Public Events: Talks and Films
Spring 2008 History Through Film Series: Dark Nights of the Soul: Religion and History
(series coordinator: Andrew Abalahin)
This Spring 2008, the Department of History’s film series will focus on the theme of the role of religion in history: How have religious beliefs shaped the lives of individuals caught up in the great collective events of history? How do historical films with religious themes express the time-less and the time-bound, be it the time that they are recreating or the time in which they are created?
-- All films are shown at 7:00 PM in the SDSU Little Theater and are open to the general public, free of charge. NOTE: Dates have been changed from those announced in the Fall 2007 department newsletter.
2/6/2008 I, THE WORST OF ALL (1990, 105 minutes)
Directed by Maria Luisa Bemberg. Based on Nobel Prize winner Octavio Paz’ novel, The Traps of Faith, this film portrays the life of the brilliant and beautiful Sister Juana Inés de la Cruz, the greatest poet of 17th c. Mexico. To pursue her love of writing free of the constraints of married life, Juana (played by Assumpta Serna) enters a convent. She finds a protectress in the Vicereine of Mexico, who facilitates the publication of her work in an era which largely repressed women’s intellectual achievements. Her writings gain her international renown but also the suspicion of the Inquisition… Facilitated by Paula De Vos, professor of Latin American history. View the Flyer (.pdf)
3/5/2008 JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (1973, 108 minutes)
Directed by Norman Jewison. Based on the long-running Broadway hit by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, this “rock opera” tells the story of the final week in the life of Jesus Christ through the troubled eyes of Judas Iscariot. Shot in Israel and filling the screen with a never-ending series of dazzling images, the film offers a radically new vision of a story from the Age of Tiberius and for us today fresh insight into the Age of Aquarius. Facilitated by Ed Blum, professor of American history.
4/9/2008 THE CHOSEN (1981, 108 minutes)
Directed by Jeremy Kagan. In 1940’s New York, two very different Jewish teenagers grow from playground rivals into close friends. Danny (Robbie Benson), the son of an immigrant Hasidic rabbi (Rod Steiger), thirsts for the wider world of knowledge represented by Reuven (Barry Miller), whose father is a professor and a Conservative Jew (Maximilian Schell); Reuven is in turn enraptured by the life of Danny’s close-knit family and synagogue. As World War II rages on, a new tension emerges: Reuven and his father work passionately for the creation of the state of Israel while Danny’s people just as passionately oppose it. Can their friendship survive? Based on Chaim Potok’s acclaimed novel. Facilitated by Laurie Baron, professor of European and Jewish history.
4/30/2008 SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER… AND SPRING (2003, 103 minutes)
Directed by Ki-duk Kim. In a tiny temple on raft floating on a mountain lake in Korea live an old monk and the young boy he is teaching the ways of the Buddha. The boy grows into a young man. One day, a young woman is brought by her mother to the temple to heal from an unspecified illness of the spirit. The mother leaves her daughter with the old monk and a temptation with the young monk: how long can the two young people hold out? And that’s just “Spring” and “Summer”… Exquisitely filmed, this universal story offers an unforgettable meditation on the passions and their consequences. A world-wide audience favorite. Facilitated by Andrew Abalahin, professor of Asian history.