Newspapers / Brevard College Student Newspaper / Dec. 9, 1999, edition 1 / Page 17
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December 9, 1999 FEATURES Dogma drops the angels down to earth 13 BY MINDI HOCKENBERRY His first movie, Clerks, was a bunch of friends sitting around the local Quick Stop telling “Dick jokes.” Then, he made Mallrats which was a comedic love story placed in a mall. Next came Chasing Amy which has a stronger theme of love and friendship. But now, Kevin Smith gives us a dynamic movie about Good vs. Evil and the constant battle to find the truth in God. A very accurate description of the movie comes from the movie’s official web site by Kevin Smith, “In what can only be deemed a comedy parable, two renegade fallen angels attempt to Jerry-rig the entire cosmo logical system — unless a ragtag group of humans can stop faith.” In his other movies, Kevin Smith used the same characters and funny antics. The focus of these movies was comedy with no serious issues brought up by the characters. Now, he made a complete turn around by creating Dogma. Although he does keep two infamous characters from the previous movies. Jay and Silent Bob, they do not have such a large role as they did before. They provide a lot of the comic relief as Smith tries to keep the movie on the light side. Smith tries not to make the film into an epic, but with such a serious theme as religion, it is hard not to have a strong impact on the audience. The movie begins with two fallen angels played by Ben Affleck and Matt Damon looking for a way back into heaven. The two angels are best friends that have been sentenced by God to live on Earth for eternity because of their poor behavior in Heaven. But they have found a loophole through Cardinal Click’s new campaign, “Catholicism Wow.” This is causing a great uproar upstairs because if they get into Pliolo courtesy of Darren Michaels. From left to right, Chris Rock, Jason Mewes and Salma Heayek in Kevin Smith’s Dogma. Heaven, existence as the world knew it would be terminated. So God sends a seraphim, who relays her words to humans, to find the last living descendant of Christ. He tells this woman that she is the only one who can prevent the two angels from entering back into Heaven. The rest of the movie is her journey to New Jersey where Cardinal Click is holding his campaign while another fallen angel that lives in hell tries to stop her. He wants a little revenge on God for putting him on in hell. The budget for this movie was much more than his first three. He had elaborate costumes of armor and large wings for the fallen angels and at one point in the movie, Ben Affleck flies around in the air. Some of the characters do some disappearing acts while others fall out of the sky. The end of the movie shows a lot of blood and gore, which was graphically por trayed. The character that was called “God’s voice” did a very nice walking on water stunt and Ben Affleck creates a very nice picture as he descends down in front of the church’s stain glass window. I really enjoyed this movie because the theme was so strong and I could relate perfectly to it. Smith is basically saying that it doesn’t matter what you believe in, so much as long as you believed in something or had good ideas. It is also brought up that God is neither black nor white and neither male nor female. God is merely a soul that overshadows the earth and oversees everything. Another idea I liked was the idea that human ears could not stand tohear God’s voice so she gave a seraphim the job of being her voice. Also, the idea that God can enter different bodies in order to come to earth and play Skee-ball. In Dogma, Alanis Morrisette comes out to play at the end of the movie as God. The image of her as she walks through the door’s of the church is exactly as I see her. She has a plain dress on, no shoes, flowers in her hair and in her hands and she has an angelic smile on her face. Although I thought the movie was excellent, there are quite a few people who will disagree with me. Most of the hate mail that Kevin Smith has received for his movie has been from Catholic groups that say Smith is going against Catholicism and making a mockery of it. When in actuality. Smith went to Catholic school for eight years and goes to church every Sunday. He is really saying that almost everything that Catholicism teaches is true. The people that do not realize this have sent Kevin Smith many letters of extreme disapproval. Despite this criticism, I recom mend Kevin Smith’s Dogma to anyone who enjoyed his first three movies and anyone who is just out to see an enjoyable portrayal of Good vs. Evil. It may affect you in such a way as it did me, to come to a realization in my own faith. This is definitely the best movie that Kevin Smith has written yet and I hope they continue to progress. Belafonte left legendary impression on audience BY RACHEL MIKAELSEN The singer, humanitarian and actor Harry Belafonte performed at the Paul Porter Center on Friday, Nov. 5 at 8 p.m. The day of the concert, students and crewmembers for Mr. Belafonte worked hard to bring the show to life. The “King of Calypso” delivered a riveting concert while loyal fans sang along, clapped and grooved the evening away. The world-renowned singer has had a career filled with island music and movie stars. Harold George Belafonte, Jr. was bom on March 1, 1927 in Harlem, New York. The son of Caribbean bom immigrants, Harry retumed to the states after living in his mother’s native Jamaica at the age of eight. After his discharge form the Navy, Harry resettled in New York City to pursue a career in acting. He performed with the American Negro Theatre while attending Erwin Piscator’s Dramatic Workshop along side Marlon Brando and Tony Curtis. A singing role resulted in cabaret engagements for the singer who soon opened his own club. Harry has sung pop, folk. West Indian and calypso music. Harry has released up to 68 albums through out his life. The first was released in 1955 and the latest in 1998. In the 1970’s and 80’s he worked as a humanitarian. Most famously known for being a figure of the USA for Africa effort, singing on the single “We Are the World.” A year later he replaced Danny Kaye as UNICEF’s Goodwill Ambassador. A group of Brevard students was given the opportunity to work as stagehands, security guards and in the wardrobe room. The students loved the opportunity to work for such a talented performer. Though they did not receive one on one chats with the star, Mr. Belafonte did walk the halls with a warm smile and a brief “Hello” for all those around. The students were the envy of every audience member who could only watch and not participate in the whole event. The night was a success. Harry Belafonte will hopefully pave the way for many more performers of his caliber to visit the Porter Center.
Brevard College Student Newspaper
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Dec. 9, 1999, edition 1
17
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