A Quiet Place

If you live in an out-of-the-way farmhouse, especially with small children, you might want to think twice before watching A Quiet Place– but the horror elements of the film aside, this piece stands out not only for its emphasis on the family – a ever-more rare breed, lawfully married husband and wife, along with their three children and all that. Well, I should say four, since the wife is expecting. But this is no Leave it to Beaver, for there is a tragic and yet endearing realism in their interactions. Emily Blunt and Jon Krasinski are a real-life married couple, and the children don’t look like typical Hollywood. They are, well, more normal-looking, and act so.

As said, the monsters in the film are presented as foreboding and horrifying – strange aliens from outer space, lurking in the shadows of the woods with super-sensitive hearing, with which they stalk and attack their prey (humans) with lightning speed and ferocity. But they are a backdrop to the deeper story of what does it mean to be a father, a mother? What sort of sacrifices will one make, or at least try to make, when push comes to shove, and the barbarians – in whatever guise – show up at the door? There is a subplot where the daughter does something inadvertently that leads to tragedy, and the father must work to forgive her – but he is still her Dad, and must love without compromise.

What there is of dialogue mostly fits well. What there is of talking, that is, for to survive, as the title suggests, they must keep very, very quiet, like Elmer Fudd hunting Bugs Bunny, but the film also keeps this from becoming a sort of joke, maintaining the seriousness of the situation, which could have toppled over into farce. There are some taut scenes – the one in the bathroom is particularly harrowing – even if things get a wee bit campy and formulaic towards the end – endings are always difficult in any story – they do work. Krasinski, who also directed, said he made the film as a ‘love letter to his children’, to show what a father must be prepared to do for those whom he must protect.

There is not much religion in the film – would it appeal beyond the homeschooling community if Jon and Emily, whose religious views I know not, had all knelt and recited the Rosary? – but he has more or less succeeded. If you can handle the more vivid scenes without nightmares, then recommended. There is much that is ‘Catholic’ therein.

The film was a surprise sleeper hit of 2018, and a sequel is on the way, with the explicitly atheist Cillian Murphy, with whom I take further issue. Besides his boring Irish atheism, which he adopted after playing a nuclear physicist in the 2007 bomb Sunshine, what was with his gratuitous nude walk-about in the opening scene of his 2002 dystopic apocalyptical film 28 Days Later, which I was watching a few years ago in mixed company? What’s wrong with these weirdos? Perhaps he will keep his clothes on this time round, as well as the innocence of the first film, but sequels have a habit of going awry. We will have to wait and see, I suppose.

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

Remembering Father Alphonse de Valk

(Today marks the sixth anniversary of the death of Father Alphonse de Valk, C.S.B., a faithful, courageous and indefatigable Basilian priest, pro-life-and-family apostle, and the founder of Catholic Insight magazine. Here is what we wrote those on his entering into eternity five years ago, as we continue to remember him in our prayers and thoughts)[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Canonizing Sister Faustina and Divine Mercy

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER  MASS IN ST PETER’S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA Sunday, 30 April 2000   1. “Confitemini Domino quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia eius”; “Give thanks to the Lord for he is good; his steadfast love endures for ever” (Ps 118: 1). So the Church sings on the Octave of[…]Continue reading→

Divine Mercy Sunday – An Echo of Every Mass

Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe’…  ‘My Lord and my God!’ (Jn. 20:18)). Today is Divine Mercy Sunday, and as we celebrate the end of the Easter Octave, we contemplate the wounded side of our Saviour, the Church’s source of life. On Good Friday in the[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→

Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów

We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→