Greatest Movies of All Time Guest Podcast: Ben-Hur

 

This year I've been so grateful to guest on several podcasts and audio collaborations! Recently, I was part of the Greatest Movies of All Time episode discussing Ben-Hur!

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You can follow @GMOATPodcast for more or See and Hear the episode on YouTube. Keep track of my previous Podcast and Video guest appearance with our blog tags and stay tuned for more! I can also be heard regularly on the Women InSession Podcast at InSessionFilm.com and am currently booking guest spots into mid-2025. For collabs, messaging on Twitter is still open, but I'm much happier at Blue Sky! 

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More Audio/Visual Appearances:

Neverending Watchlist James Bond Collab

Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed with Making Tarantino

The Jay Days Halloween Horror TV Video Special

Quiz Show (1994) Video Review

 

Let's talk briefly about the multifaceted 1994 film Quiz Show, directed by Robert Redford and starring Ralph Fiennes, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, and more. This ahead of its time drama layers the commentary on television and the audience ourselves mirror today's celebrity and social media.

Please feel free to comment below or join the conversation with us at Therefore I Review on Twitter! Let us know if you'd like to see more of these single film video critiques. Thank you for watching and feel free to read more of our Ralph Fiennes analysis at InSession Film!

The Unusual Ralph Fiennes at InSession Film

Shakespeare Brevity Video Review

Classic Shakespeare Film List

Marilyn Monroe at the 300 Passions Podcast

Frightening Flix Horror Video Reviews Playlist

April DVD Thrift Haul

Religious Discourse and Documentaries

Religious Discourse and Documentaries

by Kristin Battestella

These documentaries and series provide friendly starting points on broad biblical subjects as well as high concept theology and religious supposition.

Beasts of the Bible – This 2010 documentary starts off with unnecessary ominous and eerie foreshadowing alongside laughable CGI and animated critters crawling across the screen. An endearing host, animals, or zoo locations would have been better than the redundant prologue and slithering titles padding the run time. Fortunately, expert demonstrations, aquariums, and specimens in jars are more fun amid the medieval bestiaries, alternate scriptures, and scholars debating if the tempting serpent in the Garden of Eden had legs. Modern animal authorities showing lizards, boa constrictors, and monitors are far better than fake visuals as poison salamanders, prehistoric predators, skeletal evidence, and evolutionary changes make the reptilian connections. Moses' staff may have been a snake, too, however his brother Aaron's rod is describe as turning into a “tannin”– Biblical shade taking digs at Pharaoh, Egyptian gods, and the Nile crocodile. Archaeology and ancient ruins help investigate crocodile mummies stuffed with relics while Hebrew scholars compare Greek translations and original etymology to clarify the insects featured in the Ten Plagues. Frogs and locust, sure, but also gnats and mosquitoes rather than lice, dangerous swarms instead of just flies, and potentially killer bacteria like anthrax causing those infamous boils. The science does jump the fantastic shark with mermaid talk when suggesting Philistine temples to Dagon and half-man, half-fish gods were just manatees, seals, or sea lions conflated with myths and mistranslation. Was Jonah and the Whale really a mega mouth shark or merely metaphors for maritime constellations? Some of these Old Testament animal tales are more famous than others, but intriguing creatures such as unicorns, griffons, satryrs, and giants are missing. There's no mention of Noah's Ark, and the hippopotamus as the behemoth or oar fish as sea monsters and leviathan feel tacked on in the final twenty minutes before abruptly ending with cherubs, eagles, and Ezekial visions. The hyperbolic voiceover often negates the interesting theories presented, and embellishments or dated visuals waste precious minutes – every encounter has to have some kind of secret, shocking revelation. This Animal Planet presentation ends on unknown horrors and “Here be dragons” winks when the subject matter is entertaining enough to be a longer series. Fortunately, although the live feeding snakes may scare younger viewers, this eye catching style can be fun for kids who like creepy crawlies.

The Dead Sea Scrolls: Voices from the Desert – There are so many old Dead Sea Scrolls documentaries streaming that I had to make sure this wasn't the same one I reviewed previously. Though dated 2016, this hour is obviously older, too, thanks to large computers, then new database analysis, and sharing the high resolution photographs or documentation on CD – recent academic strides nonetheless after decades of painstaking restoration work and study opportunities only open to a select few. Vintage newsreels of the discovery reiterate the history alongside fears and conspiracies that always seem to come in Dead Sea Scrolls discourse, and aerial views of the Qumran ruins and on location cave scientists better explain how the harsh climate helped preserve the documents. Carbon 14 proof pinpoints the first century when but not why as interviews with both Hebrew and Catholic scholars dissect the language, scriptures, and incomplete text. Varying language, penmanship, and reconstruction is not without controversy, however, as touching up the text or attaching fragments requires interpretative decisions. NASA imaging replacing infared mid-century photographs and new satellite technology reveal an elaborate Dead Sea complex while DNA sampling can help match texts from the same hide. Rather than the back and forth discovery history, the second half here improves with recent publications and academia studies detailing the Scrolls' contents – Community Rule for the Sons of Light, scriptorium organization, and obsessions with purification in spirit, ritual baths, and precious desert water. Special clay jars, sundials, and hasty construction suggests the Essenes knew what they were doing was for posterity even if their excessive military preparation failed at Roman hands – leaving no one to tell us about the wither tos and why fors. Although this doesn't really share anything new to those familiar with the Scrolls and doesn't have time to get in depth with all the angles it presents, this hour remains a good introductory piece or classroom starter and springboard to individual research.

How Jesus Became God – This 2014 twenty-four episode Great Courses lecture presented by the University of North Carolina's Bart D. Ehrman posits whether Jesus was divine or merely a dissonant rabbi prophet against Rome teaching to love god and your neighbor as yourself. The historical versus theological questions begin with earlier godly and human relationships – Roman gods, humans becoming revered in Greece, and elevations in Ancient Judaism alongside other miraculous births, Appollonius of Tyana, Nephilim, immortals, and mortals with magical children. From gods becoming human or coming down in the garden to call Adam and others elected as deified like Romulus or Julius Caesar to angels and Satan; the Old Testament is also rampant with all manner of intermingling between man and gods. While some lectures are broad, others are specifically focused on Genesis, Job, and the pyramid of divine hierarchy – a demimonde of saintly or fallen movement with which pagans were accustomed. “Son of God” and “Sons of God” were ironically common phrasing in early Jewish texts, and onscreen notations break down Jesus' ministry, his disciples, and the gentile spread thanks to the polytheistic ease in believing a man made god. Not believing in his resurrection means the Jesus movement would have remained a small sect of Judaism, so the question isn't necessarily whether he was or was not God but how early Christians themselves perceived Jesus. Paul's letters vary amid Trinity confusion and one god separating his divine partiality thanks to hypostatis and the personification of God's Wisdom or Word. Jesus' own ministry was about preparing for God's coming kingdom, not his own divinity, and the reverence came from others bowing down to a suffering messiah created after the fact. Crucifixion would seem to be a failure if not for the resurrection – whether he rose from the dead or not is almost beside the point because the spread of the belief in Christ's resurrection and the visions after his death are what spurred the Jesus movement to change history. The discourse, however, does get redundant in the middle – how many times can one say denominations bend the scripture to fit their beliefs? – and debating the fifty years plus between the crucifixion and the gospel writings is more interesting, combing Acts and Romans for earlier quotes and possible Q references common in the early movement but distorted like a game of telephone by time the New Testament was gathered. Exhalations of Jesus as the Son of God were adopted at the resurrection, but later ideologies move his divinity backward – his baptism, at birth, all eternity, existence at the beginning with God. Which is the truth when the gospels themselves present multiple cases? Docetism, Ignatius, non-canonical books, and disparate texts in the first and second centuries allowed for multiple points of view including Marcion ideas on the appearance of Jesus as a human rather than a bodily being and Gnosticism versus sacrifice. Despite Christianity originally being much more diverse, orthodox worship was ultimately dominated by Rome and the founding of the Catholic church, leading to persecutions for different beliefs before Constantine's conversion and Council of Nicea declarations creating today's somewhat more harmonious tradition. Had he not been raised from the dead, Jesus would have been a historical footnote about a prophet who's predictions failed, and at times the narrative favors Josephus and history over the spiritual, but our professor also admits that history is woefully inaccurate. Although confusing for a new believer and the deeply religious may balk at the idea of examining Jesus' divinity, this is nothing to be threatened by thanks to detailed timelines and texts breaking down fascinating first century sources. Should proving theories, scholars, or miracles one way or the other change what you believe? No, and this series remains a provocative supplement recounting historical facts as well as theological ideologies past and present for the faithful scholar or a higher education study.

Disappointing

Who Wrote the New Testament? – This 2016 two hours plus doesn't need opening re-enactments, scripture quotes, and famous lines montages bloating the time; the viewer is already here for the Word of God analysis, who collected the Twenty-Seven New Testament works, and the conflicts over which letters, gospels, and accounts to include. Why is there no definitive account of Christ? Why do no original manuscripts remain – just copies of copies written decades later in Greek? Despite the tantalizing opportunities, this documentary is all over the place to start with Mount Sinai monasteries, stolen documents, and arid preservation setting the scene with great on location tours and rituals but showing precious little on site researchers, modern cataloging, digital opportunities, and fellow academics. Non-canon texts such as Epistles from Barnabas and Clement or Thomas and Mary gospels help reveal the risk of following Jesus, his inevitable outcome in standing up to Rome, and the danger in following him to record his ministry – leaving oral traditions to carry the story when so many were illiterate. It takes over twenty minutes for all this background before we get to discrepancies and enigmas in Mark and how easy it is for later scribes making choices or transcription mistakes to change locations or verses. Matthew's account bridges the Jewish history of early Christianity while prolific Luke's Gospel and Acts of the Apostles take up a quarter of the New Testament to spread the Jesus Movement to the gentiles. Rumors of Luke's decapitation and burial in Padua are tested with exhumed bones, DNA analysis, and matching the skull to the body – fascinating stuff that is bizarrely tossed in here with less time spent on the purported Q source gospel and parchment pieces from John's Gospel. Odd editing makes it seem as if this was part of a larger series now condensed into one special, for the narrative is terribly haphazard in postulating one generic, problematic, or science related aspect to the scripture before dropping it in favor of Hitler's disturbing Bible translations. I was not expecting to see Holocaust footage when I tuned in nor Protestant Reformation scandals or Mary Magdalene gossip. The fast moving meandeing can't cover its own topic – lumping the New Testament Letters together for a few moments before splitting hairs over the controversies within them instead. James and Jude earn a mention before going back to Paul amid circumcision, pagans, and a throwaway line wondering which epistles Paul really penned or not. All this is thrown at the screen in the first hour alone, and I zoned out after that. If you are studying a particular part of the New Testament, this is really only worth the matching sampling if you can find it, for this is a thematic mess that ultimately never does what it says on the tin.

Religious Viewing Round Up

A Religious Viewing Round Up

by Kristin Battestella

These movies, documentaries, series, and biographies tackle numerous famous names, spiritual places, and religious histories for some uplift or education near and far and for one and all.

David and Bathsheba –A written prologue sets the scene for this 1951 tale sourced from the Second Book of Samuel starring Gregory Peck (To Kill a Mockingbird) and Susan Hayward (I Want to Live!) as the Israel shaking titular couple. Yes, the cast is unfortunately white washed with stars of the day. The script also fails Peck by being too preachy, as if he has to repeat all of the Hebrew history onscreen to make the casting authentic after the fact. This waxing philosophical, however, and the wishy washy infatuations that come with it make for slow, non-interactive scenes – there's a lot of talking and not a lot of doing in what supposed to be such a passionate story. The scandalous for the time peaking at Susan Hayward bathing also isn’t much taboo today, and her somewhat flat delivery leads to more back talk then chemistry. What do you want? No, what do you want? Obligatory Ark of the Covenant appearances, tribal dancing for the court, stonings, Psalm 23 recitings, and Star of David emblems likewise lend more Hollywood stereotypical rather than historical accuracy. Though mid-century colorful, the small-scale designs can’t be compared to other Biblical epics like Samson and Delilah before or The Ten Commandments after thanks to modern hairstyles and obvious matte backgrounds. Fortunately, it’s nearly impossible to dislike Peck’s soft spoken and wise king in love. Although, audiences may find it difficult to believe such a traditional good guy would be so unscrupulous and shady. 3,000 year old spoiler alert – David sends his lover Bathsheba’s husband to the front lines so he'll die in battle. Intriguing thoughts on whether David is a fraud not living up to his predecessor Saul only provides background for a few scenes before Peck grows a beard and gets his crisis of faith burdens on in a final half hour of repentance accented by a lovely Oscar nominated score from Alfred Newman (The King and I). While this romance is again not on the same scope as other Old Testament yarns, fans of the cast can enjoy the performances here, and this fits in nicely for a religious marathon or classroom comparison and accuracy discussion.

The Great Works of Sacred Music – Everything from chanting and where we get the “amen” to Handel's Messiah and Christmas music is meticulously detailed in this 2015 sixteen episode series from the Great Courses Signature Collection. Professor of Musicology at Oberlin College Conservatory Charles Edward McGuire focuses on western Christian music from the Middle Ages to 1901, defining how originally sacred music used solely for worship has now become a mixture of concert and entertainment. Does it make the Latin chorales and canon hymns any less reverent if they are now heard in the concert hall? Ritual origins, strophic formats, melodies, and texts cross denominations or change to suit new religious needs, and our Professor sings with onscreen music measures while comparing and contrasting the syllabic, melismatic, and neumatic notes. Familiar tunes and memorable names such as William Henry Monk, Charles Wesley, and St. Augustine anchor debates on hymn structure, whether a trained choir or congregation is meant to sing, and what makes “hallelujah” such a special word. Twelfth and Thirteenth century chanting begets monophonic versus polyphonic mass music, Latin prayers sung, and innovative oratorios before Renaissance aesthetics pass into artifacts no longer heard in their original worship purpose. Despite a wealth of surviving medieval music, much of it is actually lost and unknown. What instruments were used? How many people sung this? How did this sound then? Differences between who could chant, such as those ordained or not, and Gregorian naming disputes fade as the Protestant Reformation brings new styles to the public and opera competes with sacred music for sponsors and patrons – forcing composers the likes of Monteverdi and Vivaldi to combine the minstrel with reverence at the turn of the seventeenth century. Mendelssohn details and Mozart Requiem samples highlight new accompaniments and arrangements alongside the increasing use of musical instruments, organs, and strings. Two episodes here are dedicated to Bach's Cantatas, moving his Mass in B minor pinnacle from sacred to concert repertoire complete with translations of Lutheran texts, Haydn's The Creation, and personal meets pious Christus am Olberge versus Missa solemnis Beethoven explorations. The nineteenth century somewhat anti-establishment music of Brahms and Verdi, however, gives way to a Victorian resurgence of longstanding carols – from the Latin origins of O Come All Ye Faithful and the Coventry Carol to the German Silent Night and surprisingly recent O Come, O Come Emmanuel – where anyone can lift up their voices. This is a very detailed breakdown of lyrics, notes, history, and composition not intended for a non-musical layman – this series is more for those already with a music background rather than an introduction piece. At forty-five minutes per episode, the sessions are somewhat long, padded with caveats explaining about what they are going to explain or even over-explain thanks to redundant melodies and repeated talk of one note differences that are indistinguishable to the common ear. One can easily zone out as the analysis goes deeper and deeper, however the pleasant music samples, familiar cues, and famous names call one back for more. These segments are superb for independent musical scholars or for a picking and choosing study honing in on specific composers. 

 

John Wesley: The Faith that Sparked the Methodist Movement – On location English tours, period maps, and religious artwork accent this documentary on the eighteenth century founder as scholars detail Wesley's early life and family background as the son of an Epworth rector alongside his younger brother Charles – two of ten surviving from a whopping nineteen! Onscreen writings and voiceover quotes recount his mother's methodical routine, theology, and home tutoring, which helped shape Wesley's early education before surviving a childhood fire left him seeking out his special purpose in life. Sports at Christchurch College in Oxford are traded for pious prayer meetings with brother Charles – mocked by other students as “The Holy Club” despite the group's mission to help the poor, support families with loans, and establish schools. By 1735, however, Wesley's inexperience and lack of faith lead to failure in America before Moravian associates strengthen his personal religious commitment. Wesley's new heartfelt ministry anchored in methodical beliefs, unfortunately, wasn't welcome by the Anglican church. Though he himself was initially appalled at open air meetings, Wesley's teachings from the outdoor pulpit allowed common people who couldn't afford to attend bigger cathedrals or religious schools to hear and embrace his ideology on salvation and grace through spiritual discipline. Wesley promotes the then shocking notion that people of multiple classes and stations can worship together by organizing small groups and societies where the faithful can uplift each other thanks to the non-ordained or women ministers. Such preaching seemingly against the Church of England led to mob threats and physical attacks on the Wesleys – who nonetheless remained Anglican. Wesley continued to write sermons and publications challenging authority – standing at a desk even though he was only 5'3 – and welcomed the illiterate to attend his services, for they could sing what they could not read. When his hometown scoffed at the open air churches, Wesley took to Bristol to build the first Methodist church in 1739. This “New Room” became a school, shelter, and chapel featuring Charles Wesley's hymns, and although Wesley never intended to set up a new denomination, the Methodist numbers grew into the thousands as missionaries and followers sailed to America. This presentation is a little older and slightly juvenile thanks to dramatizations from a film with bad effects and a terrible wig called Wesley: A Heart Transformed that unnecessarily stray into abstracts when facts from the experts and notes from the man himself are more interesting. Many may know the subject by name but not much of the details, and this hour is good for a Sunday School accompaniment or jumping off point for further biographical study.

Dated Split Decision

Enigma of the Dead Sea Scrolls – This 2009 hour chronicling the 2,000 year old documents opens with Jerusalem celebrations and brief recaps on the coming together of the Christian Bible before the eponymous 1947 Qumran caves happenstance. Unfortunately, rather than letting the facts speak for themselves or expanding on a peek inside the museum basement where only a select few can see the unpublished texts firsthand; the flowery, anecdotal narration bounces back and forth. The rough VHS looking presentation also remains terribly dated thanks to constant complaints regarding the secretive releasing of the documents, creating controversy and spending more time on people who refused to talk on camera. Then contemporary footage fill ins and second hand accounts invoke a tabloid, unauthentic feeling that points fingers about the texts before tossing in wartime history instead of discussing the actual scrolls. This briefly mentions the content of the parchments themselves, who wrote them and why with details on early Jewish and Christian sects before again downplaying the academic excitement with war time delays and unscrupulous dealers trying to profit from the discovery. The uneven, confusing narrative compromising interesting nuggets on copper scrolls, carbon dating confirmations, and questions on why the documents were hidden. The purpose here seems more angry at the wrongs rather than having excitement for the historic and religious value of the scrolls – as if conspiracies to suppress the materials are more important than potential Essenes origins, Masada connections, surviving pottery, and new restorations using high resolution photography. Although the Dead Sea Scrolls Wikipedia page has a much more detailed, organized timeline, there is a certain historical value in seeing the older footage here and how digital access for all has changed some of the cloak and dagger secrecy from decades prior. Some segments are also useful for the classroom, however the old fashioned tone and lacking of current facts creates a frustrating shortsightedness, leaving one in search of a deeper independent study.

Didn't Finish It

The Cathedral – State University of New York at Geneseo History Professor William R. Cook uses videos, animations, and photography to capture the architectural scale and magnificent awe of the eponymous but not necessarily all ecclesiastic buildings of Western Europe in this 2010 Great Courses twenty-four episode series. Explanations on the bishop's throne as a cathedra help define a cathedral at its simplest as a building with a cathedra in it before detailing how that role as a seat of the religious authority has changed since the earliest fourth century large scale worship constructions thanks to centuries of encroaching urban development and adaptations for contemporary use – not to mention the destruction or survival of many churches amid medieval upheavals, rebellions, or more recent wartime damage. High definition zooms highlight facade statuary, inner sanctum iconography, stain glass windows, and their past repairs or modern updates. The focus here is largely on French buildings with Romanesque styles and the evolution of the vaulted ceiling before Saint-Denis and the emergence of Gothic design, Notre Dame glory, and the peculiar cathedral at Laon. However, there are also spotlights on Chartres, English Norman meets Gothic developments, and Italian architecture. There is a lot of fast talking information here and at first I skipped around, as there are numerous tangents that leave you wondering what this has to do with the topic of the half hour at hand. Instead of being a fresh course made available thanks to new streaming technology, our Professor reminds me of a stuffy Ross Perot – some segments are forced to be at school dry or sermon heavy handed since he stands at a podium when other presenters in the Great Courses lectures are more relaxed. It's easy to zone out unless there is a picture, because I think most viewers would ultimately tune in here for the history of the featured buildings and seeing all the pretty architectural details. However, those purple ties and green shirts are kind of fun, and I might try Cook's 2014 follow up The World's Greatest Churches, as it seems to feature much more international variety from which to pick and choose.

Top Ten: Religious Shows and Books!

Welcome to our new Top Tens series in celebration of I Think, Therefore I Review's Tenth Anniversary! These monthly lists will highlight special themes and topics from our extensive archive of reviews.

This time I Think, Therefore I Review presents in chronological order...

Our Top Ten Religious Movies, Documentaries, and Books!

Samson and Delilah

Gentleman's Agreement

The Robe

The Bible According to Hollywood

Billy Graham: God's Ambassador

The Nativity Story

25 Days to Christmas

National Geographic: The Gospel of Judas and In Search of Easter

Unplug the Christmas Machine

One Night with the King

Please see our Christian tag or Christmas label for more spiritual reviews. 

I Think, Therefore I Review began as the blog home for previously published reviews and reprinted critiques by horror author Kristin Battestella. Naturally older articles linked here may be out of date and codes or formatting may be broken. Please excuse any errors and remember our Top Tens will generally only include films, shows, books, or music previously reviewed at I Think, Therefore I Review.

The Search (1948)

The Search is a Heartbreaking Must See

By Kristin Battestella

In 1948’s The Search, GI engineer Ralph Stevenson (Montgomery Clift) takes in the displaced nine year old Karel (Ivan Jandl) in post-war Berlin. When unable to find the young Auschwitz survivor's family through the Central Tracing Bureau, Steve goes through the lengthy paperwork to have “Jim” return to America with him. However, Karel's mother Hanna Malik (Jarmila Novotná) is likewise going through the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, spending months walking from camp to camp searching for her son.

Every time The Search is on television, I say I won't tune in, for two hours later I am crying from this inevitably sad yet heartwarming little piece from director Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity). Relief groups are corralling children, trying to find out who they are and where they came from before the concentration camps, and this rescued road will be difficult for children understandably still afraid of vehicles collecting them to be gassed. I wouldn't blame anyone for turning off The Search before it really starts thanks to early Oliver Twist style assembly lines feeding starving kids as they recount their time as slave labor sorting the clothes of the gassed by size and finding a relative's clothes among them. The narration is also odd today – no voiceover is really needed because the visuals are so strong – but the warm female voice emphasizes this plight without requiring more children to perform more dialogue in the various languages. Besides, their pitiful little states are enough to make one wonder if all these tiny kids are really survivors themselves. Military initials and group acronyms invoke a systematic sense of order as back and forth interviews and translations reveal important details, and the names of the concentration camps standout regardless of the languages spoken or other almost insurmountable communication barriers. The flashback of the Malik family singing together may seem like a backtrack breaking the emotion established, but it's critical to see their pleasantness cut short by the dreaded knock on the door. The family's split is also montaged somewhat quickly, however, a child crying “Mommy!” is terrible enough. The Search has scenes with no English spoken, yet the viewer understands every youthful fear happening. More fatal action crescendos speak for themselves, and disturbing water scenery tops a wrenching first act before introducing our mother's in media res search. It's important to have an adult breather from the child tough, but seemingly routine inquiries turn into difficult regret to inform you bonding and tears as one woman gives another mother the worse news she could possibly receive. The audience has information the parallel double whammies do not – we know both the boy and his mother are safe while each thinks the other is dead. Cut my heart it out will hurt less! 

 

Clean cut all-American hero Montgomery Clift doesn't appear until a half hour into The Search, suave in his uniform with a cool jeep and forthcoming passage home. After feeding Karel on the street, Steve initially keeps the wild child at arms length, frustrated over their trial and error communication and wondering if the boy is holding out on simple yes or no answers. However, Steve becomes increasingly aware of what Karel must have experienced, and doesn't tell the newly coined “Jim” the misinformation of his mother's death. He's ordered to hand over the boy and Steve's ready to leave, but he wonders what will happen to his charge if he goes. He doesn't have the facts needed to adopt the boy yet goes through the process nonetheless. Steve learns not to joke about procedures anymore, going from nonchalant to angry at red tape, “You're so official you have to go through channels just to open a door.” Sure, the metaphor of this army engineer rebuilding destroyed bridges is obvious amid Abraham Lincoln school lessons, a dated notion that America is tops, and that learning English will get you anywhere in the world, but so what. There are wonderful lighthearted moments between our found bachelors, too, “Even in England they understand English...well, sort of.” Steve cancels his ticket home, willing to wait for another passage until Jim's permits clears, but he has job commitments in US that can't be postponed. The now sentimental Steve isn't ready to just leave Jim behind at the relief camp with a promise they will see each other again someday. Devoutly Method Clift toured real camps, lived in barracks, and wore fatigues, going overboard annoying his director with his own dialogue rather than following the script. He is the leading man of the picture yet not a star so bright he's above telling the best tale, and it takes a great actor to accept being secondary in a movie really about a little boy. Today's actor would award bait chew such tour de force man pain, but Clift is effortlessly natural at holding nothing back and believably bittersweet as a sudden parent putting a child first regardless of himself. This is the first of his four Oscar nominations, and only an elite big name dozen have been so honored in their debut release. I will tell anyone who listens to watch Montgomery Clift's seventeen movies, but if starting here with The Search does not convince you to see the rest of his films, nothing will.

The Search does not have a big ensemble with any other major names but opera star Jarmila Novotná is perfectly cast as the heart wrenchingly relatable Mrs. Malik. A hat, bag, umbrella, good shoes, and clean coat are all she needs to walk in search of her son, and it's difficult to watch her suffer when we know he is safe with what could be a good American opportunity. Hanna doesn't want to disturb the church on a Sunday with her inquiry, but she knows enough English to repeat the story of who she is, where she is from, and which little boy she is seeking. By time we meet her, she has already been searching for seven months, following a lead to a dead end or striking out with another tidbit of information and redirected as usual to the Central Tracing Bureau. However, she is nothing without her child and won't give up hope. So many match her son's description – names on a card, no picture to show, and mistaken possibilities lead to her helping a scared Jewish child hiding as an choir boy before silently resuming her quest. Although months have passed, to the viewer Hanna's arrival at her son's transition camp has cinematically just missed him. Reunions are happening – even coincidental ones right on the street – but the audience wants to see all these pieces put together onscreen. We're angry for Mrs. Malik even when she remains relatively subdued and patient, quiet and weary. She can't take much more of this journey but this search for her son is the only thing carrying her. Clues to be found by his little cap lead to more misinformation, even an apparent confirmation that her Karel is dead, leading to her breakdown and even an implied suicide attempt. She can give up her quest – no one would blame her if she took the necessary and worthy job of helping other children offered to her at UNNRA. Working to stabilize other children and send them home could in fact be the healing she needs. As a mother, however, Hanna holds out hope, taking up her umbrella and continuing her eponymous duty whether it breaks her or not.

Young Ivan Jandl gives a darling little performance in The Search, innocent and raw with a distant stare as he repeatedly says “I don’t know” – almost blissfully unaware what has happened to him. Karel can't remember how to use a spoon and collapses onto a long forgotten pillow. He doesn't understand his own language or know his name but is terrified when identified to come forward by the little hat on his head. Karel's embarrassed by the numbers on his arm and tries to cover them with a ripped sleeve. Innocent encounters trigger fearful memories, and he swims away from help before resisting a soldier who would heal his blistered feet. Eventually the renamed Jim understands he is able to open a gate, leave, or return for care. He learns to say no to alcohol and yes to chocolate, and it's simply glee to finally hear his voice in adorable little scenes identifying basic items. He's a smart kid learning a new language and soon befriends an American boy with no notion of differences between them. The Search progresses in its middle with more traditional home life scenes, school lessons, and at the dinner table conversations – Jim doesn't always understand it all, but he's happy to receive shoes as a surprise gift and doesn't mind living in tiny attic apartment with Steve. After all, they've both had far worse billets. Jim doesn't know what the English word “mother” means when he hears it, but remembers what happened to him when he sees another child comforted by his mother. He goes from silent and broken to adamant and proactive wanting answers about his family he may never find. Jim is not lost or interested in America, but he has lost his mother and needs Steve's help to find her. This is a stunning performance recognized with a Special Juvenile Oscar traversing the emotional spectrum and then some with total honesty and on camera purity: “I had a mother. I know I had a mother. Where is she?”

The austere black and white on location German filming and international production for The Search hits home the wartime broken and divided with an almost documentary feeling – a re-enactment of something that really happened complete with a disclaimer thanking the US Army for allowing filming in the occupation zone. The raw footage of shelled buildings, crumbling walls, ruinous stonework, dusty barely there roads, rubble piles, fallen bridges, and concrete heaps to nowhere is a scenery study unto itself. Up close shots of fences with blurred masses on either side in and out of focus would stray into earlier surreal and German expressionist designs, but they are unfortunately realistic frames, and the mid-century technology is itself wartime outdated rather than nostalgic with older phones and earlier typewriters. Pen and paper are tough to come by, one can't find an envelope to mail a letter, people have to wait months for a letter response, and old magazine pictures are thumb-tacked to the wall to use as educational flashcards amid slide rules and Iodine medicine. Zoom ins on applications with crossed out boxes, question marks, and “unknown” answers and typing a letter to the Central Tracing Bureau asking for relatives of a nothing but a number put the situation in bold print. Numerous languages including Czech, German, French, Polish, and Hebrew songs aren't subtitled onscreen, either – adding authenticity as we wait through onscreen translations, go-betweens, or simply not knowing as pieces and tales of missing parents, deceased family, and children who don't know who they are repeat from one language to the next or not at all. The Warner Archive Collection DVD itself has no subtitles and a fitting bare bones lacking. One one hand, I wish there were retrospectives on Clift or the so close to home filming atmosphere, yet I'm glad there are no companion features to The Search. Nothing else needs to be said, no billboards, viral marketing campaigns, and promo tours like today – this is simply a picture that was made to speak for itself and amen. 

 

Usually when I’ve seen a movie a dozen times, I can begin my notes with the basics before a critical eyed rewatch. With The Search, however, I found my immediate thoughts to be emotional memories. Though gut wrenching with Holocaust history, orphan plots, and post-war destruction that can still be sensitive subjects to many audiences, it takes repeat viewings to pick up all the no such thing as coincidence coincidences and stay the course religious undercurrents in The Search with both Christianity and Judaism used to shelter those of a different belief and help one seek what they must find. Despite somewhat dated or saccharin constructs, this Best Story Oscar winner with nominees for Actor, Director, and Written Screenplay amid other awards and praise should not be as obscure as it is. Today's cinema is so stylish in its re-creation of the past that it is often too false or afraid to be raw and can’t capture the truth is seeks, but there is a small joy in unpolished pictures made so close to the war that take you through the emotional ringer – and The Search is a necessary film as catharsis as great cinema should be.