- Constantine's Sword (film)
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Constantine's Sword Directed by Oren Jacoby Produced by Mick Garris
Robb Idels
John LandisWritten by Oren Jacoby
James CarrollNarrated by Amanda Pays Cinematography Robert Richman Editing by Kate Hirson Running time 93 minutes Country United States 
The central visual symbol of the film, Constantine's Sword.
James Carroll's Constantine's Sword, or Constantine's Sword, is a 2007 historical documentary film on the relationship between the Catholic Church and Jews. Directed and produced by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Oren Jacoby, the film is inspired by former priest James P. Carroll's 2001 book Constantine's Sword.[1][2]
Contents
Synopsis
The title page of this film shows the shadow of a cross, with "No war is holy" written across the transept. Constantine’s Sword is the story of James P. Carroll's journey to uncover the roots of war. Carroll, a former Catholic priest whose father (Joseph Carroll) was a famous Air Force general, implies that there has been a relationship between religiously inspired violence and war, beginning with the adoption of Christianity by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in 312 AD. Constantine was convinced that he had won a battle because he had followed the instructions of a vision, to inscribe a sign of the cross (the Labarum) on the shields of his soldiers. In Carroll's view, this event marked the beginning of an unholy alliance between the military and the Church.
Carroll focuses on Catholic and evangelical anti-Judaism, and invokes the cross as a symbol of the long history of Christian xenophobic violence against Jews and non-Christians,[3][4] from the Crusades, through the Roman Inquisition and the creation of the Jewish ghetto, to the Holocaust. Carroll also charges that there is an ongoing evangelical infiltration of the U.S. military, and that this has had negative consequences for U.S. foreign policy. The film's final chapter, "No war is holy", concludes with views of military cemeteries as Aaron Neville sings "With God On Our Side".
Technical details
- 95 minutes
- Languages in film: English, German, Italian and Yiddish
- Cast/Featuring: Liev Schreiber, pastor Ted Haggard, Phillip Bosco, Natasha Richardson, Eli Wallach
- Director: Oren Jacoby
- Producers: Oren Jacoby, James Carroll, Michael Solomon, Betsy West.
- Supervising producer: Elgin Smith
- Screenwriters: James Carroll, Oren Jacoby
- Production company: Storyville Films
- Studio: First Run Features
See also
- Constantine's Sword (2001) book by James P. Carroll
References
- ^ http://constantinessword.com/?page_id=4
- ^ http://www.woodstockfilmfestival.com/festival2007/details.php?id=17976
- ^ Constantine's Sword (2008), HollywoodJesus.com
- ^ Chris Barsanti. Constantine's Sword film review at Filmcritic.com.
External links
- Constantine's Sword at the Internet Movie Database
- Film's website
- Recommendation by Tikkun magazine
- At Rotten Tomatoes
- Link to production company
- James Carroll's Unholy Crusade: A Critique of the Film Constantine's Sword from First Things
- Voices on Antisemitism Interview with James Carroll from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Categories:- American films
- 2007 films
- American documentary films
- Anti-Judaism
- Anti-war
- English-language films
- Films directed by Oren Jacoby
- 2000s documentary films
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