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Darrel Manson
Not limited to those who would use the term Eucharist -- Communion, Lord's Supper, what have you. I'm thinking of actual Eucharistic scenes, not metaphors such as Babette's Feast

My absolute favorite is Places in the Heart. But last week I saw Baptism of Blood with a splendid scene of imprisoned priests in Brazil doing mass. The invitation (keep in mind the setting of a jail full of political prisoners who have been tortured, including the priests themsleves): "We give you shelter in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit." As they take the crackers (that's what they have to use) from prisoner to prisoner, some receive it, some don't. As they offer the crackers to the soldiers guarding them and to the torturers overseeing this, none receive it, but you can see their shame and a sense of being cut off from God because they refuse -- but key is that the priests seek to share this with their persecutors. Very powerful.
Nick Alexander
QUOTE (Darrel Manson @ Jan 20 2008, 12:58 PM) *
Not limited to those who would use the term Eucharist -- Communion, Lord's Supper, what have you. I'm thinking of actual Eucharistic scenes, not metaphors such as Babette's Feast
Though I did not think it to be an exceptional film, I was impressed with the scene in Romero where the title character risks his life in entering a demolished church, to collect the Eucharistic hosts from the tabernacle.
SDG
Darrel, great topic, and that sounds like a great scene in Baptism of Blood.

What Nick said viz Romero -- that horrible scene in which the government soldiers open fire on a tabernacle, and a horror-stricken Romero scrambles to salvage the scattered hosts from the rubble.

Also, the climax, in which Romero is assassinated in the very act of offering the Eucharistic sacrifice movingly identifies Romero's willingness to die with Jesus' sacrifice. Great climax to a decent film.

Some other notable Eucharistic scenes:
  • The Mission: The eucharistic procession at the end, culminating in the massacre.
  • The Passion of Joan of Arc: Joan's ecclesiastical inquisitors dangling the Eucharist like a carrot trying to force her to sign the confession.
  • Into Great Silence: The brief communion scene and later eucharistic procession that, significantly, occur toward the end of the film, just as communion occurs toward the end of the eucharistic liturgy.
  • The King of Kings (1926): Of all the Last Supper scenes in Jesus films, I love this one for the awe and tenderness of St. Peter holding the chalice and cradling it to his bosom, and the dove alighting on the table (on the chalice?). Also, the uncomfortable Judas surreptitiously crumbling the host into crumbs and discarding them, like a little kid with a despised food item on his plate.
  • The Miracle Maker: Not just the Last Supper scene, but even more the road to Emmaus scene, in which Tamar (and the two disciples) recognize Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
  • The Ninth Day: The starving inmates of the Dachau "priest block" celebrating Mass with hidden bits of bread (compare to the scene in Baptism of Blood, but without the dramatic interaction with the guards).
  • The Scarlet and the Black: Does Msgr. O'Flaherty give communion as well as absolution to the tortured and doomed priest in Regina Caeli prison?
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