Author: Emina Melonic (Emina Melonic)

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Happiness in Chernobyl
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Happiness in Chernobyl

The lives of the babushkas in Chernobyl are evidence that God exists everywhere, and that while destruction can often reign supreme, creation, however small, affirms our propensity for the good.

Flannery O’Connor and Shadows of Evil
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Flannery O’Connor and Shadows of Evil

O’Connor understood the complicated relationship between tragedy and joy was related to the inevitable confrontation of good and evil. Freedom is embracing the metaphysical surrender to the knowledge that we are not the beginning or even the end of things.

Shiny, Happy People
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Shiny, Happy People

Like death, suffering is inescapable. It represents the burden of being. But too often today, Americans are trying to escape it with therapeutics and chemicals, neatly packaged as happiness in a bottle.

Against Political Clichés
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Against Political Clichés

Being human is something far more complex and beautiful than the habit of ideological repetition can show us. We miss that if we submit to the current morphing of reality in the service of clichés that condemn us to an inanimate fake life.

Scenes from a Marriage
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Scenes from a Marriage

Bradley Cooper’s Maestro offers an artful examination of questions and contradictions posed by a marriage that was full of them.

Looking for Cary Grant
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Looking for Cary Grant

A new series about the quintessential Hollywood heartthrob reveals the dangers we encounter when we hide our true identities so well, they become forgotten—even to us.

The Magic of Memory and ‘Holiday Inn’
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The Magic of Memory and ‘Holiday Inn’

Today we face a serious bout of historical amnesia, be it in the collective sense or as individuals. We all desperately need some connection to the past. Films like Holiday Inn give us an opportunity to become custodians of Americana.

The Life-Affirming Song and Dance of ‘Bundle of Joy’
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The Life-Affirming Song and Dance of ‘Bundle of Joy’

Norman Taurog’s Technicolor comedy-musical Bundle of Joy (1956) is a radical film that makes the use of Christmas joy to hold up the life-affirming and true love of a mother, father, and grandfather as both the pinnacle of Christian morality and the Christmas spirit.

The Creation of an American Everyman
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The Creation of an American Everyman

Frank Capra’s film, Meet John Doe, makes clear—especially as Christmas Day approaches—that man is not the measure of all things. It is only when God’s wisdom is the foundation of man’s being and existence that we can live authentically in both words and deeds.

A Not So Radical Documentary
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A Not So Radical Documentary

Ironically, a new documentary about Tom Wolfe, “Radical Wolfe,” lacks the radical thrust it laments is missing today and that Wolfe himself had.

The Faustian Bargain of Dorian Gray
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The Faustian Bargain of Dorian Gray

Albert Lewin’s 1945 film, The Picture of Dorian Gray, is the perfect selection for this season of reflection about our mortality and the virtues we need to cultivate to make life worth living.

Longing for the Sacred
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Longing for the Sacred

Though his portrayal of the Catholic saint is superficial at best, Padre Pio director Abel Ferrara's at least accomplish something, accidentally, by leading the film's star onto a redemptive path.

Being Human
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Being Human

Questions of transhumanism have been the subject of many dystopian and futuristic movies, but our fascination with the subject says more about ourselves than the machines.

When Mules Go Ballot Trafficking
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When Mules Go Ballot Trafficking

Dinesh D’Souza’s 2000 Mules offers an intriguing, if depressing, look at a massively well-organized system of vote fraud apparently executed during the much-disputed 2020 election.