Mike wrote: The second film is called 'Amen' and is directed by Constantin Costa-Gavras. It deals with two people, a Catholic priest and a Waffen SS officer who together try to get the Pope to denounce the mass deportation and extermination of Jews. This was discussed here lately (on the list) and I wonder whether the protagonists of that debate (step forward Vince and Laurent) have seen the film or would like to. I'll try to look up the digests to see again what was said about the Pope's inactivity or otherwise in that matter.
Hi Mike, Didn't see Charlotte Grey but I did see AMEN. Costa Gavras adapted a play (The Vicar in french, but has a different english title) and clearly adopts the point of view that Pius XII did nothing. Joseph defended the opposite viewpoint, Vince sided with Costa Gavras. Although I had never heard of the supporting facts mentioned by Joseph, the one book denounced in Joseph's Vatican links was more restrained than it was depicted to be: Saul Friedlander's book says that no definite conclusion can be reached without access to the complete Vatican archives, which are finally supposed to be released to historians in the very near future. One thing is for sure: the local clergy who saved jews did so in disobedience to the heads of churches, who were of course getting directives from the Vatican. Amen ends with the priest being sent to a concentration camp. Logical ending, but at the time I saw the movie I said to myself that this must have been an exception. Upon reading Friedlander's book, I was shocked and relieved at the same time (as far as restoring my faith in mankind that is) to discover that, if I recall the exact figure, 260 german priests were found in the camps, and those were only the survivors. I would like to add as a footnote that although the Pope had a moral duty to react, most western countries did nothing as well, and either offered overzealous collaboration with the Nazis in their hunt (eg the french police, Ukranians, Latvians, Poles, etc), or simply shut off their gates to german jews (eg the U.S.sending boats back). The one notable exception among world leaders being Queen Kristina (from Sweden I think, or was it Denmark or Holland?) who wore the yellow star of David herself. Then one wonders why the Israelis only rely on themselves to garantee their safety, just a thought. Laurent
