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S4E9.5: Silence

This week on the Kill James Bond bonus feed, November has been allowed to pick a religious movie and, naturally, has chosen Martin Scorsese's 3-hour long motion picture adaptation of the popular 'trolley problem' thought experiment.


Andrew Garfield stars as a Jesuit missionary sneaking into Japan during the repression of Christians to find his missing mentor Liam Neeson. 

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FREE PALESTINE

Hey, Devon here. As you well know I've been working with a few gazan families to raise money for their daily living costs in the genocide. As Aid has been restricted for nearly two weeks now, prices of food are skyrocketing. So we ask for you to keep helping them out, just a little longer.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/a8jzz-help-me-and-my-family-get-out-of-the-gaza-strip

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-me-and-my-family-to-find-a-safe-place

https://www.gofundme.com/f/htdcj-evacuating-my-family-from-gaza

https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate

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WEB DESIGN ALERT

Tom Allen is a friend of the show (and the designer behind our website). If you need web design help, reach out to him here:  https://www.tomallen.media/

Kill James Bond is hosted by November Kelly, Abigail Thorn, and Devon. You can find us at https://killjamesbond.com

S4E9.5: Silence

Comments

Something that I found really interesting was that as we go higher up in the levels of the Inquisition against the Christians, we see the officials say that the Christians don't even need to mean it when they apostatize, they just need to perform an act of self-humiliation and affirm the power of the Japanese State over them. The persecution of the Christians is not about religious intolerance, but rather suppressing an alternative to the power structure of the State. The Inquisition just wants to make sure that peasants remains servile and powerless, crushing any sense of radical anti-establishment thought. The brutality and persistence of this suppression is just a tool of State oppression used by all authoritarian regimes. As directly stated by the film, the purpose of Christianity and Jesus is to give comfort and salvation to the Wretched of the Earth, that being the many suffering peasants victimized by those with material power. Through this, Christians have a security and safety out of reach of their oppressors, which opens the possibility for further confidence in rebellion against those oppressors. After all, if you're soul is guaranteed to be saved, then you have the confidence to fight and die against those who would do you and your loved ones harm in this world. And so, a tyrannical regime like the Japanese State has to crush this movement as quickly and brutally as possible, before enough people find the courage to overthrow them. Another thing: as Christianity is a religion of victory found in defeat and weakness, Rodrigo is victorious in saving the Japanese Christians from torture by giving into the Japanese State and stepping on the Fumi-e. Even though he is essentially defeated and does what the powerful want, he defeats them by preforming the act which will free those who suffer the most which causes him great agony. It's a beautiful allegory.

Sean Drum

Apparently the Jesuit Priest they got to help with this movie, Father James Martin, is that founder of a Catholic LGBTQ+ organization. So yes, he's a cool Catholic.

Sean Drum

I can't believe none of our learned hosts referenced "Turning Japanese" by the Vapors. It was stuck in my head for the first 30 minutes of this. Ridiculously apt song.

Regressed2demean

Adam Driver really is the guy you carry on your passion project hey?

Sara Amorosi

November's words about gender were very moving to me. Although I'm a cis man, as a gay man I had *thoughts* about the meaning of masculinity in conversation and contention with other gay men back in the day and came to the same essential conclusion: no one can tell me what I am but me. It gave me a bit of a frisson to hear her come to the same conclusion.

The Evil Cub

As a possible Heist Season episode, I’d love to hear your take on Hackers (1995).

JD Starflower

loving the word "cum-speckled"

Arthur Sexcrimes

Not Nova hitting us with an absolute banger read at the end. Thank you so much for the insight 💙

Ryan Wexler

Nov says Film is an empathy generator and Abi notes that Empathy is now considered a sin. Quite an insight into why the alt-right hates realism diversity, and nuance in films.

MFH

the discussion on who was allowed to baptize people in catholicism unlocked a memory from my confirmation back when i was a teenager raised catholic. any baptized catholic can baptize someone else in an emergency, i guess, which presumably is why they rolled out the tv and vhs player and showed us teens an informational video in the style of a CPR instructional video, in which a man witnesses a car hit a pedestrian (?? the details are fuzzy), finds the victim dying, in a panic asks someone if the victim is baptized, and proceeds to show us viewers how to do an emergency baptism with a water bottle from his car.

meg

As a gay man I'd like to say I do not understand Abi's surprise; Andrew Garfield is sexy in every movie. I will fight you on this.

Michael Tonus

Is it just me or does Abi seem off these days? Not to get all parasocial, but I feel like her Reddit atheism & cynicism has gotten stronger recently. I felt it was less jarring than with the Wicker Man, but I dunno. Some people say it’s a character she is playing, but feel something more serious is happening. Especially after watching that Outer Worlds vid.

Tuur Verheyde

"I think the movie takes the position that the trolley problem is the fault of the sick bastard that tied people to the tracks." Well it at least raises the question, since by some interpretations that would be God

-Kris-

Holy shit, November. Your discussion on getting a US visa in these times hit hard. (I live in the US) Very touching chat on death before detransition. I appreciate the international perspective.

Her Fierceness

Making the moment the hosts realize they've seen different cuts of the movie even worse by having one person get the Swedish or Norwegian version instead

Jørgen Lund

i hope you do Infernal Affairs 1-3 (The Departed optional)

weronika mamuna

Funnily enough I just finished tearing through all of them.

Mythopoeist

How about Solo: a star wars story?

GJH

Is it selfish of me to want November to stay the fuck away from the USA right now? They're going to start making examples of trans people soon, I'd rather she didn't end up in an El Salvadoran work camp.

Ben Schwabe

The podcast Lions Led By Donkeys also did a really good series on this event and used this book as its main source!

Sam Minden

(Mamet sucks, but the film has … things to say about masculinity.)

Seán Óg Mac Cionnaith

Also hopefully Milo is on the layer cake episode as I feel he has a lot to say about that film

Erin Taylor

Also I remember seeing the trailer for this in cinemas and never got round to watching it but I think I might have to now

Erin Taylor

If you're looking for a book as a companion piece to this, I can highly recommend Christ's Samurai: the true story of the Shimabara rebellion

Erin Taylor

I guess technically Millions is both a religious movie AND a heist movie.

Sunny Moon-Schott

May I suggest: David Mamet’s HEIST (2001), ft. Gene Hackman Danny DeVito Delroy Lindo Rebecca Pigeon Sam Rockwell Patti LuPone Ricky Jay

Seán Óg Mac Cionnaith

The talk about the trans reading at the end reminded me of some thoughts I had watching I Saw the TV Glow. When discussing trans rights a lot of the focus is (reasonably) on people for whom dysphoria is so unbearable that not transitioning is basically death. Someone like that might go to any ends to transition, even if it was a process akin to dying. However, what about someone whose dysphoria is bearable? Asking them to bury themselves alive and piss and shit themselves is a is going to be a much harder sell. Sure, they'll probably be much better off on the other side of it, but there's no way to know if it will actually work unless they actually do it. So if they decide to chicken out you may not agree with their decision but you can at least understand it. Of course all of these situations are contrived and the real course of action is to stop that asshole who keeps tying people to the trolley tracks.

Brian Danger Hicks

Heist movie that needs to happen is Hudson Hawk: Bruce Willis, Andie MacDowell, Sandra Berhard, and Leonardo DaVinci pastiche.

Paul Warlop

That's actually an episode of due south

Damien Tonkin

I was about to suggest both of these too!

Adam Shepherd

Not a heist movie (except very tangentially) but Paddington 2 has A LOT to say about masculinity, how the police are terrible and breaking out of prison is good actually. Would love to for it to be covered but may need to wait for New Years

Christopher Ingamells

All-time episode let's fucking go

Thomas Noriega

So I read your comment originally and was actually put a little off listening (I am not a believer but the sort of reddit internet athiest energy is not something I have energy for sometimes) and finally did today and wanted to comment. I am not wanting to tell anyone where their boundaries should be (especially a fellow deadlift enjoyer) but I thought she was actually pretty great in this episode? Like I have heard devout Christians make spicier jokes about the crucifixion or Jesus or what have you (I guess they are in group, but still) and really liked her read on it as an anti-religionist or at least... anti-formal organized colonial religion text. It was my reading when I saw it too (I don't know shit about directors religion for the most part) and getting the context was nice. It helps part of me is always going to be twelve as far as not minding the cum jokes tho, so that is on me.

Winson Paine

One of my favourite Scorseses lets faithing go!

Robert Connor

Would love to hear Kelly's Heroes as part of robbery season. Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas rob the Nazis.

George Barker

First Reformed mentioned! hell yes. i'm manifesting it.

weronika mamuna

THE QUICK AND THE DEAD - GREETINGS FROM THE IMPERIAL CORE - It has come to my attention that my repeated suggestions to watch Sharon Stone's THE QUICK AND THE DEAD have hitherto been disregarded. YOU MUST TAKE A MOMENT TO LOOK AT THE CAST OF THIS MOVIE. Sharon Stone - Gene Hackman - Russell Crowe - Roberts Blossom - Kevin Conway - Lance Henriksen - Pat Hingle - Gary Sinise - Leonardo DiCaprio. Tragically this film was left off of Western Season but that mistake can be corrected! This is a Sharon Stone produced revenge film western with an all star cast and beautiful cinematography. It is not flawless - the respresentation of an indigenous man is flat and simplistic to say the least - but it is a fun romp and I would love to hear what you think! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Quick_and_the_Dead_(1995_film)

Sequoia Alexander

You might also be interested in the Carmalites and the Missionnaires du Sacré-Coeur for different perspectives

Angel-of-Deadlifts

I can see that

Damien Tonkin

Bit of a random suggestion, but I feel like you guys might have a fun time with the old Danish film Olsen-banden. It's a heist film that would rather be a film about porn laws.

Eva Graversen

Unfortunately I don't think this is a philosophical issue. I think I've just been developing an ick for the persona Abi plays on this pod. Like Nova and Devon are great. It's both the reddit atheism and the gross hypersexual over sharing that have really been putting me off. Like as a trans woman I'm pro trans women talking frankly about sexuality, but talking about a cum splashed screen isn't that

Angel-of-Deadlifts

I mean a lot of atheists know the bible better than a lot of Christians. For my part I don't mind it. My favourite author is Terry Pratchett who I always thought wrote very intelligently about religion and faith but I couldn't get through one of the science of Discworld books because of you get three atheists in a room talking about religion, as much as you may respect them individually they're going to get preachy. Which is kind of ironic. My point is that this isn't that and for me personally it doesn't cross that line. It's not three atheists talking about a straw man idea of religion it's one person advocating for an atheist reading of a religious film and two other people who's current spiritual attitudes I don't know specifically arguing against that interpretation. I'm in a weird place spiritually so I could go either way. As a disabled person I've come to the conclusion that if Jesus tended to the sick when society said that they were unclean then on one level of doesn't even matter if he miraculously healed them.

Damien Tonkin

If we are looking for a continuation of the religious theme, I have to throw Dogma out there.

Karen Hainstock

During the bit about crucifixion taking too long I was just thinking "it may be a nine to five for you mate but this is my fucking death!"

Damien Tonkin

Yes, but WHICH Pelham 123, cause I really like the Travolta one, but I'd still enjoy the 1974 one. Also, is that list public facing? Like can I see it somewhere, so I'm not clogging up comments with unrelated questions?

Alexander Jonsson

I think it's definitely worth talking about. Also it's a religious heist movie so the two themes of the recent episodes dovetail quite nicely.

Damien Tonkin

I found it fascinating to think about the moral questions in this movie as a Jew because the approach is just fundamentally so different that the same questions wouldn’t arise. Rodrigues says that Christianity is the Truth and just as much the Truth in Japan as in Portugal, which is consistent with Christianity being a prosthelytising religion- they believe (historically) that everybody should be Christian, and Christianity is for everyone. Judaism is not a prosthelytising religion. We believe (I’m sure there are exceptions and nuances but this is what I’ve been taught) that Judaism is for Jews, and our rules do not apply to everyone else. Trying to convert people is not allowed, and in fact the conversion process is made deliberately difficult to ensure that anyone going through it really understands what they’re getting into. There are certainly potential issues with that, but watching all the people in this movie get horribly tortured and killed as a result of something brought to them by people who felt it was their sacred duty to teach it to them, when they might otherwise never even have encountered it, I couldn’t help but feel like it’s a better approach. On the other hand, and going off what November was saying at the end of the podcast, the discussion about the metaphorical soil in Japan not being right for Christianity vs. Rodrigues’ assertion that that’s because they poisoned the soil did make me think of some discussions you see about queer and transness, when cis straight people will say things like ‘Oh but being queer or trans just makes people unhappy, look at the higher rates of anxiety and depression’ whatever, to which the response is YES, MOTHERFUCKER, BECAUSE YOU MADE IT THAT WAY!! You can’t cut a plant off at the roots and poison the soil and then point at it and go ‘look how bad it’s doing, this must just be the wrong climate’. On the other other hand, I spent much of the movie thinking about what Catholics were doing to Jews in Portugal at around this time, which is (in my understanding) similar in outline to what the Buddhists are doing to Christians in this movie, and something that presumably Rodrigues might have had some connection to when he was in Portugal (I don’t know enough about Jesuits or the structure of the Catholic Church in the 17th century to know how directly involved he might have been). It makes sense that that’s not part of the story but it does complicate my feelings towards his character and the whole story in general.

lousullivan.bf

Funnily enough one of my uncles is a Catholic priest. My other uncle was excommunicated. It's a funny old world isn't it?

Damien Tonkin

With her social and educational background it's basically impossible not to know the basics of at least Anglican christianity. Even in our state schools daily group worship is compulsory. I know people who are Muslim and Hindu who know Christian prayers and hymns by heart. You can tell from the way she speaks that its acting, it's just not very good or funny

Angel-of-Deadlifts

Ahahaha! There's at least three Silences!

Kirsty McGuire

It's funny because I literally downloaded the wrong Silence when I first watched this movie. It wasn't even the one in the thumbnail.

Scott Dick

As someone who was raised fully nonreligious, I didn't know if there were still Jesuits, or the specific things Catholics need a priest for. It is, in fact, very easy to not know things. Especially when you have zero interest in them.

Scott Dick

Not a heist movie, however! I'm bound by my transgender rule of hono(u)r to suggest that the podcast Kill Richard Sharpe. With how the podcast handled Patriot Games and Master and Commander, I think it would be a great time. This is TV Movies You Can Watch that Says Something About Masculinity. Thanks for the great podcast episode.

AC

In regards to the quality of people Jesus trusted, there isn't much mention of Judas before he betrayed Jesus so I assume he wasn't one of the Beggers and Sex Workers Jesus hanged with. Instead he must have been just a Dude, essentially Dave from Accounting. A Solid but booring guy and the rest of the Apostles went "Damn! I thought for sure it was going to be Peter!"

Strike3

For suggestions: Happy New Year. It's a Very Silly Hindi movie starring Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone. Also, Salaar, a Telugu movie starring Prabhas, because I want to hear what everyone thinks of the Very Odd third act.

Aniyunwea Greyotter

I also came here to suggest The Sting; I've been hoping they'd cover it since the start of Heist Season

Hungry Joe

Ooh or a niche heist: Malcolm (1986), a little Australian movie about the power of friendship (and how autism helps you rob banks).

John O'Brian

As someone who grew up with conservative Catholic parents, I always heard that jesuit ideas were dangerous. As someone who is no longer religious, I still respect Jesuit philo and theo more than other Catholic groups. They are certainly not perfect, but tend to have a rather liberal and learned reading of Catholicism

Isaiah Thummel

A couple of other robbery movies that I don’t think I heard on the list: City on fire Reservoir dogs To catch a thief The wrong trousers St Trinians (2007) The Ladykillers

Keith Gilmour

No, I'm also from the UK and from a very similar social background, and she is just being ignorant on purpose. Theres no way you wouldn't know some things

Angel-of-Deadlifts

Who else is as excited for Heist Season including "A Touch of Evil" as I am? If you're not familiar with the picture, Charlton Heston plays a Mexican. Yes, he's brown face. He's also the protagonist. Besides being high in cultural insensitive and mysogany, Touch of Evil is a great piece of film noir.

Doug King

I was getting itchy when Abi started going in that direction as well. When she name checked Dawkins' book I felt a strong negative reaction On a side note when there was a point being made about basic Christian doctrine, where Abi's response was what is that? I just about lost my damn mind! Abi, my sister in Christ! How could you not know that unless you were raised in a completely secular household? Then I I thought was I should stop being so American in my thinking, we are constantly awash in Christianity whether we like it or not. I'm in the South and boy howdy it's constant.

Doug King

Stepping in as Da Japan Explainer to highlight some cultural context here - modern Japan has a very culturally codified idea (particularly in literature) of separation between your public face and your inner feelings (honne (本音) and tatemae (建前)). You can obviously dispute the idea that this is actually so distinctly Japanese, it sounds very "Murder is actually really frowned in Japan. It goes against the traditional concept of 生きる, which means "to live".", but Japanese writers and cultural thinkers pervasively conceive of it as such. The result of this is that what is also available in the story is the idea that the hidden christians are recognizable as a sort of precursor to modern Japanese subjectivity (particularly literary subjectivity). When I read the book my Japanese was much worse so I don't want to speak with authority on it until I've reread, but I certainly think that the film offers the reading that Garfield's character is primarily moving from his earlier quietly contemptuous western Christian identity to an authentic indigenous Japanese Christian subjectivity in a way that reconciles the possibility of Christianity in Japan with the anxiety over the colonial aspects of the Catholic mission. (I've preferred explaining this to explaining that they could totally have done the racist name joke in Goldmember with actual Japanese names) Also very funny to me that this Catholic ass movie ends with the idea that really it's Faith Alone that truly defines a Catholic.

Nah

Oh yes! I love that movie!

Doug King

My experience is that in Japan, suitably middle class British people passively disgust them much less than Americans and Australians do

Nah

They sent missionaries, then poor people started listening to them so they made christianity illegal

Angel-of-Deadlifts

I know it's an act, like she obviously knows Jesuits exist, it's just stupid reddit atheism. I used to really like abi, I've followed her since she started, but recently I've been feeling like, on pods like this, sees a bit of a let down and theres not much there

Angel-of-Deadlifts

YESSS I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!!!

Hannah Blumenfeld

I thought she was being self-deprecating enough about it to justify it

Andrew Dunn

If you’re still taking recommendations for heist season i would like to nominate Hudson Hawk

Jonathan Smith

Interesting, was what Nova said about Scorsese made other films in order to secure the funding based on fact or just an off-the-cuff remark because then we've got the issue of directors with no clout not getting funding and having to work around that and directors with clout having to make other films (like Coppolla with Godfather 3) to get to do what they want. And suggesting films, though this is a bugger to find, 'The Raggedy Rawney', written, directed by and staring Bon Hoskins about a deserting soldier, played by Dexter Fletcher, who disguises himself as 'the Rawney', the magical madwoman of a group of travellers in non-specific Central Europe at a non-specific time in the last century. I saw it a long time ago, so rather like with some of the gang's recommendations in the past, I may be misremembering it as good?

Loz Pycock

I was going to suggest Doubt as the next movie in Religion Season (very Abi/theatre-coded) but then I remembered that Black Death exists and is awesome. Hell, do both!

Moray Macdonald

GREAT shout!

Moray Macdonald

Had to decide if Abi being an insufferable reddit atheist would ruin listening to this. 15 minutes in and its getting boring

Angel-of-Deadlifts

In Leslie Feinberg's "Stone Butch Blues", one of the elder butches has a funeral and word goes out that everyone has to wear dresses. Jess says "fuck that" and shows up masc. She walks in and sees every tough butch she knows wearing old church dresses. Because the funeral was paid for and held by the late friend's parents. Everyone was willing to humiliate themselves for the memory of their late friend. The family sees Jess walk in wearing men's clothes, and immediately stands up and ends the funeral. Jess gets ostracized for a week or two after that and learns humility.

Andrew Dunn

Truman Show is the triumphant anti-christian movie Abi is looking for

Andrew Dunn

Please do Black Death. Thank you. It's got, the squalid apocalypse of 14th century England, Eddie Redmayne twinking about in brown robes, Carice van Houten being terrifying beautifu blonde, Sean Bean as a true believer,John Lynch as a true true believer, a necromancer, Christopher Smith the guy who did Triangle directed it. The paranoia is good. The fights feel grounded. Lots of stuff about belief, and how you die as a Catholic. They traipse into the dark forest/bog to hunt out said necromancer. Not great, but could be.

Maladapted

I almost died unshriven upon hearing the line 'you will die unshriven unless god sends you a Portuguese twink'

Andrew Knifton

Woohooo!!! ❤️

Valesca

I wonder if they'll ever do mission impossible.. Abigail has mentioned before that she'd rather not, on account of Tom Cruise being a working actor/producer/person with a lot of power in the business.

Valesca

It's definitely more on the camp side of things, but Saved! was a staple movie to me as a young queer atheist - dark humor AND lightheartedness with some really stark moments of the cruelty of white suburban Christian orthodoxy. I'd also love to see an episode/episodes about non-Christian religious movies, but I don't have any immediate pulls.

Aven McConnaughey

JESUIT. MIND. TRICK. I cackled like a little Halloween witch and scared the fuck out of the couple in the car next to me.

Wolfman Jack

Thank you for the episode I wanted to make a suggestion for a couple of future films to cover Religious movie - Danny Boyle’s “Millions” (2004) Heist movie - Nine Queens (2000)

Lauri King

Bonus episodes don’t follow the season theme (or is Spice World a heist movie?!?)

Jacob King

Accidentally reinventing Blood: The Last Vampire.

Harold Gottfried

I wonder how Scorcese fits Gimme Shelter into this one

Skate Bush

If cons count as heists then The Sting would be a good movie, if not then there's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Brian Danger Hicks

Devon I have to make a specific pitch for a movie that I think is the perfect coda to Silence. Penda's Fen, a 1974 BBC Play for Today, is a slow and understated piece about a boy in the rural countryside who has a crisis of faith, complete with visions and temptations and agonies, but it's about our young protagonist realizing that being gay makes him the inheritor of a pre-christian tradition of queer anarchy. It's full of long and weird conversations about faith, gnomic visions, understated performances, leftism, and explicit 1970s endorsements of homosexuality. Also a horrible little demon guy sits on his chest and it's much scarier than it should be. It's actually a very similar film but about being a nancy boy instead of a catholic, and it's on youtube.

John O'Brian

Why did they even send missionaries to a country were being christian is super illegal and they boil you for it? Dangerous for the missionaries and the converters

Oh No

Here for Lucy Dacus catching a well deserved stray 83 minutes in

Ben Dearing

This was a really beautiful discussion of this film. One of your best episodes. Thank you.

QuoProQuid

Apart from the trans reading, I would argue there may also be a pretty strong anti-war reading. From the sounds of it, this movie is basically arguing that there is no such thing as dying for a higher cause, that you may fight for a higher cause but if you die in the process, it will all be in vain because you are fucking dead

Subspace Jet Witch

DEVON. DEV ARE YOU LISTENING. THE TRAIN (1964). PLEASE. I BEG OF YOU

God's Eepiest Soldier

Wait, is Heist season over? Jean Pierre Melville's entire filmography wants a word with you

Patrick Lopez

KEDEKAI! As God made her!

Patrick Lopez

One other recent Jesuit you may have heard of is Pope Francis

Brian Danger Hicks

Yeah they deliberately modeled themselves off of Britain when modernizing in the meiji restoration

Public Universal Foe

Blame whoever gave that movie such a generic name. Jesus fucking Christ, Scorsese, do a simple google search before handing the final draft to the producers! /hj

Subspace Jet Witch

Hell yesh!

Villum Wendelboe Lassen

In terms of Heist movies you missed, - The Bad Guys, baby's first heist thing - Snatch and also the entire Mission: Impossible film franchise, although I understand you are probably saving those for some kind of eight-night live show marathon (or a mini-series like the Bourne set), and also want to wait for Final Reckoning so you can do them all in one go.

Jazz Fox-Canning

Y'know. I'm trans person who unfortunately has had to go back to the closet after like two months of finally being out, and November's interpretation has really heartened me. You've given me a little stone to keep in my pocket when I need that comforting weight. You're right, they can demand everything of me but my heart. Whatever they want of me, whatever they think I am, they cannot have everything, and for that they have nothing. Thanks for giving me a bit of hope and comfort in a disquieting world.

Professor WizardClown, PhD

I misread "...his missing mentor Liam Neeson." As "...his missing mentor Leslie Nielsen." And I have never been more excited for a movie in my life.

Dave Blanchard

I think if we’re keeping with the theme of “bonus episodes with a religious bent”, the three I would recommend is either last temptation of Christ (which serves as an interesting companion to Silence), Calvary with Brendan Gleason, or First reformed.

Benjamin

I was like ah man they got me

Mike Kirschner

My initial reaction upon finishing this episode is this may be one of the best ones you three have made

Caleb A

This thumbnail confused the heck outta me

Kirsty McGuire

Has Nova been to a Jesuit university or some type of school? I went to a Jesuit high school and she has an excellent awareness of Jesuit doctrine. Really enjoyed the tying of this to a trans reading, absolutely fascinating stuff as per usual.

Mizzen

I too have long believed Japan to be Britain - island nation off the mainland of a continent with a stereotyped reputation of politeness and a reeeaaallll problem around their imperial legacy

Hazel Smith

I saw this movie on Christmas Eve 2016 during one of the worst depressive cycles of my life. I was raised culturally Catholic (Ireland) and had nearly gone into the Priesthood as a means of finding purpose in life even though I don't subscribe to any of the teachings. This movie left me shaken and numb, but in the good ways. I'm not going to say it stopped me from killing myself, but it did make me reevaluate a lot of things in life. Don't know if I necessarily improved since then or not, but I think between this and Calvary, I found a way to reconcile myself with what I did find of value in spirituality while identifying what wasn't. Probably shouldn't be sharing this, but ah well.

Peter Larkin

Congratulations! 🎉 (shit, I gotta remember to refill mine)

Clef (they-them)

I wrote my part of my senior thesis for my history BA about the treatment of Catholic missionaries in Tokugawa Japan. The Shogunate saw Christianity as a direct threat to their control of Japan, so they relentlessly hunted and tortured converts and missionaries to discourage Christian worship and force Christians to renounce their faith. One paper I read argues that this policy had the inverse effect in the worst possible way. Various Catholic orders saw Japan as essentially a martyrdom factory, and they would send priests by the dozens to Japan explicitly to die and generate canonizations and religious clout for their order. Eventually the Pope recognized this brutal system and changed the rules for achieving sainthood, slowing the canonization process to discourage orders from intentionally sending missionaries to their deaths.

Cegan Hinson

I think the book is required reading for every person on the planet, I’m not even personally pro-religious, but I think it is so brutally moving and thoughtful that I can’t help but wrestle with it even after reading it in a single night four years ago

A Gaggle of Geckos

Hell yeah!

notified.tortoise

I got my first estrogen prescription filled yesterday. I'm just excited and wanted to tell someone. I'm looking forward to the episode 💜

Hayla just wants to hear someone say her name


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