NIGHT SWIM

US, 2023, 98 minutes, Colour.

Wyatt Russell, Kerry Condon,

Directed by Bryce McGuire.

In more recent times, there have been a number of “horror films” which are more widely accessible to a drama friendly audience. There are not horror films in the sense of blood and gore, the type of horror films popular at horror festivals. Rather, the new films are films of menace, haunting, often with what might be called PG characters. They can play well to a more family oriented audience but are denounced as to tame by the gore aficionados.

We are introduced to the touch of menace immediately, a little girl with her invalid brother, a toy floating in their pool, her deciding to retrieve it, but her then being dragged into the pool and disappearing.

What follows is, in many ways, the kind of plot we might have anticipated. A family, the father a baseball champion but debilitated and recuperating, a supportive mother who works in school administration, an older daughter, a younger son, deciding to settle down and buy a house. Of course, they are attracted by the house and the pool. So, we really know what is going to happen but the tantalising aspect of the film is how it will happen.

Audiences will be attracted by this pleasantly average American family, the father played by Wyatt Russell and the mother played by the Irish actress, Kerry Condon (Banshees of Innisfail). There are scenes with the doctor and hope of recuperation, there are scenes of swimming and the father getting better, there is exaltation in having the pool.

However, the daughter senses presence of others but no one there. The son enjoys a game of retrieving coins, but no one there. The mother senses eerie presences, but no one there. But, we know who’s there!

There is a happy sequence where the father takes his son to a baseball practice, the mother encouraging the somewhat timid son to hit the ball – and he does. But, the crowd persuades the father to demonstrate his past progress and he certainly smashes the ball. Happiness all round.

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So, what better than to have a party, to invite everyone from the school, the neighbours, a welcoming party. But, of course, the haunting strikes, everyone afraid, leaving, denouncing the family.

There are some complications, of course, the mother seeking out the owner of the previous house to get the story and learning of a strange mythology of the powers of water, the healing power but there always demanding a human sacrifice, giving up the weakest member of the family. Which leads them to a dramatic underwater climax, family confrontation – some saved, and a sacrifice made the sake of others.

1. Drama, touches of menace and horror? Wanting? Powers evil? But a family story?
2. The formula, Rebecca and the haunted house, the drowning? The empty house, sale, suppression of the truth? The buying of the house? Manifestations of evil, manifestations of healing?
3. The American family, middle American, the baseball background, reputation, loving father, loving wife, son and daughter, the wife of the school in administration, husband and his therapy? The stories about the birth of the children? The moves, wanting to set down roots, the house, the attraction of the pool?
4. The father, interviews with the doctor, diagnosis, therapy, improvement? The wife, work at the school, her bonding with the children, support of her husband?
5. Elliott, in the pool, the issue of the coins, no one present? The sound on the diving board? The presence of Rebecca, Elliot putting his hand in the entry, voice, his fears? Isabelle, in the water, a sense of presence, absence? The same with the wife? The husband in the pool, the relationships, the effects, the atmosphere?
6. The baseball episode, his mother encouraging Elliot, hitting the ball, the father and the enormous it, the ball, the souvenir the autograph?
7. Isabelle, friendship with Ronin, the pool, the visit at night, the eerie experiences?
8. The party, the friends and children arriving, the happiness, the mother’s discussion with the estate agent, the revelation of the Rebecca story?
9. The boy with the autograph, on the father’s shoulders, confronting the big man, the pressure, the boy almost drowning, the father, the blackness in the pool, absorbing it? The hostile reactions of the families?
10. The father, his physical health improving? Yet the aftermath of the incident, his being paralysed? Driving the car? The mother, seeking out the Japanese mother, the interview, the mythology of the lake, the power, healing but wanting a sacrifice? The son becoming wealthy? Rebecca expendable?
11. The buildup to the finale, the sacrifice of Elliot, being weak, in the pool, the father, Isabelle with the bat? Elliot, under the counter, his mother diving in to save him? Isabella, the haunting, saving Elliot, getting a baseball bat, confronting their father, the mother, Rebecca helping, the final confrontation? Elliot the weakest? The father and his self-sacrifice?

12. A haunting story rather gory? And a PG story?

SUBTRACTION

Iran, 2022, 107 minutes, Colour.

Taraneh Alidoosti, Navid, Mohammadzeh, Ali Bagheri.

Directed by Mani Haghaghi.

With its enigmatic title, no explicit explanation, this is a mysterious film. A quick review would say: Which is which? Followed by Who is who? Then questions of how and why.

For many decade, Iranians cinema has been of world standard, many awards, especially from Catholic, ecumenical and Interfaith juries.

The setting is Tehran, the 2020s, very much Iran as a secular society rather than religious. The screenplay could be very easily adapted to any culture.

The film opens, enigmatically, with a brawl in a corridor. The audience puzzles but, later in the film, this becomes highly significant, leading to dramatic complications, some of kindness, some of violence. And, then, the camera pans across, in close-up, the windows of a number of cars caught in a traffic jam, eventually returning to two women, a young woman having a driving lesson, the older woman the instructor. Suddenly, the instructor gets out of the car, notices a man, follows him onto a bus, gets out, sees him going to a building then with the woman on an upper story.

And, it is raining. And it rains throughout the film, the comment made that the North Pole is collapsing, unseasonable weather, climate change.

Perhaps it is best to say that this is a film about people who discover their doubles, their doppelgänger, thinking that they may be twins but this is not the case. Dramatically, of course, this is a huge challenge to the central actors who have to take both parts and who have to make them, sometimes similar, sometimes quite different. The characters, of course, are puzzled by their exact image in another person. The audience is puzzled, sometimes confused, and a reminder of that initial question as we watch particular sequences, which is which, who is who?

The issue might have been sorted out happily, especially with the driving instructor who is pregnant, on medication, but apprehensive, warned by the doctor to be careful about the effect of medication on the baby. Her husband is a plumber, conscientious. And, one of the supporting characters is her kind and understanding father-in-law. However, the other couple lives in tension. The husband is the one who was involved in the brawl initially. There is some alienation from his patient wife. They have a rather precocious seven-year-old son.

The dramatic effect of the puzzling and confusion is the challenge to audience emotions, whom they like, whom they dislike, confused emotional responses.

With all the best intentions in the world, there is an attempt to make peace with the victim of the brawl, now hospitalised, his family keeping vigil in the hospital, wanting vengeance – and meting it out.

The final 20 minutes of the film is rather unexpected, centred on taking the little boy to a national football match, but consequences for each of the four characters which they, and we, do not anticipate.

Some commentators have noted that there are elements of film noir in the screenplay echoes of some films like Vertigo – definitely so by the end. However, this is a probing of identity, emotions, relationships, emotional confusion.

1. The title? Explained or not? Subtraction/elimination?
2. A film from Iran, the 2020s, picture of life in Tehran, freedoms and restrictions?
3. The city settings, homes, the streets, driving instruction, plumbing, business offices, hospitals, the football match? Atmosphere? Musical score?
4. The introduction, the men fighting in the corridor – and this theme later being taken up, gesture of kindness, cause of death?
5. The central issue, the doubles, twins or not, the checking on the DNA, not twins? Seeming clones of each other? The performances by the central actors to create each different character? Clear, ambiguous, confused, and the effect on the audience wondering which is which? PsychologicFarzanehal drama? The Hitchcock touch (memories of Vertigo)?
6. The image of the traffic, the camera going from car to car, returning to focus on Farzaneh, the young woman in the lesson, the comment on the rain, the North Pole, climate change? Farzaneh, pregnant, distracted, seeing her husband, out of the car, into the bus, following him, seeing the apartment window? The return, the challenge to her husband, talking to her father-in-law?
7. Farzaneh, her pregnancy, nerves, medication, danger to the pregnancy, going to see the doctor, the discussions? The later return to the doctor with the story of the doubles, the doctor thinking she was hallucinating?
8. Jalal, husband, going to the doctor with his wife, concerned, on the motorbike, his plumbing job, the accusation, his explanation of being away, the certificated document?
9. The story of Farzaneh and Jalal, the kindly father-in-law and his interventions?
10. The story of Bita and Mohsen, marriage, the young son, home life, his temper, the fight in the office, the hospitalisation of the old man, the demand for an apology and signing the document, his refusal, getting his wife to go, her apology, the reaction? Her explaining to Jalal, his offer to apologise instead, driving with her son, bonding, the promise of the football match, in the building, Bita seeing her husband, distracting him, sending the boy out that the building, Jalal and his apology, the signing of the document, his being beaten, the blood? Bita and her shock?
11. Farzaneh and Bita, their meeting, the shock at meeting each other, preventing the neighbours from seeing them both together, the bonding?
12. Jalal and his wound, fixing it himself, Bita and her helping?
13. Mohsen, the document, deciding to move, packing?
14. The episode at the football match, Mohsen following, seeing Jalal and his son, their bonding? His bashing of Jalal and leaving him? Driving the car? Bashing his wife, putting the both in the car, over the cliff, the fire?
15. Farzaneh in the car, the miscarriage, her phone call to Bita, her arriving too late, going to the hospital?
16. The end, more sane persuading fFarzaneh to act as his wife, mother to the son? The domestic sequences?
17. The father-in-law, his visit, offering sympathy, his being warned not to come again because of disturbing the wife?
18. The little boy, catching up with him – and telling him that this was not his mother?
19. The plausibility of the plot? Doubles? Interactions? Psychological story? Crime story?

Three weeks to go.  An invitation

To the priestly ordination of Kenji Konda MSC.

Kenji was ordained deacon on March 17^th last year. After attending the Provincial Chapter, managing the logistics, he flew to his origins, Japan, for his diaconate ministry.

Now for priestly ordination.

Congratulations to Paul McCormack MSC, Golden Jubilee of Profession, 1974-2024.

Paul celebrated his jubilee in Adelaide where he lives, Paul Cashen and Peter Hearn joining him.

Paul has ministered in MSC education, many years at Downlands College. He also taught for some time in the MSC Irish Province’s College in England, Princethorpe. Paul is a composer, painter, choir director.

An event in Kensington Chapel.

Sunday January 14^th saw the celebration of 40 years of Profession of vows, 1984-2024, of three confreres:

Gerard Shanley who has served in Darwin and in Fiji, presently at Kensington Monastery; Terry Bowman, Northern Territory and parishes in Australia, Moonah, Henley Beach, Coogee, Blackburn and is at present PP of Kensington; Chris Chaplin who has ministered in Darwin, the Education Team, Fiji, The Retreat Centre at Douglas Park, hermitage years at Ellenbrook and Shoreham – and now the opposite, on the General Council team in Rome, 2017-2023, and re-appointed for another six year term.

We can still say, Ad Multos Annos.

Congratulations Steve Dives, Golden Jubilee profession, 1974-2024

Celebrations were held at St Mary’s Towers, Douglas Park.

Guest estimation 120-140. Guests in fact, 120-140 (perhaps a few more!).

Many of Steve’s family were present and associates from the YCW from times past.

Stephen Hackett, Provincial Superior presided at the Thanks giving Mass,

concelebrants included two diocesan priests from Wollongong Diocese, (Fr John studied at St Paul’s and has a nephew in MSC formation in Vietnam), Fr Kimi Vunivesilevu, First Councillor and Community Leader, Douglas Park, Fr Simon Mani MSC, Rector of the Regional Pacific Seminary, Suva, and former leader in the Pacific, Fr Tru Nguyen MSC, about to move to Kippax, Fr Mark Hanns MSC, Blackburn, and Fr Raas SVD, provincial Period..  Many more MSC confreres were present in the congregation.

Kimi preached – entertainingly and provocatively (thoughtfully challenging!).

It was a sunny day at a green St Mary's Towers.

There were 84 places for lunch in the retreat centre dining room, and tables outside on both sides.  Speeches from Stephen Hackett, YCW past, family, Simon Mani

(who told a very interesting story from Steve’s past and his discipline for the students in Suva which should moderate Steve’s memories of obedience and decisions during his novitiate where this present writer, site editor, was his Novice Master – the key phrase for Suva being Kava-drinking, the students that is).

Steve also spoke - and remembered his life and responsibilities.

In his now almost 50 years as a priest, Steve has ministered in Port Moresby and the seminary, Kiribati, Fiji – formation and area leader, Superior at Douglas Park, Treand House, and has just moved back to St Mary’s Towers.

Our thanks to Nang for the photos.

The Bicentenary of Jules Chevalier’s birth, March 15^th 1824. Who MSC are…

This text is from the MSC entry to the book commissioned by the Congregations of Religious Australia, CRA, and is available from them.

You might like to copy and paste the material so that you could use it in full or in part for your forthcoming celebration of the Bicentenary.

Name of congregation:    Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.

Post-nominal initials:       MSC (in the early 20^th century in Australia, MSH). Missionarii Sacratissimi Cordis in Latin; Missionnaires du Sacre Coeur in French.

Charism:                          “To be on earth the Heart of God.”

Founded by:                      Jules Chevalier, 1854, France. Learn more at the MSC website.

Ministries:                        Foreign missions and establishment of local Churches, Education, Pastoral and Spiritual Formation, Justice and Peace, Media and Communications.

Places of ministry :       54 countries throughout the world, all continents.

Beginnings in Australia: The MSC first came to Sydney from France in 1885. Cardinal Moran offered the first missionaries en route to Papua New Guinea the parish of Randwick/Botany as a mission base.

Notable events or historic turning points

Mission establishment and working with local churches. Missions of Papua New Guinea entrusted to the Congregation, 1881.

Establishment of the Australian Province 1905. Australian work in the Northern Territory from 1906.

Post-Vatican II renewal with Superior General, E.J. Cuskelly. Australian outreach to Asia, Japan 1949, India 1984, Vietnam 2003.

 Notable writings, documents:   

Founder Jules Chevalier wrote extensively, books and articles on Devotion to the Sacred Heart. Many MSC have published many books. After Vatican II, Superior General, E.J. Cuskelly of Australia, also wrote extensively, expressing a shift in perspective from “Devotion to the Sacred Heart” to “Spirituality of the Heart”. The Congregation has many websites containing this documentation.

Sayings of interest          

Vision: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved. Forever.

The Word coming from the Heart of his Father, made the world emerge from nothing; and from the Heart of the incarnated Word, pierced on Calvary, I see a new world emerging, the world of those he has chosen. And this creation, so fertile, full of grandeur and inspired by love and mercy, is the church, the mystical body of Christ, which makes his new creation present on earth until the end of time.” (Jules Chevalier, 1900)

Reflect on the image of the heart. MSC spirituality is grounded in the belief of God’s love for us: the heart of Jesus is the Heart of God. God in Jesus loves us with a human heart. With our own hearts we seek to heal the wounds of this world. Mary is the first missionary of Jesus’ heart. We stand with Mary who stood with Jesus at the foot of the cross. Image: Gemma Farrugia.

OUR STORY

Jules Chevalier was a 30 year old parish priest when he founded the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC) in Issoudun, central France, 8 December 1854. Issoudun is 200km south of Paris.

Chevalier was saddened by the religious indifference in France after the Revolution, yet excited by the increasing foreign missionary spirit. He was inspired by the spirituality of the interior sentiments of Christ promoted by the Sulpician priests who taught him in the seminary, as well as by Devotion to the Sacred Heart. He was happy that his name meant “Knight”. His motto was: “May the Sacred Heart of Jesus be everywhere loved. Forever.” Devotion to Mary, the mother of Jesus, was also central to his vision and spirituality.

Initially a small group, the MSC established Apostolic Schools for aspirants (those who “aspire” to join a religious order).

However, anticlerical legislation in France and expulsions led to the Congregation spreading within 30 years. MSC moved to Belgium, Holland, Germany, England, the USA, Italy. The Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (OLSH Sisters) were founded in 1874. Meanwhile, Chevalier remained parish priest of Issoudun all his life, making it a significant centre of Marian pilgrimage.

Eager for his men (MSC priests and brothers) and OLSH Sisters to reach out to missions, Chevalier was happy when Pope Leo XIII entrusted Papua New Guinea and New Britain to the MSC in 1881. All the countries of Europe with an MSC presence went out to missions on all continents, eventually developing provinces in Indonesia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Korea, the Pacific Islands, as well as in Africa and South America. The Australian Province was established in 1905.

MSC work in schools, teaching, chaplaincy and parishes. They have had a long tradition in retreats and home missions. Social justice, especially motivated by the Heart Spirituality, is key to ministry. There are beatified martyrs from the Spanish Civil War and from uprisings in Central America in the 1970s and 1980s.

A number of missionaries established local congregations of sisters. In recent years, there have been worldwide developments for Lay MSC who, along with the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart [MSC], Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart [OLSH Sisters], Missionaries Sisters of the Sacred Heart [MSC Sisters], are part of the Chevalier Family.

Symbolically, some months before his death in 1907, Jules Chevalier was the victim of new anticlerical legislation. Evicted from his presbytery, he was taken to the home of a parishioner and later buried in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Paris). He had seen over half a century of mission that he had inspired – and more than a century was to follow.

MSC Writings

In 1865, Jules Chevalier established the Annals of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, a Journal of Catholic Culture. Each province had its own Annals (Australia in 1889),

He was also a prolific writer. Spiritual and theological writing has been a constant feature of MSC outreach (especially in Australia with Compass Theology Review, 1967-2016). This has led to developments in media and communication and social media.

Continue to explore the story of the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Visit misacor.org.au (with six postings each week since 2010).

Sources: Monastery on the Hill, A History of the Sacred Heart Monastery, 1897-1997, Nelen Yubu, 2000. Information supplied by Missionaries of the Sacred Heart is gratefully acknowledged.

MSC International, South Sudan, a story from Alan Neville MSC, Ireland

Whistling Tunelessly

What is the meaning of happiness? Philosophers have speculated on the topic since the beginning of the human story. The answers provided to date are varied and many, but few would include driving along a dirt road, at night, in the rain, perched precariously on a half a driver’s seat (the rest has somehow mysteriously disappeared over time) in a pick-up truck that your average NCT technician would not only refuse to examine due to concerns for their personal safety, but would happy fire bomb with a Molotov cocktail from the comfort of their office. Yet, this is where I found myself a week ago on a Thursday night, whistling somewhat tunelessly as I drove alone. Happiness. It comes in the most surprising of places.

The destination for my rather battered pickup filled with tables was our clinic, which the following day, would the site of the Loreto Graduation. Over fifty young women marked the end of their formal studies with us and are now looking forward to their Senior Four national exams in just over a week. The day is not just a graduation though. It means much more, as it is a visible sign of how far these young women have come in the face of many challenges. The number of women successfully completing secondary school in South Sudan remains one of the lowest in the world according to the UN.

So, for these young women and their family who attended, it really is something to celebrate. It symbolises a continued new chapter in the history of the country, where slowly (in reality too slowly) women are making their own way in the world. The early mornings and late nights of study, along with their daily classes, have paid off. For their graduation their families all gathered to give thanks to God for what has been achieved in a Mass with Bishop Christian. After that, it was all singing, dancing, and sharing food with one another, but overall it was pure joy. Even the hardest of heart could not help to be happy there.

Sister Orla at the Graduatiion

Acknowledging Paul Jennings MSC, 80, January 11th.

Paul Jennings made his first vows as an MSC on February 26^th 1962. He was ordained on August 29^th 1970.

Paul has worked in education in Papua New Guinea for most of his life as a priest, since 1971.  He was a long serving Headmaster of Sacred Heart High School at Hagita, in Milne Bay, for 12 years and at the same time worked on several Department of Education committees in curriculum and teacher capacity building.  He was a member of the Ministerial “Matane Commission” in 1986 and 1987 which was tasked with developing a home grown philosophy of education for Papua New Guinea and mapping a way forward for a restructure of the whole education system.

Paul at the Provincial Chapterm 2023

He was Executive Director of St Joseph’s International Catholic College in Port Moresby, Chair of the Governing Council of a new Sacred Heart Teachers College which specialises in recruiting and training Primary teachers for remote and isolated schools; a member of the National Catholic Education Board and an advisor to several government education committees.  He is also completing writing a revised curriculum for Upper secondary Religious Education for catholic schools in Papua New Guinea.

Paul was awarded an OBE by the Government of Papua New Guinea in the Queen’s birthday honours list, for services to education and the Church in Milne Bay and Papua New Guinea.

Welcome, Tim…  Back from Rome

Tim Brennan returns from Rome today for medical treatment.

At the Provincial Chapter

Tim has had a very full ministry since his ordination in1976.  He spent decades in the Northern Territory, in Alice Springs, on Bathurst Island, in Darwin, Vicar General for many years, and studying Canon Law in Ottawa. He served as Provincial Superior, 2004-2010, then worked on Professional Standards for the Bishops Conference and in recent years in Rome making a significant contribution to establishing a culture of safeguarding throughout the Society, which was affirmed by the decisions of the General Chapter last year. He has also served on the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

At the General Chapter

Tim has served the Province, the Australian Church, the MSC Society worldwide.