“A
Man For Our Season”
Fr. Kolbe
A Review of Two Crowns by Nick Olszyk
Format: Theatrical
Year: 2020
MPAA Rating, NR
USCCB Rating, NR
Reel Rating, Three Reels
Growing
up in a Polish household, there were two Catholic giants who dominated my
imagination and living room wall: Pope John Paul II and St. Maximillian Kolbe. The
first
graphic novel I remember reading was about Fr. Kolbe’s thrilling life
story. Thus, I was excited when Polish-Catholic film company Kondrat, fresh off
the success of their Faustina
biopic, announced a new presentation of his narrative. While not nearly as
sophisticated as their previous efforts, it still presents a competent portrayal
of a saint that even non-Catholics will find irresistible.
As
a young boy at the end of the 19th century, Maximillian was bright
and inquisitive, especially about religion. Years later, he would reveal that
he had a Marian vision around eight years old when Our Mother presented him with
two crowns: a white crown of majesty for purity and a red crown of thorns for martyrdom.
“Which do you choose?” she asked. “I choose both!” Kolbe cried with boyish enthusiasm.
Sure enough, he entered the Franciscan order and devoted his life to the service
of God through Mary.
Seeing
a special need for spiritual warfare to combat the modern era, Kolbe began an
organization called the Militia Immaculata along with a regular magazine. He has
no printing press or journalistic experience, but feels it is God’s will, so he
plows ahead. Soon, his publication is publishing thousands of copies a month
all over Poland. His next venture is even more outrageous: starting a mission
in Japan. “Do you know anyone in Japan?” his bishop asks. “No,” Kolbe admits. “Do
you speak Japanese?” “No.” It does not matter; he goes anyway. To everyone’s
surprise, the Nagasaki mission is a success and continues to this day. This was
the most interesting part of the film as many people, including myself, had
little knowledge of this part of his life. Kolbe’s mystical side is also on
display when he builds the church on the outskirts of town behind a hill. The
location seems terribly misplaced until the atomic bombing several years later.
The building and its people are protected, like the house built on the rock,
allowing the friars to minister to the war-torn town in following months.
Of
course, the most significant and famous section of Kolbe’s life was his
seventy-seven days as a prisoner at Auschwitz. Amidst the horrors of the death
camp, Kolbe continued his priestly vocation, bringing hope to Catholics and non-Catholics
alike. He volunteered to take the place of a fellow prisoner who was condemned
to death and earned his martyr’s crown. The man he replaced would survive the
Holocaust and attend Kolbe’s canonization.
Unlike
Faustina, Two Crowns is rough around the edges. The acting,
especially Adam Woronowicz’s performance as the title role, is lackluster. Worst
still is the sound design. The film is rather poorly dubbed, and the ambient noise
is all over the place. Frankly, it feels like an unfinished project. Despite
this, Kondrat’s style of parallel editing between the dramatization and real-life
interviews with current Immaculata members is still compelling.
When American
forces liberated the Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945, they
discovered the following phrase scribbled on the walls of one of the barracks: “Wenn
es einen Gott gibt muß er mich um Verzeihung bitten – If there is a God, he
must beg my forgiveness.” This proverb, and the Holocaust in general, has been
used by skeptics as ultimate proof of God’s absence. Yet in this same darkness,
Fr. Kolbe shone the light of the gospel. Christians have a faith that is born
from torture and death of Jesus, the most terrible crime imaginable. God is not
insensitive to our suffering but endures it – leading us to His own Resurrection.
Kolbe’s legacy continues in our own time of struggle. He is a saint for the
ages, and a saint for right now.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on October 24th, 2020.
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