I managed to see a preview of Prince Caspian at the movies on Friday May 9, as a member of the press. Having read the Narnia books as a young boy, I was reasonably familiar with the story and expected a swash-buckling effects-laden experience. I was not disappointed. Here’s the trailer.
Filming was shot by NZ director/producer Andrew Adamson, whose earlier work includes Shrek I, 2 and 3, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Familiar NZ scenes for me were the Dart River near Glenorchy (I spent a week walking through there in 1991) and Cathedral Cove on the Coromandel Peninsula (I spent Christmas there in 1982). Studio shots were filmed in Barrandov Studios, Prague, Czech Republic. Other scenes were filmed in Slovenia and Poland.
As Trumpkin says, “You may find Narnia a more savage place than you remember”. Adamson takes the stories of battle hinted at by C.S. Lewis and brings them to the foreground. People and creatures die, though without any clear bloodshed. This is a family movie after all. A whole new sequence is added to the plot - the storming of the Telmarine castle. Battle scenes are provided with elaborate plot twists.
In the book the Pevensies (Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy) connect up with the Narnians towards the end. For the sake of dramatic interplay between the characters (including tension between Peter and Caspian) that meeting is introduced much earlier.
Adamson brings the story into the 21st century with an alternative to the C.S. Lewis sheltering of the female gender. Susan is clearly engaged in battle in the movie and enjoys a romantic attraction to Caspian. “It would never have worked out”, she says.
There are subtle flavours added by the casting team. Caspian, Miraz and the other Telmarines speak with Hispanic accents, a reference to their pirate origins. The centaurs appear to have an African origin. It makes good sense in terms of increasing the ethnic spread of the audience, but runs the risk of perpetuating the English jingoism that formed the backdrop of C.S. Lewis’ world.
My favourite character would have to be Trumpkin, played by Peter Dinklage. This dwarf has a deeply cynical, humorous and yet reflective character that appears to have been developed through years of patient long suffering.
The theology of this C.S. Lewis novel is subtle, with hints of questions relating to the absence and invisible nature of Jesus. Why can some see him and others not? Would the plot have been different if Lucy and her siblings had responded to Aslan’s guidance earlier? Aslan twice reminds Lucy that things don’t happen the same way twice, once in a dream sequence and once in waking mode. Was that a glitch in the script or an example of dramatic irony?
Be prepared for a long movie with stunning cinematography, simmering effects and a storyline that will keep you guessing.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, will be released in cinemas nationally in Australia on June 5. Heritage HM will also be delivering a range of resources to churches and schools Australia wide. For details contact 07 5445 6865 or email info at astounded.tv.
I’ve just heard (via Stephen at Prodigal Kiwi) that Mike Riddell’s 1997 book, The Insatiable Moon, is being developed as a feature film. In fact the film proposal is being taken to Cannes Film Festival this week.
The book (and now screen play) focuses on Arthur, a Maori man who is known to the residents of Ponsonby, Auckland, New Zealand, as the self-proclaimed second son of God. Arthur has a mission, which includes finding the Queen of Heaven (who turns out to be Margaret of Pakuranga). He interacts with the local vicar, a few homeless people and people living in the boarding houses of Ponsonby, to challenge the status quo of respectable society.
Mike, when he wrote the novel, was lecturer at the Baptist College of New Zealand in Auckland, a role he’d taken on after years pastoring at Ponsonby Baptist. Mike resigned and moved to Dunedin, knowing that many Baptists would have trouble with the gloriously graphic sex scene in the novel, let alone the ‘blasphemous’ exploration of a psychiatric patient’s claims to be the second son of God.
Arthur will be played by Rawiri Paratene , known around the world for his role as Koro in Whale Rider. I remember Rawiri’s poetry performances (with jazz pianist Mike Nock) from his time in Dunedin when he was Robert Burns Fellow at Otago University. Rawiri is likely to be joined by Timothy Spall, James Nesbitt and John Rhys-Davies.
Doctor Who is being featured in a worship service held in Cardiff on Sunday September 23, near the site of the fictional rift in time. Worshippers are being invited to compare a Time Lord with the Lord of Time during a eucharistic service.
Taste is a new cafe style worship experience for young people in Cardiff, part of the Anglican-sponsored Enter the Mystery experience. Teenagers and young people in their early 20s are being targeted for the “cafe-style” Communion service, with music and video clips from the hit series, at St Paul’s Church in Grangetown, Cardiff.
The Anglican church was used as a location two years ago for the Father’s Day episode of the first series, in which a giant reaper creature attacked wedding guests at the church.
Fr Dean Atkins, youth officer with the Diocese of Llandaff and one of the organisers of the service, said: “The figure of Doctor Who is somebody who comes to save the world, almost a Messiah figure. In the series there are lots of references to salvation and the doctor being almost immortal. We are using the figure of Doctor Who as a parable of Christ. The language used in the series lends itself to exploring the Christian faith.”
He added: “Christ is a kind of cosmic figure as well if you like, somebody who does not travel through time but all eternity is found in him. He is a kind of encapsulation of the beginning and the end, in fact he existed before time began and he will exist when time ends.”
Parish priest Fr Ben Andrews said: “I love the series, and it has such a great following that we couldn’t resist doing something for young people on a Doctor Who theme. Lots of people think that young people are the future of the Church. This kind of event will show they are part of the church of the present and have an important part to play in its future. We are building on the past but always looking forward.”
See the story on the BBC site, including a streamed interview with Dean Atkins.
Fernando Gros has done his bit to pass on the ‘One Book Meme’ by suggesting I add my responses to his…
One book that changed my life
I’d have to say the Bible is the one book that’s transformed my worldview, given me connections to a community of millions of people, and kept my every day in perspective.
Terry Pratchett’s The Last Continent, set in the land of EcksEcksEcksEcks, with Rincewind, a mystical kangaroo and many other quirky characters.
One book that made you cry
Shattered and Restored, the story of Elsa McInnes’ experience of grief when her husband, Garth McInnes, died of cancer. Garth was the minister in the Presbyterian Church in the area in which I grew up. I read the story not long after my own daughter died, and found the story helped express my own grief.
One book that you wish had been written
The story of J.D. Salmond, a Christian/Religious Education guru in the Presbyterian Church in New Zealand. I wrote the story in 1991 but for some reason never took the steps to get it published.
One book you wish had never been written
The Late Great Planet Earth, published by Hal Lindsay in 1970, was a distraction for me and many other people, setting up a Christian culture prone to paranoid conspiracy theories. This would have to be equal with Chick cartoon tracts.
One book you are currently reading
Stephen Lawhead’s Song of Albion trilogy, Paradise War, The Endless Knot, and Silver Hand. I first read these three books when they came out in the early 1990s. Lawhead’s books are set in the style of Stephen Donaldson’s Covenant series and C.S. Lewis’s Sci Fi series, developing an ‘other world’ version of a Celtic warrior society.
Last week I met up with another expatriate Kiwi, Carolyn Kelly, who’s doing postgraduate study at the University of Aberdeen. Her doctorate in systematic theology is focusing on George MacDonald and the Baptised Imagination, looking at the ‘creative’ self and revelation.
This week I stumbled upon “Back of the North Wind“, a blog developed over the past year by “Donal Grant”, a recovering fundamentalist in California. His blog discusses theology, philosophy, religion and life inspired by the writings of George MacDonald, and perhaps others such as CS Lewis.
MacDonald’s capacity to write fantasy influenced other writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Madeline L’Engle. He influenced me too, through my reading of his fantasties “At the back of the North Wind” and The Princess and the Goblin when I was about 11 or 12. Reading the world through MacDonald’s eyes opened my imagination and creative capacity to new levels.
George MacDonald has his own MySpace page, (administered posthumously of course), an entry at Wikipedia, and fan sites at www.george-macdonald.com, and the George MacDonald Society.
MacDonald, a congregationalist minister, was not admired by his colleagues when he challenged the Calvinist doctrine of subsitutionary atonement. He preferred to look at the Christus Victor understanding of atonement in which Jesus died to deal with sin rather than the wrath of God against sin. I can see how MacDonald’s work would be helpful for a recovering fundamentalist.
I’ve just finished reading Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel, “Thud”. I’m a bit of a slow reader - a few pages each night before I fall asleep - so I’ve been beaten to the book by three other members of the family.
‘Thud’ is the name of a fictional chess-like strategy game played by dwarves and trolls. Players have to play the game twice, once using the dwarves on the board, and once using the trolls on the board. That way players get to think from the perspective of the other race.
Terry Pratchett uses the ‘Thud’ game as the centre-piece in a murder mystery set in Ankh Morpork (London) and the Valley of Koom (Armageddon?). Inspector Sam Vimes and his police team must solve the puzzle surrounding the death of dwarves in underground tunnels before all hell breaks loose in a re-enactment of the cataclysmic battle of Koom.
This is a satirical insightful exploration of the dynamics behind racial conflict, particularly in the light of the London bombings.
Over the school holidays Ennis, my wife, has been working away at a novel based in Australia and New Zealand. It’s a fantasy kind of novel. A bit like Stephen Lawhead’s Song of Albion Series meets Stephen Donaldson’s Thomas Covenant Series meets 16-year-old students who disocver connections between their town in Victoria, Australia and Paradise.
Ennis is researching and writing it up on her Novel Blog. So far she’s up to Chapter 16. She’d be interested in any comments.
I’ve just read Mitch Albom’s novel, “The Five People You Meet In Heaven“. It’s the story of an eighty three year old veteran of World War II who dies while trying to save a girl in an amusement park. The story takes us through Eddie’s life through encounters in heaven with five people whose lives intersected with his in significant ways.
I’ve seen the book in Borders and in airport bookshops and almost bought it several times. Finally I succumbed, finishing it on a plane flight from Mackay to Brisbane.
Well I must say I was impressed, moved and intellectually stimulated. This is the guy who wrote “Tuesdays with Morrie”, the non-fiction account of his conversations with his college mentor, sociologist Morrie Schwartz who was dying from Lou Gehrig’s disease. Mitch is in touch with matters of life and death. He touches on the experiences of post traumatic stress disorder, the impact of resentment and forgiveness, and the transformative effects of deep and faithful love.
Mitch is also a nationally-syndicated newspaper columnist for the Detroit Free Press, nationally-syndicated radio host for his flagship station WJR-AM in Detroit, and television commentator. He has an excellent web site - www.mitchalbom.com - featuring tapes from Tuesdays with Morrie and interviews from his radio shows. He’s clearly at home on the internet - with well designed sites www.albom.com and www.albomfivepeople.com.
“Five People” was made into a television movie, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels and Michael Imperioli. Likewise Tuesdays with Morriewas dramatized for television, starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. Morrie wrote his own book, “Morrie: In His Own Words” and was interviewed on ABC’s Nightline by Ted Koppel. Those interviews are now available on DVD as “ABC News presents Morrie Schwartz - Lessons on Living“.
I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on Thursday night. As I wandered down the hallway towards theatre 9 with two members of the family I commented on how few people were walking in. I would have thought the place would be packed. I soon found out why. Everyone was already there. I ended up with a seat three from the front - not good for the neck I tell you. Apart from the awkward seating angles required to see the screen, it was well worth going.
The movie opens with Harry, Hermoine and the Weasleys heading off to the Quidditch World Cup with two members of the Diggory family.
The first thing I noticed was the long hair. These are teenagers as I remember them in the mid 1970s. The visual effects were sheer magic. The director Mike Newell managed to convey a the sense of panic and destruction that ensues on the night of the match.
Mike Newell was also the director of Mona Lisa Smile, Donnie Brasco, Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Masks of Evil. He’s quoted as saying, “”I was very anxious to break the franchise out of this goody-two-shoes feel. It’s my view that children are violent, dirty, corrupt anarchists. Just adults-in-waiting basically.”
The movie, and even more so the book, brings out the ambiguity of life. Harry’s discovering that it’s not so easy to distinguish between good and evil. The friendship between Harry, Ron and Hermione goes through the throes of jealousy, mistrust and sheer bad communication - the plight of fourteen year olds. And then there’s the sheer frustration of fourteen year old girls struggle with the inability of their peers to rise to the challenge of romance.
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Roger Lloyd-Pack, best known for his work as Owen Newitt in Vicar of Dibley, does an excellent job as Barty Crouch. Eric Sykes, famous English comedian, plays the part of the murdered caretaker right at the beginning. Reporter Rita Skeeter is played by Miranda Richardson, best known in our house as Queenie (Queen Elizabeth I) in Blackadder. Madame Olympe Maxime is played by Frances de la Tour, known for her role in British sitcom, Rising Damp.
I’ve just finished the third book for the week: Alexander McCall Smith’s novel, “44 Scotland Street”. The novel was serialised over 110 episodes in the Scotsman newspaper in the first half of 2004. The story follows the exploits of Pat McGregor, a twenty year old Edinburgh woman who has a second go at a gap year. She moves into the flat of Bruce Anderson, a narcissistic body building surveyor, and takes up a job as gallery assistant to ineffectual Matthew. In the process she meets anthropologist neighbour Domenica Macdonald and portrait painter Angus Lordie. There’s Irene, the obsessive mother of Bertie, Italian-speaking five-year-old saxophonist. And Stuart her husband.
It’s a gentle read - with an almost tongue in cheek account of life in Edinburgh. I’ve never been there but Douglas, the chap who gave us the book earlier this year, says McCall Smith has done an excellent job.
Alexander McCall Smith is better known for his series, The No. 1 Ladies’s Detective Agency, featuring Precious Ramotswe, Botswana’s leading, and only, female private detective. He has a web site, www.mccallsmith.com with news on his books and an audio extract from the audiobook, “In the Company of Cheerful Ladies”. He has also started a couple of other series: the Sunday Philosophy Club, featuring Edinburgh sleuth Isabel Dalhousie, and the von Igelfeld series, starring Professor Doctor Moritz-Maria von Igelfield.
According to The Scotsman, McCall Smith is about to release his second Scotland Street novel, Espresso Tales, and may well go on to start a third series of episodes. He has been here in Australia recently, putting in an appearance in Brisbane this last month. McCall Smith’s books are published by Polygon, an imprint of Scottish publishing company Birlinn.
Duncan Macleod posts on life, faith and culture in Australia, drawing from his involvement in the creative industry, the Uniting Church, the blogosphere, generational research, the emerging church and life on the Gold Coast.
MacDonald’s capacity to write fantasy influenced other writers such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and Madeline L’Engle. He influenced me too, through my reading of his fantasties “At the back of the North Wind” and The Princess and the Goblin when I was about 11 or 12. Reading the world through MacDonald’s eyes opened my imagination and creative capacity to new levels.
I’ve just finished reading Terry Pratchett’s latest Discworld novel, “Thud”. I’m a bit of a slow reader - a few pages each night before I fall asleep - so I’ve been beaten to the book by three other members of the family.
I’ve seen the book in Borders and in airport bookshops and almost bought it several times. Finally I succumbed, finishing it on a plane flight from Mackay to Brisbane.
“Five People” was made into a television movie, starring Jon Voight, Ellen Burstyn, Jeff Daniels and Michael Imperioli. Likewise 
was dramatized for television, starring Jack Lemmon and Hank Azaria. Morrie wrote his own book, “
It’s a gentle read - with an almost tongue in cheek account of life in Edinburgh. I’ve never been there but Douglas, the chap who gave us the book earlier this year, says McCall Smith has done an excellent job.
