So now The Blues Brothers has two rare qualities to its name: It’s one of the two Saturday Night Live skits to become a watchable movie, and it seems that someone, somewhere in Vatican City is a fan.
At first glance, The Blues Brothers–which is showing only July 9 and 10 on ENCORE (DISH 340)–is long on endless car pile-ups and short on theological statements. But L’Osservatore Romano, one of Vatican City’s newspapers recently wrote a glowing recommendation of the college campus staple, an unusual nod from a paper which also highly recommended The Passion of the Christ.
A note of clarification here: This does not mean that Pope Benedict XVI is currently rocking out to “Sweet Home Chicago” in the Popemobile. Although it does reprint Church documents, L’Osservatore Romano isn’t the official voice of the Holy See, but seeing as it’s just now getting around to recommending a film which was released three decades ago, the confusion is understandable.
The movie is, after all, rated R. That’s for non-Mass friendly language as well as violence. So what’s there which makes The Blues Brothers appropriate for convent viewing?
Well, we have two extremely imperfect leads who nevertheless see themselves on “a mission from God”–saving the orphanage where they were raised. That fits with Catholic social teaching tenets, as do the ways in which the brothers approach minority characters with respect and friendship, and only somewhat accidentally take out a Nazi rally. They turn down one-night stands and premarital sex, show deference to the terrifying nun who helped raise them, and, in an act of brotherly love, one gives the other his bed for the night. They then submit themselves to their civil punishment for their “work,” and begin the prison ministry of spreading blues music to their fellow inmates.
So… as Joliet Jake would say, “Okay, I can see that.” Although I wouldn’t expect Wayne’s World to get the same kind of treatment in a decade or so.
