A different kind of movie

This afternoon I'm taking my older daughters to see a just-released movie about St. Therese of Lisieux, or Therese the Little Flower. For more information about the movie, including where it's showing, go to the movie site.

I'm hoping two things: One, that the movie does extremely well at the box office, to show once again, as with "The Passion", that there is a market for movies about God and His saints, and two, that the movie has artistic merit.

UPDATE: Well, we saw the movie, and it was OK. Better than 90% of the movies out there, for sure, but not a great movie; certainly not on the level of "The Passion". Its strengths are beautiful cinematography, a moving and melodic score, and believable -- perhaps even inspired -- performances by Linsay Younce as Therese, and Leonardo Defilippis, the director, as Therese's doting and devout father.

But the film has serious flaws. The major weakness is that if you don't already know quite a bit about this amazing young saint, who was declared a Doctor of the Church, you will be, at best, puzzled about what exactly made her a saint, and at worst, led to believe that instead of being a courageous woman with a backbone of steel and a heart of pure love, she was an impulsive, somewhat self-centered child who never really learned to grow up. Her Christmas conversion is portrayed but not convincingly enough; her interior struggle to overcome human selfishness for the sake of Love is only hinted at; the final scene of her death is intended to be a tear-jerker, but doesn't come close to showing the sacrificial passion that contemporaneous accounts described.

So, before you see the movie, read The Story of a Soul, Therese's autobiography (written in obedience to the order of her prioress in the convent, who was her sister Pauline), and The Story of a Love, a compilation of letters written by Therese to a struggling missionary priest. These books will give you a much deeper insight into the strength and power of her "Little Way" to God.

And if you already know quite a bit about Therese, then by all means see the movie while you still can, because even with its major shortcomings, the movie still manages to inspire, and is a great reminder about the power of sacrificial love. It's just that you have to read between the scenes, so to speak, to get that message.