Blog 12.

Watched “Spartacus”, still a movie well worth watching, especially for the cast: Laughton, Ustinov, Olivier, Curtis, Simmons, quite a classic in its way. Being Holy Week the television stations, apart from broadcasting many a religious service morning, noon, and night have, as is their wont at this most precious time to the Orthodox church, put out religious series and programmes ad nauseum. The only channel refusing point-blank to alter its schedules and staying with ancient US soaps and half hour comedies is Makedonia. But with the others, for example, this week we have had, apart from Spartacus, Jesus of Nazareth (nightly), Peter and Paul, a dreadful bore of a movie with Anthony Hopkins playing Saint Paul, The Creation, The Bible: Esther, The Bible: Moses The Passion (series), Mary Mother of Jesus, The Bible: Jeremiah, The Bible: Abraham, , The Bible: Jacob, The Shroud of Turin, The Robe, The Nativity Story, The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson), Judas, Salome, The Bible: Genesis, Close To Jesus, The Bible: David, The Lost Tomb of Jesus, The Fall of the Roman Empire, Barabbas, Esther and the King, Noah’s Ark, The Greatest Story Ever Told, Solomon and Sheba, The Bible: Paul of Tarsus, Bible Mysteries, The Bible (1966 directed by John Huston, covers Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham and Isaac), Ben Hur (we always get Ben Hur, Ben Hur is an absolute must), The Bible: Jesus (obviously been building up to this one.)
I might have missed a couple but that gives a pretty good picture. I have not included Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion. On another subject, I also note in this week’s schedules that one of the stations is broadcasting “Lorenzo’s Oil”. When I first read about this many years ago in The Sunday Times I rushed around to the one and only film producer I knew, Roy Simpson, and enquired if he could get the rights as I would have really liked to have written a screenplay but Roy’s response was, if the subject caused me so much excitement you could bet your bottom dollar the majors would be on it in a flash and so it turned out to be. I did watch the movie when it first came out and, if I remember correctly, was most impressed with it, particularly the child actor whose performance was mind-blowing.
I am not going to say anything anti-religion today. Saturday night/Sunday morning I shall light my candle in church when the bells ring out and Judas is burnt on the bonfire and agree with all my Greek neighbours that Christ is risen, he is truly risen, and will end this by wishing everyone a Happy Easter, Kala Paska.