Anyone who has ever fallen in love with an illusion will have great sympathy with the anonymous young writer in the film, Dans La Ville de Sylvia, as he walks around Strasbourg consumed by the projection of his muse. Because he (the actor Xavier Lafitte) is beautiful, and his fantasy harmful towards no one but himself, the sensitive artist is easily forgiven.
The Pope, however, is not.
Today’s papers are full of reports about how Pope Benedict XVI has announced that condoms are not the answer to Africa’s fight against HIV and Aids.
Speaking to journalists on his flight to Cameroon, the Pontiff said the condition was, "a tragedy that cannot be overcome by money alone; that cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems".
I wish it were an illusion that this man’s belief in a misogynistic, homophobic and sadistic God could not affect the lives of so many Christians across the world. According to a report in today’s Guardian, 22 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are estimated to be infected by the disease. Past BBC reports say that there are 143 million Catholics in Africa.
If I didn’t know there were outreach programmes in Africa spreading the right message about HIV and Aids prevention, including Christian outreach programmes, my despair would be a lot greater.
The final scene in Dans La Ville de Sylvia shows how successful the director, Jose Luis Guerin, has been in transferring the artist's projection on to the viewer. The camera holds still showing a shot of a street in Strasbourg. People walk in and out of the frame and, while Xavier remains out of it, there is a palpable lightness of being. I sat there bracing myself for Xavier’s entrance and for, what by this point has become, the heaviness of his desire.
But he doesn’t come.
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3 years ago
2 comments:
I dig how you connected the movie and what the Pope said! Having two things on your mind at the same time can create splendid connections.
I would blame the ideology over the Pope, he's just saying what his religion prescripts, right? But saying it'll aggrivate the problem. Since when was he an expert on sexual behavior? What example would he cite where providing condoms flares up the spreading of sexual disease?
Well, that's just it. If the Church's position is that human sexuality shouldn't be used to harm others, he is flouting that ethic all over the shop. At least he is being condemned left, right and centre on this, and even being nudged by The Vatican who have indicated that he is not infallible on this point.
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