to survive. While playing the mind game, Ender found himself in a no-choice situation wherein the two options presented were no option at all, as either brings his game character to deat...
Post a Comment
Read more

Erroneous 'Catholicism' in the River of Darkness

  Screenwriter: Bruce Koehler Director: Bruce Koehler Rating: 👎 If you are Catholic, do not waste yourself watching this film. The Review The 2011 independent film tells of a ‘rural’ (not ‘urban’) legend involving an avenging ghost who was murdered several years ago for a crime they did not commit but the townspeople levied against them. The plot is built on the foundation of scapegoating. The plot is complicated by the local townspeople's conspiracy, local law enforcement politics, and the presence of city-based paranormal researchers who are oblivious to the real danger they have inserted themselves out of curiosity. It is not known how Catholic the townspeople are. However, they have a church and do believe in evil spirits, including the storyline’s superstition of evil spirits reappearing for revenge and capable of killing flesh-and-blood human beings. Unmistakably, the plot is the stuff of rural legend. The Catholic understanding of demonology does not agree with the concept ...
Post a Comment
Read more