06092017 weekend part 2

The Tribune | Weekend | 21

Friday, June 9, 2017

film Universal’s ‘The Mummy’ kicks off push for new film universe

I

s The Invisible Man any match for Iron Man at the box office?

That’s the question Universal Pictures will be testing with their Dark Universe — a connected, multi-film revival of the studios’ classic monster properties from the 1920s through 50s, including The Invisible Man, Dracula, Frankenstein and the Phantom of the Opera. It launches today with “The Mummy,” starring Tom Cruise.

The studio already has flashy talent lined up in front of and behind the camera for this expanded universe,

SOFIA BOUTELLA in “The Mummy”. including Johnny Depp as The Invisible Man, Russell Crowe as Dr. Henry Jekyll and Javier Bardem as Frankenstein’s Monster.

The Dark Universe has a Danny Elfman-composed theme and a nostalgic trailer looking back at the days of Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney and Bela Lugosi.

Creatives Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are stewarding the endeavour.

It’s no wonder why Universal is trying it out. In the hierarchy of Hollywood franchises, it’s hard to beat the idea of the shared universe, which

review

‘It Comes at Night,’ a brisk psychological thriller OFFICE CHRISTMAS PARTY RUNNING TIME: 97 MINS

“IT COMES at Night “ has the title of a horror film and, at times, the mood of one, but it is far too restrained to get the juices of the genre crowd going.

That’s not an accident or a mistake, however. More likely, it’s a cheeky riff on the leaden, generic titles of so many

David Pendleton in a scene from “It Comes At Night.”

(AP PHOTO)

jump-scare films before it. The “It” in writer and director Trey Edward Shults’ “It Comes at Night” might be

superheroes dominate.

Nearly every major studio has at least a scrap of that coveted intellectual property too; Disney has the Marvel Cinematic Universe (and Star Wars), Warner Bros has the DC Extended Universe, Sony has Spider-Man and Fox has X-Men, but Universal Pictures has remained ardently outside of the comic book squall. Instead, it’s focused on homegrown franchises, like the $5.1 billion “Fast & Furious” films, the $3.6 billion “Jurassic Park” films and the $2.7 billion “Despicable Me” films, to the deadly disease that’s turned an isolated family into ruthless survivalists or the actual intruder that upends their lives; but it could just as well be the crippling and overwhelming power of doubt and paranoia. If that’s any indication, it shouldn’t be a surprise then that “It Comes at Night” is a psychological thriller that is more likely to haunt than scare.

That’s not to say there aren’t some moments that might make you yelp.

It’s centered on one family, Paul (Joel Edgerton), Sarah (Carmen Ejogo), their teenage son Travis (Kelvin Harrison Jr) and their dog Stanley.

They live in a big house deep in the woods and entirely alone. There’s some sort of disease going around in the world outside of their protected fortress, and it’s turned people crazy and desperate. The disease itself, which hits quickly and is highly contagious, is barely explained. It’s also possible that it’s scarcely understood by these people. Nevertheless, they’ve decided that strict isolationism is the only means for survival.

Still, something has managed to penetrate their barricade and made the grandfather ill. This is how the movie

name a few.

The idea of the Dark Universe, including the name, has been on the table for quite some time. While Universal officially announced the name in late May, the company has been scooping up trademarks for more than 600 types of branded items, from energy drinks to canned vegetables and television shows going back to November 2014.

What is new is the idea that the monster films will all relate to one another.

“The Mummy” promises to get this interconnectedness going immediately by introducing Crowe’s Dr Jekyll character as the leader of a shadowy multinational corporation, Prodigium, which is committed to destroying evil in the world (not dissimilar sounding to Marvel’s overarching SHIELD) Whether or not that means anything to an audience is still up for debate for some.

The kick-off might not be that epic either. “The Mummy,” which cost a reported $125 million to produce, is tracking to open in the $30 to $40 million range this weekend. Even the 1999 “Mummy” opened to $43.4 million, and that’s not accounting for inflation.

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer starts — with a stark image of a dying, decaying face. They bury him out back and thus are already on edge when someone breaks into their home as they sleep. Before they can even take a look at the trespasser’s face, Paul has already beat him to a pulp and tied him to a tree where he spends the night wailing.

Paul doesn’t trust this man, Will (Christopher Abbott), but after it’s established that he is not sick and is merely looking for water for his wife (Riley Keough) and kid (Griffin Robert Faulkner), the main family decides that the only option is to invite this new threesome to stay with them. They figure they can’t let them go now that they know where they live, so might as well band together.

As you might imagine, everything goes great in this away-from-the-apocalypse outpost for a while, but there is feeling that something is not quite right. Or maybe it’s just in their heads.

What it all amounts to is something that should be questioned. It’s an interesting and stylish effort with not much good to say about humans.

LINDSEY BAHR AP Film Writer

22 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 9, 2017

literary lives father jerome john hawes

The Hermit of Cat Island, part two Sir Christopher Ondaatje continues his appreciation of the extraordinary and productive life of a reclusive Franciscan priest who searched for solitude in the Bahama Islands.

F

ather Jerome’s diary of May 3, 1940, records the final stages of the completion of the Chapel at Mount Alvernia on Cat Island, and

by May 7 he was able to remove the formwork of the vaulted ceiling and roof and begin the construction of the stone altar.

The first Mass in the Chapel was celebrated on May 12. Having completed his Stone House of God, Father Jerome started his own stone house - the Hermitage - on August 2. He finished this by the end of September but stayed in his little timber hut until the beginning of October, when he put

the dome over his cell. He then put the finishing touches to the round Angelus tower - which he finished by December, 1940.

In his detailed and intriguing book ‘Between Devotion and Design’, John J Taylor wrote: “The cell, which doubles as a study, adjoins the oratory, but for practical purposes is a separate unit. The normal method for crossing from the cell to the oratory and back again would be via the external doors.

However, the architect had devised a small hatchway at floor level so that he could crawl through into the oratory during violent thunderstorms and when the building had to be closely

shuttered against the force of the winds and the rain.”

The Hermitage, constructed of local limestone, when I saw it last month, has weathered to a light grey colour with some moisture staining. Internally the walls are bare rock, and the floors are the original rock with cement here and there to fill the holes. John J Taylor has written: “The round Angelus tower that Hawes started after completing the Hermitage, and had finished by Christmas of 1940, is undoubtedly modelled on an Irish example - quite possibly the tower adjacent to Cormac’s Chapel at Cashel that he had viewed in 1920.

There are other fine and similar towers in Ireland; good examples remain at Devenish and Antrim. Hawes’ poem ‘Solitude’ published in his ‘Soliloquies of a Solitary’ contains a verse confirming the Celtic origins of the design of the tower.”

From Grotto of Gethsemane was ferried here a stone; Set now in the round high tower Crown of the Celtic cone.

Concurrent with the construction of the Hermitage, Father Jerome made a set of Stations of the Cross to follow the steep, direct ascent to Mount Alvernia. These Stations, finally completed in January, 1941, were highly innovative features of the Mount Alvernia complex. Sadly, only the stone bases of these Stations still remain.

What is remarkable about Father Jerome (a name he adopted from a Christian ascetic and scholar who lived as a hermit for a period of his life in the fourth century) is that he purposefully engaged in almost self-punitive behaviour. He was an introverted, quiet, retiring sort of person, fond of books rather than people, and reserved and reticent except with close friends.

He kept his feelings under close control, and seldom behaved in an aggressive manner - if ever. He dressed in a grey Franciscan habit, with a rope around his waist. He went around in bare feet a lot of the time, and must have noticed that the publicity from his unusual way of life and from the success of his architectural work gave him much more public exposure than his introverted nature would have preferred.

He noted that, by January, 1941, it was difficult getting his pilgrims into his oratory on Mount Alvernia.

Obviously his construction efforts had aroused both admiration and curiosity, and many people adjacent to Mount Alvernia, noticing his piety, not only wanted to become Catholics but also wanted to have a church there.

Enthused by this, Father Jerome bought a block of land on a rocky ridge at the end of Freetown, repaired the walls and roof of a ruined house, and made a temporary chapel that was the Sacristy of the future church. Also of importance is that Father Jerome absolutely used only his own money for the

The Tribune | Weekend | 23

Friday, June 9, 2017

purchase of land, building materials and labour for his Hermitage and other work on Cat Island.

Work began on the Church of the Holy Redeemer at Freetown in February, 1941, and the building was completed in 1948.

“I have financed all my building operations and my mission work on Cat Island, and my own upkeep without any help from the Bishop of the Mission funds, but they keep me supplied with Mass stipends which is a big help, also the Bishop sends Christmas gifts for the people - lard, sugar, flour, etc,” he noted.

Father Jerome continued working on church designs, becoming physically involved on site with many projects at The Bight and further to the south on Cat Island, including the Chapel of Our Lady of Sion, Port Howe in 1942, an addition to the Hermitage to accommodate fellow clergy visitors, the Chapel of St John the Baptist in Bain Town in 1942, and also the Assumption Chapel in Dunmore, Long Island, another Church of Sts Peter and Paul in Clarence Town, Long Island, and the Church of St Francis of Assisi in Old Bight, Cat Island.

Up until 1944 he had conscientiously followed the path of St Francis and generally adhered to the principles of poverty, self sufficiency and introspection befitting a devotee of the Order.

However, as his skills began to be noticed and appreciated, from 1944 onwards, the demand for his services increased and his concern at the direction his life was taking - towards architecture and away from his life as a hermit - began to increase.

“When called upon I must use such gifts as God has given me for the general good - in the service of his Church.

So I must sacrifice my solitude ... until (if I live) I can return to the peace of

“Knocked my head against stone bruised and cut it. Streaming with blood ... for 10 hours. When I lay down, blood soaked pillow. No one called at Hermitage for three days. ... Did not come back down for 8 weeks.” - Father Jerome, 1954

the Hermitage.”

Thus, Father Jerome continued to work on many more architectural assignments - which often took him away from his Hermitage. He had already offered to assist Bishop O’Collins, in Australia, who had been transferred from Geraldton to the State of Victoria in the East and sent him sketch designs for St Patrick’s Cathedral in Ballarat, Victoria, and now sent further design plans for churches in Murtoa and Lorne in Victoria.

He also provided drawings for a proposed Cathedral Priory Church in Nassau in 1945, and for the Cassina Nuova Abbey Church on Cat Island (on the adjacent hill near his Hermitage), the Holy Name Church in Bailey Town, Bimini, the St Vincent de Paul Church in Hunter, Grand Bahama, St Augustine’s Monastery and College, Fox Hill - as well as plans for a new school at Mullewa, Australi,a and for a Church for Koroit, Victoria.

Another project was Our Lady of the Valley Cistercian Abbey in Rhode Island in the United States. There was also work for the Convent and Chapel for the Sisters of Blessed Martin de

Porres and the St Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau.

By the mid-1940s Father Jerome knew that age was beginning to slow him and that he would not be able to continue the punishing schedule that he had set himself. He had already (by the end of August, 1942) divested himself of all personal wealth.

“Now at last, Deo Gratias! I am really a poor man. Within these last three years, since leaving Australia, I have lightened my ship of three thousand pounds. Now I have nothing - I have been very slow over it but have done my best to obey Christ’s counsel ... and according to the will and rule of our Holy Father Saint Francis. The Hermitage and Portiuncula is the absolute property of the Benedictines ... But I do not deceive myself that I can be ever literally an out and out Franciscan, such as a hermit ought to be, for I have the assurance of my annuity of £120 per annum ...”

In October, 1945, Father Jerome had expressed his earnest desire to complete the Church of the Holy Redeemer in Freetown before he died as it would set a seal on the founding of

a Catholic Mission on Cat Island and it would be the largest and most outstanding Church of any (Anglican or Baptist) on the island. He appealed for financial help, which was quite successful, and set about painting a deliberately crude and primitive mural of Christ’s charge to St Peter on the interior wall of the South Portico in August, 1946.

These incredible, eight-foot long paintings depicted the Sea of Galilee with its coastal towns and mountains rising behind a kneeling St Peter and Noah’s Ark, with St Peter sitting on his throne as first Bishop of Rome and Chief Shepherd of the Universal Church.

On June 10, 1947, Father Jerome left Nassau where he was working on the Fox Hill Monastery and continued his work on the nave arches and gables of the Church. Sadly, on July 20, a fire destroyed the Sacristy of the Church. He immediately started to rebuild it. The extension of the Church was roofed and completed in 1948. He then worked on plans for the Church of St Michael the Archangel in Devil’s Point, Cat Island, the designs for which were used for the construction of the existing church today.

Early in 1950, while Father Jerome was preparing one of his final sketches and plans for a Columbus Memorial Church in Riding Rock, San Salvador (a church which to his great disappointment he never built), a journalist and photographer from Collier’s Magazine in the United States travelled to Mount Alvernia to interview him. The result of this interview published on July 22, 1950, evoked such widespread interest that it was reprinted in the American Catholic Digest and the Australian ‘The Advocate’.

The resulting publicity which erupt-

Continued on page 24

24 | The Tribune | Weekend

Continued from page 23 ed completely shattered the hidden seclusion of Father Jerome’s hermit life. He was mortified by the flood of fan mail and strange requests and resolved never again to subject himself to any publicity.

“Colliers alas! Pictures me as a holy man, whereas in reality I am only a spiritual backslider ... now a hermit ... who is living this life just to try to scrape into Purgatory.”

Eventually a Church of the Holy Saviour was built at Cockburn Town (near Riding Rock) in San Salvador and dedicated in 1992 in celebration of the 500th anniversary of the Columbus arrival - but the church did not follow Father Jerome’s design.

Bishop Bernard Kevenhoerster, Vicar Apostolic of the Bahamas, died in December, 1949, and Fr Paul Leonard Hagerty was appointed his successor in June, 1950. Almost immediately Fr Herman Wind was sent to Cat Island to assist the now ailing Father Jerome.

He worked together with his younger and eventual replacement, particularly in planning a new and larger Church of St Francis of Assisi in Old Bight, which was built adjacent to the older one.

“So I am more than ever a hermit now and hardly ever go down the hill - saying my private Mass up here on Sundays in my little chapel.”

It was now obvious that Father Jerome’s health was deteriorating. Both Bishop Gummer and Bishop O’Collins offered to bring him back to Australia where he could be cared for, but he declined their offers. He shuddered at the thought that he would be a burden to anyone, and he saw no reason to leave his beloved Hermitage on Cat Island. There was also an offer for him to retire to a Carmelite Convent in Wales,

Friday, June 9, 2017

“As his skills began to be noticed and appreciated, the demand for his services increased and his concern at the direction his life was taking - towards architecture and away from his life as a hermit - began to increase.”

but again he refused. He was now 78

and had had a bad fall in September, 1954, with a second series of falls in November.

“Knocked my head against stone - bruised and cut it. Streaming with blood ... for 10 hours. When I lay down, blood soaked pillow. No one called at Hermitage for three days. ...

Did not come back down for 8 weeks.”

It is amazing that Father Jerome lasted as long as he did at the Hermitage. In July, 1955, he had another bad

fall near his well.

“Went down to the well. Coming back staggered, fell down backwards - head downwards on rock - could not move for a long time - could not move - could not - could not. Took 4 hours to move 40 feet - all bruises - could only crawl on belly.”

A week later Father Jerome was moved to Nassau by plane and, although he desperately wanted to return to his Hermitage, the Benedictines convinced him that he should remain in their care at St Augustine’s Monastery. There on April 19, 1956, he had another fall in his room at St Augus-

The Tribune | Weekend | 25

Friday, June 9, 2017

Forgotten facts Paul C Aranha

The primeval forest

T

he late Rob Palmer was an authority on cave diving and wrote at least three books about the vast expanse of underwater caves in the Bahamas.

In 1992, I took him to South Andros to retrieve an Arawak skull from 100 feet below the surface in a spot that he called ‘Sanctuary’ ... and he took me to a piece of land off the South Ocean Road, not far from Albany, to share his interest in primeval forests.

Shortly after that, my friends and fellow Lyford Cay residents, the late Paul and Bianca Cole, donated this acreage to the Bahamas National Trust and it is now the Primeval Forest National Park.

Rob and I talked about the huge trees that once grew in the Bahamas and he was fascinated by David G Campbell’s 1978 book ‘The Ephemeral Islands’, in which the author talks of the Eden-like conditions in this country “a mere 15,000 to 20,000 years ago”.

Campbell went on to say

tine’s and broke his hip, after which he had to be taken by plane to Miami, Florida, for an operation. It appeared that the treatment had been successful and by June they hoped he could be returned to the Monastery. However that same afternoon he had a sudden relapse and died at 2.07am on June 26, 1956.

Father Jerome’s body was shipped to Nassau by boat two days later and, the following morning, the Office for the Dead was chanted in the Cathedral by the Lord Bishop, the Monks and the Clergy. This was followed by the Pontifical Requiem by the Lord Bishop Paul Leonard Hagerty, Vicar Apostolic of the Bahamas. The corpse was then flown to Cat Island and buried in the grave which

Father Jerome had prepared (a natural cave extending 15 feet under the Hermitage chapel) in 1940. He was buried according to his wishes without a coffin, in his grey Franciscan habit.

Father Jerome - the Hermit of Cat Island - had at last found the solitude for which he craved.

NEXT WEEK: the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is an adventurer and writer resident in the Bahamas.

A Sri Lankan-born Canadian-Englishman, he is the author of several books, including “The Last Colonial”.

He acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from “Between Devotion and Design”

by John J Taylor

that by the time Columbus made landfall on San Salvador, he and his crew “would have found paradise on almost any bit of rock” and the author does not blame Columbus for straying into hyperbole when describing the first lands he saw in the New World. The forests that the explorers saw exist today only “in the yellowed journals of men long dead”.

According to George Gardyner, writing in 1651, the Spanish came to the Bahamas regularly to harvest lumber and we know that, later, Bahamians used our forests for lumber to build shelters and ships, while exporting dyewood and aromatic barks to satisfy the wants of foreign lands.

In the age before large-scale commercial harvesting of forests, on Abaco, Andros and Grand Bahama, pine trees 36 inches thick were not uncommon and Campbell stated that, as recently as 1978, “in regions where nobody lives, there were still mahogany trees 24 inches in diameter”.

The Eleutherian Adventurers collected braziletto wood, used to make a red dye, that sold for £10 sterling a ton. A shipload was sent to Boston and the proceeds from its sale became the third (and, up to then, the largest) grant to Harvard College. By the 17th century, government was taxing these exports and, by 1725, Mark Catesby reported that braziletto wood had become scarce.

Cedar, horseflesh, mahogany, mastic and pine were the most sought-after trees and eight-foot beams of mastic, from what was described as a 60-foot tree, were used in the construction of Fort Montagu.

To this day, Bahamian cascarilla bark is essential in the making of Campari.

The original forests of our islands have fallen victim to axe and saw, replaced by modern trees of the same name but nowhere near the same size.

• Comments and responses to islandairman@gmail.com

26| The Tribune | Weekend

ALONG (across) FLASH (down)

Chambers

Friday, June 9, 2017 Century

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The Tribune | Weekend |27

Friday, June 9, 2017

animals Animal matters Kim Aranha

Worth much more than a dime

By The Bahamas Humane Society

PET OF THE WEEK

Budweiser features Clydesdale horses and a Labrador Retriever puppy in its ads.

Animals and advertising

H

ave you noticed lately just how many advertisements on television feature animals? And not just dogs, though I find that dogs are actually in the majority of the ads.

Frequently, these animals are in no way affiliated with the product that they are selling. It would be of little or no significance if dogs and cats were used to promote shopping at PetSmart.

What is of great interest to me is that more and more I am seeing animals used to promote totally unrelated non-animal products.

The Clydesdale horses for Budweiser beer have been very popular in their advertising campaigns for many years. Recently, a Labrador Retriever puppy has joined the Clydesdale team.

And what an adorable match that has become, with touching advertisements that leave me with tears streaming down my face because of the sweetness.

Budweiser also runs a wonderful “Don’t drink and drive” ad with a Golden Retriever waiting patiently for

his master to come home one night.

When the master does not return home, the dog becomes sad and you are led to assume the owner has had an accident. In the morning the owner and dog are united when the man comes home safe because he decided he shouldn’t drive the night before. It’s a powerful message about having friends waiting for you, and driven home by the visible anguish of the dog waiting for his owner versus the joy and tail wagging at his return.

Not to be outdone there is that remarkable Cockney-accented gecko for Geico. Who was the genius that decided that an East End Londoner in the form of a bright green lizard would sell insurance? The first time that was suggested the Geico boardroom must have stopped in their tracks in horror.

However, there have been dozens of ads featuring this little fellow and they are all very effective.

Insurance companies appear to like putting animals in their campaigns.

Aflac has a very persistent duck who even has his own Facebook page and Twitter account!

Farmers Insurance have a series of ads featuring their most “unbelievable claims”, many of which have animals in them, and several starring dogs, and one very funny one with a hamster.

Subaru has a lovely set of ads with a Golden Retriever family going on a drive around their hometown; one where the lady Retriever catches her husband looking at a poodle, and

• Registration has started for another where the dad dog is driving around to get the puppy to sleep.

These ads feature the “Barkley” family. Cuteness personified!

Chevrolet has a cute ad showing a boy and his dog growing up together with the family car as a backdrop.

Meanwhile Flonase advertises their allergy medication with a dog, as does Allegra. If you take your allergy meds, you can take your fur baby for a walk!

Bush’s Baked Beans have a talking dog, and scores of medications – from those helping recovery from chemo to vitamins – feature the positive interaction between animals and their humans.

Swimming dogs, talking parrots, fluffy kittens, big and small horses and many more have been used for years to inspire and encourage customers to buy different services and commodities.

There are some interesting psychological reports available on the internet exploring the phenomena of advertising and how animals can most certainly assist a company a with positive image. This is not a new concept. Who remembers Morris the Cat from the 1980s? But I could not tell you what he was selling.

One of the reasons that this ap-

PHOTO/LINDA GILL-ARANHA

“H

ello! My name’s Dime.

I’m a one-year-old male house cat and I’ve been at the Bahamas Humane Society for quite a while now. I’ve had a bit of skin trouble, but that’s cleared up and I’m now ready for my permanent home. I’m very friendly and sociable. I get along well with other cats and kittens. Linda had a hard time getting me to sit still for my photo as I wanted to explore instead of pose!

Are you looking for a friendly, outgoing cat to join your household? If so, I’m the one for you! Come in to the BHS to meet me, and be sure to ask about the current adoption special.

Adoption hours are 11am to 4pm, Monday to Friday and 10am to 4pm on Saturday, or you can call 323-5138 for more information. I look forward to making your acquaintance!”

the BHS Summer Camp. If you’re between the ages of six and 13 and love animals, this is the camp for you. Space is limited and there will be only two weeks this year: June 26 to 30, and July 11 to 14. Register today before space runs out. proach to advertising works is that most people relate to liking animals and therefore react very positively to a product being marketed by an animal.

Strangely enough, when the agencies attempted to use sexual innuendos to sell products it backfired.

Who remembers that disastrous, sexy Carl’s Jr hamburger advertisement from 2015? Isn’t it funny that two scantily clad, knock-down dead sexy ladies are unable to do the job that fluffy puppies and their canine parents can?

The success and effectiveness of animals featured in advertising should send a very loud and clear message to the world, and showcase what people really want in life is simple, cute and happy.

I am concerned though, based on the cruelty and inattentiveness towards animals that I witness in the Bahamas on a regular basis, whether or not this kind of advertising would work here at all. I remember once that the Bahamas Humane Society had taken a raffle car picture with a potcake in the driver’s seat and all hell was let loose by the winner because a dog had been in their car.

However, we won’t give up!

28 | The Tribune | Weekend

Friday, June 9, 2017

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