In “Teilhard: Visionary Scientist,” a new documentary to be broadcast on PBS, four key ideas emerge from the life and mind of Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955): evolution, integration, fire and passion.
The fascinating visionary, paleontologist, theologian, geologist, philosopher, evolutionary theorist and mystic provides ample subject matter for a two-hour documentary. In an exclusive interview for NCR, producer Mary Frost told me the film had taken 13 years to accomplish — shot in four countries on three continents (France, China, England and the U.S.) in 25 locations.
French Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is seen in this 1947 photo. (CNS/Public domain/Archives des Jesuits de France)
Mary and her co-producer husband Frank Frost made seven research trips to prepare for the film, followed by seven shooting trips. They interviewed 30 experts and banked 200 hours of video material that took them two years to edit. Jesuit Fr. Eddie Siebert of Loyola Productions did the cinematography and Taiwan-based Jesuit Fr. Jerry Martinson (who consulted on Martin Scorsese’s 2016 film “Silence”) was their Mandarin interpreter on shoots in China. Sadly, Martinson passed away in 2017, before “Teilhard” was completed.
Born and educated in France, Teilhard de Chardin was introduced to the study of stones and rocks by his father, Emmnuel, and to the life of faith by his mother, Berthe-Adele. While still a young boy, Teilhard had an existential crisis about the impermanence of matter, but as he matured spiritually, he began to understand that spirit and matter, the divine, the world, the universe, humanity and all creation are connected. He entered the Jesuits just before his 18th birthday and began to express these ideas in his writing from the front during World War I, during which he served as a medic.
Documentary debuts
“Teilhard: Visionary Scientist” debuts on PBS Maryland on May 19 at 4 p.m. Beginning on May 20, you can watch the documentary streaming on the free PBS app.
To continue reading my review at the NCReporter, click HERE
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