Vatican calls ‘Blues Brothers’ a ‘Catholic classic’
Comedy joins ‘The Passion of The Christ’ among recommended films
June 18, 2010 - 7:08 AM | by: Greg Burke
The Vatican newspaper has celebrated the 30th anniversary of the release of The Blues Brothers by calling it a “Catholic” film.
The John Landis film has a bit of a cult following in Italy, which may part of the reason the paper, the Osservatore Romano, decided to single it out.
The movie stars John Belushi and Dan Akryod as Jake and Elwood, both of them on a “mission from God.”
They have to get their rhythm and blues band back together for a benefit concert to save the Catholic orphanage they grew up in.
The Blues Brothers doesn’t appear especially spiritual on first glance, and is more of a musical comedy. The music is extraordinary (or is that heavenly?) with the likes of Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and James Brown belting them out.
The film is a blast, with Belushi at his best, but why is it Catholic? It’s a far cry from The Ten Commandments or The Passion.
“Of course it’s Catholic,” said one Vatican official. “It’s two guys saving a Catholic orphanage and being chased by a bunch of Nazis. What could be more Catholic than that? It’s just a different kind of Catholic than The Passion.”
The Osservatore argues that The Blues Brothers deals with the theme of the prodigal son – Jake has just been let out of jail – and of “redemption obtained by sacrifice.”
The newspaper notes how Elwood “even renounces an adventure with a fascinating young woman (played by Twiggy) for the mission from God.” Sacrifice indeed, as the Bluesmobile speeds by the lovely model so Jake and Elwood can make the tax payment in time to save the orphanage.
While the paper may be stretching the Catholic angle a bit, one of the most celebrated songs from The Blues Brothers is “Everybody Needs Somebody (to Love)” and in Catholic theology, God is Love.
There's a part in the Blues Brothers where they have to go visit "The Penguin"....a drill sargeant like nun. She beats the crap out of the Brothers with a ruler. As a kid who spent 13 years at a Catholic school, that part of the movie was dead on! Many of those nuns were deadly with rulers, pointer sticks as well as being extremely accurate throwing erasers at your head if you messed around. No one messed around in their class.
let' not turn this thread into how great the Catholics are or aren't. That wasn't the point.
This actually wasn't supposed to be a religious thread at all. It was an article about the Blues Brothers and I thought it was funny that any religion would claim it. In fact, I think it's silly for any religion to claim any kind of movie.
Heck for all I know, Porn is the ultimate religious cinema. Think about it, Adam and Eve, running around naked in the forest with nothing else to do but be pornographic. ;-P
Maybe I should have used my original title for this thread.
Catholics Rejoice! All other religions can suck it.
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"Musicians are the architects of heaven"
Last Edited by on Jun 19, 2010 8:53 AM
I'm not going to wade in here, except to say every group of thought can be perverted when members gain the ability to claim absolute authority, whether it's the Catholic Church, Islamic Terrorists, or Stalin's Atheism, and ask you to reread your posts. Some of these points may be important to make, but are they important to make on a harmonica forum and are they likely to be seen as offensive? We could actually have a really interesting thread related to appropriate appropriation of works from outside you own culture. Please feel free to delete any comments that don't follow the forum creed.
---------- Nate Facebook
Last Edited by on Jun 19, 2010 1:32 PM
