U.S. Bishops Pick the Top Ten Films for 2003

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Jan 17, 2004

Whale Rider. A touching coming-of-age story set among contemporary New Zealand Maoris, which explores the role of community and change through the relationship of a determined 12-year-old girl and her tradition-bound grandfather.

Let me guess. After some preliminary sulking, the petulant 12-year-old relents and lets Grandpa teach her the rudiments of Latin syntax and a synopsis of high-medieval Scholasticism. She leaves the village and earns a doctorate in canon law summa cum laude from the Pontifical Lateran University. Her refractory girlfriends stay behind to smoke ganj and are killed by a tsunami while watching "Dirty Dancing" on DVD.

The USCCB assures us the top ten films are chosen "not only for their obvious artistic merit, but for the positive messages they impart and how they enlighten as well as entertain."

Am I close?