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Media Slants The Vatican Newspaper Meaning
Said Reviews Of 'Angels & Demons' Favorable
By MICHAEL P. TREMOGLIE, The Bulletin
The mainstream media’s reporting of two reviews of the movie “Angels & Demons” by the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano (OR), implied that the movies were given favorable reviews or, at least, they were not anti-Catholic. But an analysis by The Bulletin has determined this is not totally accurate.
News stories about two Vatican newspaper movie reviews of the film were slanted. The Ron Howard movie is based on the novel by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, a story deemed virulently anti-Catholic. This movie has also generated controversy and has been labeled by critics as anti-Catholic.
The Associated Press, U.K. Telegraph and others spun what was written by OR, implying it had the benediction of the Vatican. But they were very selective about taking quotes out of context or misinterpreting words.
For example, the AP story said, "Reviewers at the Vatican’s newspaper have passed judgment on “Angels & Demons," finding the religious thriller commercial and inaccurate, but concluding it is "harmless" entertainment and not a danger to the church ... The newspaper wrote that the movie was "a gigantic and smart commercial operation" filled with "stereotyped characters."
Luca Pelligrini, who wrote the review from which AP quoted the phrase "smart commercial operation”, used the Italian word “furbesca.” This word means smart in the sense of being “cunning,” "crafty" or “sly.”
The U.K. Telegraph story by Anita Singh said the movie, "Received a surprisingly good review from the Vatican."
But, Lucetta Scariffia, who wrote the other OR review, merely said the title of the movie was a good choice, but the film was modest. She said the only thing that saves it was the presence of Tom Hanks.
Other than Mr. Hanks, what they found good about the movie were the camera angles and the reconstruction of the Vatican that was done inside a Hollywood studio. But its only value was to play a game keeping count of the movie’s numerous historical mistakes.
The headline for Mr. Pellegrini’s review is "Confused Demons in Ron Howard’s Playground." Mr. Pellegrini says the movie is historically inaccurate and much like a video game. Such a comment cannot be interpreted as this movie is a serious work of fiction.
He sums up the plot by saying “a deranged killer spreads panic when he plans to get rid of some eminent cardinals in the name of science and scientific truth, in contrast (once again) to the supposed ecclesiastical obscurantism.”
The fact that he felt the need to characterize as “supposed” the idea put forth in the movie that the Catholic Church obstructs science is telling. It is one of the complaints about the movie that the Catholic League has.
Mr. Pellegrini ends his review by saying the demons are confused just like the film.
Ms. Scariffia posits the real problem for someone watching the film causes is to try to explain the reason for Dan Brown’s success. She writes that it may be the result of a "materialistic and superficial culture."
She also said that the movie was a “simplistic and partial view of the Church.”
One could say it is more accurate to portray the Vatican newspaper reviews as damning "Angels and Demons" with faint praise rather than as a good movie.
Perhaps after condemning the "Da Vinci Code" unsuccessfully, the Vatican is taking a different approach. Rather than generate more publicity and help the movie find a bigger audience among anti-Catholic groups, they are using ridicule instead.
The Vatican has downplayed the reviews so much that L’Osservatore Romano paper was unaware of the reportage of its movie reviews. Last Thursday, The Bulletin notified the paper of the stories being circulated in the mainstream media and emailed them to the paper’s English language editor for their perusal.
The OR editor tried to arrange interviews with the Mr. Pellegrini and Ms. Scariffia for The Bulletin, but they declined. The OR English language version will publish the translated versions in its Wednesday edition. The paper did not issue an official comment about the reporting and declined an interview about them stating they were occupied with the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land.
While some are speculating why the Vatican chose not to inveigh against “Angels and Demons” as they did the “DaVinci Code,” others will speculate about the mainstream media’s motivation for slanting their interpretations of the reviews to eliminate the criticism they contained.
Michael P. Tremoglie can be reached at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us
News stories about two Vatican newspaper movie reviews of the film were slanted. The Ron Howard movie is based on the novel by Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, a story deemed virulently anti-Catholic. This movie has also generated controversy and has been labeled by critics as anti-Catholic.
The Associated Press, U.K. Telegraph and others spun what was written by OR, implying it had the benediction of the Vatican. But they were very selective about taking quotes out of context or misinterpreting words.
For example, the AP story said, "Reviewers at the Vatican’s newspaper have passed judgment on “Angels & Demons," finding the religious thriller commercial and inaccurate, but concluding it is "harmless" entertainment and not a danger to the church ... The newspaper wrote that the movie was "a gigantic and smart commercial operation" filled with "stereotyped characters."
Luca Pelligrini, who wrote the review from which AP quoted the phrase "smart commercial operation”, used the Italian word “furbesca.” This word means smart in the sense of being “cunning,” "crafty" or “sly.”
The U.K. Telegraph story by Anita Singh said the movie, "Received a surprisingly good review from the Vatican."
But, Lucetta Scariffia, who wrote the other OR review, merely said the title of the movie was a good choice, but the film was modest. She said the only thing that saves it was the presence of Tom Hanks.
Other than Mr. Hanks, what they found good about the movie were the camera angles and the reconstruction of the Vatican that was done inside a Hollywood studio. But its only value was to play a game keeping count of the movie’s numerous historical mistakes.
The headline for Mr. Pellegrini’s review is "Confused Demons in Ron Howard’s Playground." Mr. Pellegrini says the movie is historically inaccurate and much like a video game. Such a comment cannot be interpreted as this movie is a serious work of fiction.
He sums up the plot by saying “a deranged killer spreads panic when he plans to get rid of some eminent cardinals in the name of science and scientific truth, in contrast (once again) to the supposed ecclesiastical obscurantism.”
The fact that he felt the need to characterize as “supposed” the idea put forth in the movie that the Catholic Church obstructs science is telling. It is one of the complaints about the movie that the Catholic League has.
Mr. Pellegrini ends his review by saying the demons are confused just like the film.
Ms. Scariffia posits the real problem for someone watching the film causes is to try to explain the reason for Dan Brown’s success. She writes that it may be the result of a "materialistic and superficial culture."
She also said that the movie was a “simplistic and partial view of the Church.”
One could say it is more accurate to portray the Vatican newspaper reviews as damning "Angels and Demons" with faint praise rather than as a good movie.
Perhaps after condemning the "Da Vinci Code" unsuccessfully, the Vatican is taking a different approach. Rather than generate more publicity and help the movie find a bigger audience among anti-Catholic groups, they are using ridicule instead.
The Vatican has downplayed the reviews so much that L’Osservatore Romano paper was unaware of the reportage of its movie reviews. Last Thursday, The Bulletin notified the paper of the stories being circulated in the mainstream media and emailed them to the paper’s English language editor for their perusal.
The OR editor tried to arrange interviews with the Mr. Pellegrini and Ms. Scariffia for The Bulletin, but they declined. The OR English language version will publish the translated versions in its Wednesday edition. The paper did not issue an official comment about the reporting and declined an interview about them stating they were occupied with the Pope’s visit to the Holy Land.
While some are speculating why the Vatican chose not to inveigh against “Angels and Demons” as they did the “DaVinci Code,” others will speculate about the mainstream media’s motivation for slanting their interpretations of the reviews to eliminate the criticism they contained.
Michael P. Tremoglie can be reached at mtremoglie@thebulletin.us
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