Cardinal Lustinger's confession of faith is a compelling story. Yet, I do not find Catholics speaking much of him. I suspect there is an important clue in this movie why Jean - Paul gave Lustinger the Red Hat. In their first meeting Jean - Paul told Lustinger "there are alot of perfumed Italian priests who'd like to teach me how to be pope." Jean - Paul also spoke of his childhood Jewish playmate, Jerzey. I suspect Jean - Paul, the master of languages, needed someone nearby with whom he could converse privately in a tongue incomprehensible to snooping ears. In addition to negotiating the departure of the Carmelite nuns from Auschwitz, Cardinal Lustinger must be credited for being the very first in the Christian world to detect the fallacies in a popular movie about the passion.

An outstanding masterpiece detailing the story of Cardinal Lustiger, who at age 14 converted to Catholicism to escape the horrors of the holocaust which claimed his mother and left a bitter father.Despite his conversion, the Cardinal, who rose rapidly in the church, always wanted to continue his cultural identity as a Jew, even pointing out that he was still a Jew and using Jesus as an example. He rose rapidly in the church hierarchy and tries to strengthen Catholicism to adopt to the modern world by use of the media.It shows his relations with his family and the second part of the film deals with the nuns living at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp which caused much controversy in the late 1980s. Lustiger fought on principle for the removal of the nuns, even in the face of an intransigent church.In the title role, Laurent Lucas is magnificent as the conflicted Cardinal. A totally under-rated film which needs much more widespread distribution.

I know very little about the real life Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger. I am not Catholic nor am I French--so it isn't surprising I don't know much about the man. So, in light of this, I cannot say that the film "Le Métis de Dieu" is accurate or not in its portrayal of the career and personality of the Cardinal. However, I assume it was pretty accurate because the film neither portrayed him as a saint or as a jerk. It gave many examples where he was a strong and admirable man and a few where he was pushy and less than perfect...hence their mentioning his unflattering nickname 'the Bulldozer'. For me, the best bio-pics are ones that neither strive to destroy nor canonize the subject of the film--and this movie seems to do this.When the film begins, Jean-Marie is about to become a Bishop in 1979. This move was made by the new Pope, John Paul II, and it seemed to take Lustiger by surprise, as this Jewish-born priest seemed content to remain at his post in a local church. However, he very quickly rose through the ranks of the church--becoming a Cardinal by the mid-1980s (a VERY fast rise to this position). The remainder of the film is about this period and immediately after. In particular, the focus is on how Lustiger managed to reconcile his Jewish heritage with his faith-- particularly in light of opposition from many sides, including his own family as well as both Jews and Catholics! This all comes to a head when the world's Jews are outraged when a Carmelite nunnery is started on the grounds of Auschwitz--and the Cardinal is called upon to help mediate. This isn't easy, however, as his own mother was murdered there and many of the Poles aren't particularly concerned about offending the Jews. And, in an odd twist, the Pope, for once, seems less than cordial towards Lustiger and his appeals to get these nuns off the property. See the film and see how all this works out.This is a film that starts relatively slowly and works to an exciting and very well-acted finale. Overall, this is a fascinating film for anyone--Jewish, Christian or whatever.

This movie carries with it a large amount of animosity between Jews and Catholics, especially in regard to who owned the rights to display Auschwitz as a central part of their history of suffering. But, to me, it expresses a great need to announce to the world the completeness by those Jews who have grown to accept Jesus as their long awaited Messiah. What some have come to call themselves today -- those who are both Christian and Jewish at birth -- is a "completed Jew." There are today many Messianic Christian fellowships, one of which is called Jews for Jesus. Obviously, during the time this film was made, there weren't that many completed Jews making public statements, so that is why it was so newsworthy in the mid 80s. Today, this fact should be old news.