This week in 2010, a classic movie gets a shout-out from a very unusual place: the Vatican… hails The Blues Brothers.
And this was all before the Pope was a guy from Chicagoland!
The Vatican newspaper was doing what a lot of news sources were doing at this time then, marking the 30th anniversary of the landmark movie starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.
Only this was the newspaper for the Vatican, the nation representing the Catholic Church, so they weren’t just going to write about how wild things got during filming, or quote some of its many classic lines.
The Vatican paper put together five articles on the movie for that day’s edition, and essentially those articles built a case for The Blues Brothers as “a Catholic film.”
So let’s consider their evidence: Jake and Elwood are orphans who were raised under the tutelage of Sister Mary Stigmata, aka The Penguin.
She’s the first person Jake sees when he gets out of prison, though he’s not exactly happy about it.
And she’s the character who sets the brothers on their quest, which is technically a quest to redeem themselves.
Jake is inspired to reform the band and play a charity concert to pay the orphanage’s tax bill after attending a church service – not strictly Catholic, but still religious.
And, of course, when they’re being chased by the Chicago Police Department all over the city, Elwood refuses to worry because “we’re on a mission from God.”
Now, if you’re asking, how do you look at a movie in which the entire greater Chicago law enforcement community has to chase down and arrest two thieves, with filthy mouths and bad attitudes, and say this is a Catholic movie with a strong moral arc?
Well, the paper’s position was that the Blues Brothers achieved their goal through “redemption mixed with sacrifice.”
I mean, maybe not everybody who does holy work is actually that holy.
Starting tomorrow in Ingliston, Edinburgh, Scotland, it’s the Royal Highland Show.
This is a large-scale agriculture fair, with scenery, food and lots of animals.
It is also home of the Scottish Open Farriery Championship, with the country’s finest horseshoes and horseshoeing.
Vatican beatifies Blues Brothers … well almost (Reuters)
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