Review: Crux

Crux

About the Film:

ANIMA is a series of films that help us break through the noise of our everyday life in order to hear the voice of truth and love. Each film in the series guides us on an inward journey of self-reflection and wonder. The short movies feature Bishop Donald Hying as he incorporates the word of God, original music, and artistic cinematography.

crux / krəks, kro͝oks/ noun

the decisive or most important point at issue.

What experiences in your life can only be explained by the existence, the presence, and the intervention of God?

How does God becoming human in the person of Jesus change our understanding of being human, our understanding of God?

How can living in the present moment fill me with greater joy, peace, conviction and love?

This DVD not only encourages you to ponder thought-provoking questions during the short film, but also includes 3 key questions from Bishop Donald Hying for further reflection and discussion!

My Comments:

Crux is a well-done reflective movie featuring scenes in and around Milwaukee Wisconsin.  The narrator, who is Bishop Hying, encourages us to reflect on the fact that without God, our life is meaningless--what we have here is all there is, and once it is over, there is nothing more.  Bishop Hying also points out that without God, we have to be God in our lives, always right, always strong.  The main thing that struck me was when Bishop Hying said that most of the time if we are worried or regretful, it is because we are trying to live in the past or the future; most of the time the present is good, and we should appreciate that.  

This film is the first in a series.  They are all short; this one is about twelve minutes long and I think they would be good to use  with an adult or young adult prayer group.  The material (at least in Crux) is more reflective than instructional and is followed with the discussion questions listed above in italics.  

I'd like to thank Catholic Word for providing a complimentary review copy.  Grade:  B+

Good Material; Fair Animation

Thanks to Thomas Nelson's Book Blogger Program, my little one received a DVD of Bible Stories. The stories include the annunciation, the nativity, the birth of John the Baptist, the baptism of Jesus, the feeding of the 5,000, Adam and Eve, Noah's Ark, Jacob and Esau, and more. While the characters did not directly quote scripture, the paraphrase was generally close enough to be familiar and there was not a lot of extraneous material in the stories. For example, no one told Mary or Elizabeth that her baby was cute.

I realized when I requested the DVD that this wasn't likely to be a high-budget Disney-like presentation. However, even given that lack of expectation, I found some of the animation jerky and not well-coordinated with the sound. However, even though they were relatively simple, I think the illustrations did a good job of tellig the story being narrated.

Of course with a cartoon presentation like this, Mom's opinion is only part of the equation. The intended audience is somewhat younger than I am, so I am please to report that my four year old likes the DVD and has requested it several times. I guess it succeeded at its mission.

Since the DVD sticks pretty much to scripture to tell the story, rather than interpreting it, I didn't see anything that should give a Catholic parent pause; though the publisher is not Catholic. Thomas Nelson's product page is here.