{"id":4478,"date":"2012-08-30T09:26:35","date_gmt":"2012-08-30T13:26:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=4478"},"modified":"2012-08-30T09:26:35","modified_gmt":"2012-08-30T13:26:35","slug":"let-augustine-move-up-a-weight-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/let-augustine-move-up-a-weight-class.html","title":{"rendered":"Let Augustine Move Up a Weight Class"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I got to see\u00a0Restless Heart<\/em>, the new Augustine biopic last night. \u00a0It\u2019s not yet in theatres, but community groups can do special showings, and I was lucky enough to snag tickets to the one sponsored by St Anthony of Padua Church here in DC. \u00a0(You can put in a request to host a showing or see the list of upcoming events here<\/a>). \u00a0Here\u2019s the trailer:<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nThe trailer is super dramatic, but large parts of the movie are just people in period clothes standing around talking to each other\u2026\u00a0which is just the way I like it<\/em>. \u00a0Be warned, there\u2019s a really bad CGI shot of birds right at the beginning, which made me nervous about the quality of the film, but that turned out to be an abberation; on the whole, it\u2019s well put together.<\/p>\nWhat most surprised me about the film was how\u00a0unsurprising<\/em>\u00a0Augustine\u2019s eventual conversion felt. \u00a0 I\u2019m not sure whether or not I was pleased about that choice. \u00a0When Augustine is ascendant, as court orator, he was hesitant. \u00a0Perhaps this was meant to be the canny hanging-back of a mouth for hire, but it certainly came across as a\u00a0yearning<\/em>, only too aware that he was eating what was not bread, spending his labor on what failed to satisfy. \u00a0I think this will end up making it more attractive to Catholics, but less useful as outreach.<\/p>\nThroughout the movie, I wanted the struggle over Augustine\u2019s soul to look a little less one-sided. \u00a0It\u2019s not surprising that Ambrose is Augustine\u2019s strongest opponent, but I would have liked to see the other philosophies Augustine explored given similarly poignant and eloquent defenders. \u00a0The audience snickered through the scene where Augustine was being pitched on\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Manichaeism\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Manichaeism<\/a>, and no wonder, since it was quickly glossed as \u201cNo one is responsible for their actions, since our nature is imprisoned in matter, which is evil, but if we follow Mani, we will become pure light or spirit.\u201d \u00a0It sounded New Agish, and Augustine looked uncertain when we saw him in their midst.<\/p>\nBut Manichaeism\u00a0is<\/em> tempting. \u00a0(Not just to me, I swear!). \u00a0It has echoes in the modern worship of the intellect and the abstract. \u00a0Augustine was drawn to Manichaeism because he was seeking\u00a0truth<\/em>, and they seemed plausible at the time. \u00a0I would have liked to see more of his upward striving toward knowledge and disappointment when he realized he was on the wrong path. \u00a0In the film, he seemed to be primarily choosing between Catholicism and nihilism. \u00a0The starkness of that choice makes more sense when you can see that Augustine has been stumbling on his pursuit of Truth and might have reason to wonder whether his mistake was in his choice of path or in believing there was a path at all.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/08\/augustine-restless-heart.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-4494\" title=\"augustine restless heart\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/84\/2012\/08\/augustine-restless-heart.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"322\" height=\"322\"><\/a><\/p>\nAs it is, the nihilism he\u2019s offered is pretty boring nihilism. \u00a0The Roman court is petty and cruel, and Augustine never seems drawn in. \u00a0The Empress mother comes off as villainous from her first appearance, so it feels like Augustine sacrifices very little when he throws away his political life in his conversion. \u00a0I\u2019d prefer the malignancy of his life at court to be less obvious or for the audience to feel more implicated in its ugliness.<\/p>\nHis tutor in rhetoric is a more successful devil. \u00a0The orator asks him if he is strong enough to live without the truth, and he\u2019s not just offering simple hedonism as the prize. \u00a0Augustine looks the most alive when he is speaking as a lawyer. \u00a0He wields rhetoric the way an painter uses a brush and tempts us to think the results of both are value neutral. \u00a0Isn\u2019t technical genius its own\u00a0licence? \u00a0You get a real sense of Augustine joy in creation, and that true joy animating unworthy ends is what makes this temptation harder to brush aside and the eventual victory more\u00a0exhilarating. \u00a0A philosophy looks strongest when you let it loose on non-strawmen.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nP.S. A couple times I wondered about the accuracy or timing of a few incidents (since biopics usually telescope events), but I\u2019m forgoing Wikipedia and rereading the Confessions<\/em>, instead. \u00a0This was, as best I can recall, the first Christian work I read post-conversion, and I\u2019m looking forward to returning to it now that some time has passed and I\u2019ve entered the catechumenate.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I got to see\u00a0Restless Heart, the new Augustine biopic last night. \u00a0It\u2019s not yet in theatres, but community groups can do special showings, and I was lucky enough to snag tickets to the one sponsored by St Anthony of Padua Church here in DC. \u00a0(You can put in a request to host a showing or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-apologetics","category-reviewsrecommendations"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Let Augustine Move Up a Weight Class<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I got to see\u00a0Restless Heart, the new Augustine biopic last night. \u00a0It's not yet in theatres, but community groups can do special showings, and I was lucky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/08\/let-augustine-move-up-a-weight-class.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" 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