The Stanley Kubrick movie endorsed by the Catholic Church
Personally, I can’t think of a single thing that would connect the artistic world of Stanley Kubrick and the realm of the Catholic Church, with the director himself born Jewish, but yet, for some reason, one major tie exists, and it comes from the Pope himself.
Born in 1928, Kubrick was raised culturally Jewish in his New York hometown of the Bronx, around a big Jewish community, and even though his family didn’t practice the religion, it was still present in his life.
That adds another layer to the simple and prevailing fact that Kubrick was an atheist. He was an atheist through and through, and that clearly shows in his work, so it feels unlikely that someone with strong religious faith would choose the kinds of projects he turned into films.
I doubt any god-fearing man would take on something like A Clockwork Orange, seeing the original, banned text and think, ‘what if we made it even more violent?’. I also don’t think anyone with any strict religious morality would decide to be the first to adapt the highly controversial novel, Lolita, for the screen. There is really no Kubrick movie that stands up morally or at all sticks to the realm of what even the loosest Christian, let alone a staunch Catholic, would view as good behaviour. Cults, sex, bombs, war, violent hooligans, murder, paedophilia: I’m pretty sure the Bible is against all that.
But for some reason, though, the Vatican didn’t seem to care, and in 1995, the then-Pope, Pope John Paul II, and his cardinal, John Patrick Foley, put together a list of 45 films, titled ‘Alcuni film importanti’, or ‘Some Important Films’, which was basically a recommendations list.
Start to finish, the list is bizarre, with the suggestions split into three categories of religion, values and art. The first two are more what you’d expect from the Church, as they recommend Christian films, or films about Christianity, or movies like Schindler’s List or It’s a Wonderful Life that speak to good morals.
It’s in the art section where things get really weird, as they recommended things like Nosferatu or the witchcraft-heavy, Wizard of Oz, but none of the titles is as out of place as Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, which is literally the first movie on the list.
There’s so much to unpack here: First and foremost, this is obviously a film about deep space. Sure, by 1995, the average Christian had come to accept that space does in fact exist and found a way to ensure that knowledge of the Big Bang doesn’t infringe on their belief in God. But throughout the film, Kubrick is undeniably hinting at some other presence with the big monoliths. While there aren’t any outright aliens, it’s clear he’s making it known that there is something, and that something isn’t created in Genesis.
But mostly, the oddness of the inclusion comes down to the director himself. Space Odyssey is certainly his most tame movie when it comes to questionable behaviour, but for his entire career, Kubrick was always known for being tough at best and completely evil at worst as he tore marriages apart and basically tortured his casts. I’d say that those don’t sound like the kind of behaviours the Vatican would want to endorse, but really, the Catholic Church is hiding much worse skeletons in its closet.
