I have a Divergent DVD/Book to give away! Send me an email at moviemom@moviemom.com with “Divergent” in the subject line and tell me about the best gift you ever GAVE. Don’t forget your address! (US addresses only.) I’ll pick a winner at random on January 2, 2015.
The Arts & Faith Ecumenical Jury is made up of film critics and cinephiles who wish to recognize and celebrate films that use the medium to explore themes of religion, faith, or spirituality. We particularly seek to enlarge or expand the perception of what is meant by either labeling a film a “Christian” film or suggesting that it should be of interest to Christian audiences. The jury seeks to recognize quality films (regardless of genre) that have challenged, moved, enlightened, or entertained us and to draw the attention of Christian audiences to films it thinks have the potential to do the same for them.
This year’s awardees include films from Hollywood and Europe, feature films and a documentary, independents and big-budget studio films. Of particular interest are the “honorable mention” films that did not make it to the list but were selected by individual judges. Awardees included “Fury,” the very violent WWII film starring Brad Pitt, “Ida,” a black and white film about a nun who discovers that she is of Jewish heritage, “The Overnighters,” a documentary about a Lutheran clergyman struggling to help the men who came to his community in North Dakota from out of state to work in the oil industry, and “Calvary,” the story of an dedicated Irish priest trying to heal damage that is almost inimaginable.
The strangest parts of the story of Walter and Margaret Keane in Tim Burton’s Big Eyes are true. Perhaps the strangest of all is that the paintings — at the time thought to be painted by Walter Keane but ultimately proven to have been painted by Margaret Keane — were so wildly successful. In large part that was due to Walter Keane’s prodigious talents as a self-promoter. But it was not until he had Margaret’s paintings of the sad-eyed children that he had something that was promotable.
As shown in the film, Margaret Keane took her daughter and left her first husband. She met Walter Keane, also divorced, at an art fair in 1955. He told everyone he was the creator of her paintings and it was not until after they were divorced in the mid-60’s that she began to tell the truth.
Copyright Margaret Keane
While in the film Walter is played by German actor Christoph Waltz, who has an accent, in real life Walter was an American, born in Lincoln, Nebraska.
As noted in the film, Margaret Keane, now 87, still paints every day and she has an art gallery where fans can buy her work. In an interview with the New York Times, she was still asking herself how she could have allowed her husband to take credit for her pictures.
Ms. Keane’s trajectory was in some ways a product of an era when women were encouraged to follow their husband’s lead, no matter the path. Although she had been painting since she was a girl, Ms. Keane believed a female artist wouldn’t sell as well as a man. She never doubted her talent — she paints to this day at her home in Napa and sells work at Keane Eyes Gallery in San Francisco — but her newfound confidence paralleled the rise of the women’s movement and an acceptance of outsider and pop artists. Deeply private and now a Jehovah’s Witness, she has an unlikely story placed her in the middle of a profound cultural shift.
The courtroom drama in real life unfolded as it does in the film, with Keane representing himself and making outrageous statements. In the real case, the judge at one point required him to be gagged, which is not shown in the film. But it did end up with both Keanes seated at easels in the courtroom and told to paint something. Margaret still has the painting she did in court that day on her wall. Its title: Exhibit 233.
