Why this film?

Synopsis

The life, work, and legacy of Henri de Lubac is intimately linked to the social, intellectual, and spiritual movements of the Catholic Church and Western society from the beginning of the 20th century up to the present day.

This film explores these major transformations in society and the Church by juxtaposing the major events of the last century (such as the First and Second World Wars, modern atheism, the Second Vatican Council, and the emergence of a postmodern world) with de Lubac’s personally harrowing experiences and work throughout these decades.

The film focuses on how de Lubac’s understanding of humanity’s nature as being made in the image and likeness of God addresses the threats to authentic human identity faced today in the world.

Producer’s Statement

Researching, writing, and producing this film has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Fully expressing my gratitude and admiration for Henri de Lubac’s life and work would take much more space than is available here. I will content myself by saying that what I have found most impressive about this extraordinary man’s long and productive life is that he was not only someone who practiced what he preached but also someone who dramatically lived and experienced what he studied and wrote.

De Lubac wrote of humanity, made in God’s image and likeness and called to union with God, finding itself in the midst of the great drama of history that is staged in a fallen and wounded world. As a writer of over forty volumes on the theology and history of humanity’s search for and encounter with God, a key contributor at the Second Vatican Council, and a friend and mentor to such figures as Hans Urs von Balthasar, Karol Wojtyła, Joseph Ratzinger, and Jean-Luc Marion, de Lubac is rightly considered one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. But for me, he was more than just a great scholar. He was also a man of heroic virtue.

Examples of his virtue abound: His service as an infantry soldier in the French Army during the First World War, his witness to the dehumanizing effects of that conflict, his dogged work at recovering the Church’s traditional understanding of man’s natural desire for God, his resistance to Nazism, his fidelity to the Church even while being persecuted and silenced by some of her leaders, and his wholehearted defense of the human person’s inherent dignity all testify to this humble but powerful heroism.

In our secularized western world of today de Lubac’s words written during the middle of the Second World War are all the more relevant: “O man, realize what you are! Consider your royal dignity!” That is the kind of truth de Lubac lived and preached. It is the truth that will be memorably conveyed in this film.

– Geoffrey Zokal

Why this film?