ON FAITH & MEDIA | El Cantante

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El Cantante

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Source: Catholic News Service

Lively but sordid life of Puerto Rican salsa star Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony), who died at 46 of drug-related AIDS in 1993, and his tumultuous relationship with wife Puchi (Jennifer Lopez, exhibiting unaccustomed range), who relates their story in flashback. The stars are good, and co-writer and director Leon Ichaso re-creates the era convincingly in this over-the-decades saga (starting in the 1960s), with a fine musical earful throughout, but the couple's endless fights and the nonstop barrage of expletives are repetitious and ultimately wearying. Pervasive rough language, drug and alcohol abuse, attempted suicide, premarital situations, some nongraphic sexual encounters, innuendo, implied adultery and a brief suggestion of sexual kinkiness, and some skimpy costuming. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is R -- restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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Matt Talbot: Matt can be considered the patron of men and women struggling with alcoholism.
<p>Matt was born in Dublin, where his father worked on the docks and had a difficult time supporting his family. After a few years of schooling, Matt obtained work as a messenger for some liquor merchants; there he began to drink excessively. For 15 years—until he was almost 30—Matt was an active alcoholic. </p><p>One day he decided to take "the pledge" for three months, make a general confession and begin to attend daily Mass. There is evidence that Matt’s first seven years after taking the pledge were especially difficult. Avoiding his former drinking places was hard. He began to pray as intensely as he used to drink. He also tried to pay back people from whom he had borrowed or stolen money while he was drinking. </p><p>Most of his life Matt worked as a builder’s laborer. He joined the Secular Franciscan Order and began a life of strict penance; he abstained from meat nine months a year. Matt spent hours every night avidly reading Scripture and the lives of the saints. He prayed the rosary conscientiously. Though his job did not make him rich, Matt contributed generously to the missions. </p><p>After 1923 his health failed, and Matt was forced to quit work. He died on his way to church on Trinity Sunday. Fifty years later Pope Paul VI gave him the title venerable.</p>

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