Documentary Report! Constantine’s Sword

Constantines-SwordLast night I finished watching the film Constantine’s Sword, based on the book by (and starring) James Carroll.

This is going to be a short report, as I really can’t do a very good job of summarizing this movie. First, I thought it was fascinating. The author/star is a former catholic priest who became disillusioned with the church during the Viet Nam war and left the priesthood.

The film investigates a couple of things simultaneously, drawing kind of a philosophical analogy between the two. First, antisemitism and evangelical religious incursion in the US military is examined, specifically at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs. Then it moves into the history of antisemitism in the catholic church, the church’s complicity in persecution of jews throughout history, and related topics.

Not a christian-bashing film at all, I recommend Constantine’s sword to anyone interested in these topics.