FOR GALILEO, WORLD GOES 'ROUND.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic 'Galileo's Battle for the Heavens,'' a new ``Nova'' documentary, is equal parts involving science lesson, entertaining history lesson and lame dinner-theater-style theatrics the·at·rics n. 1. (used with a sing. verb) The art of the theater. 2. (used with a pl. verb) Theatrical effects or mannerisms; histrionics. . It essays the life of astronomer Galileo Galilei, who discovered the moons of Jupiter Jupiter has sixty-three known natural satellites. Discovery of the moons Although claims are made for the observation of one of Jupiter's moons by Chinese astronomer Gan De in 364 BC, the first certain observations of Jupiter's satellites are those of Galileo , sunspots sunspots, dark, usually irregularly shaped spots on the sun's surface that are actually solar magnetic storms. The Chinese recorded dark features on the sun seen with the naked eye in 28 B.C. and proof for the heretical notion that the Earth was, in fact, not the center of the universe. As the film's biographical details make clear, Galileo's life had no small amounts of irony - he was a devout enough Catholic (emphasis on the ``enough'') that he gave over his illegitimate daughter Virginia to the Church. ``He enjoyed many forms of pleasure, but that didn't make him a bad Catholic ... even the popes had illegitimate children,'' notes Dava Sobel, author of the acclaimed ``Galileo's Daughter,'' which serves as a primary source of information for the film. Virginia in turn doted dote intr.v. dot·ed, dot·ing, dotes To show excessive fondness or love: parents who dote on their only child. [Middle English doten. on him enough that when she chose her name in the order, it was Maria Celeste, an inspired reference to her father's study of celestial bodies. When Galileo published his masterpiece, ``Dialogue,'' arguing that Copernicus was correct when he blasphemously suggested that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa, he was egregiously mistaken in assuming that his friendship with Pope Urban VIII Pope Urban VIII (April 1568 – July 29, 1644), born Maffeo Barberini, was Pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last Pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions. would protect him from the Catholic Church's velvet hammer. It wasn't until 1992 that Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born Karol Józef Wojtyła apologized on behalf of the Church for the manner in which the affair was mishandled. ``Galileo's Battle for the Heavens'' recounts many of his discoveries and theories, placing them in a rich historical context (this documentary would be as much at home on the History Channel as it is on the science-oriented ``Nova'' series). It is undone a bit by sequences featuring a most-affected performance by British actor Simon Callow essaying the Italian Galileo. Callow fiddles with his instruments, then glances up at us and begins lecturing us in paragraph-size sound bites. He blusters as he settles into a chair or sips portentously por·ten·tous adj. 1. Of the nature of or constituting a portent; foreboding: "The present aspect of society is portentous of great change" Edward Bellamy. 2. from a glass of wine or fustily examines plants with a magnifying glass. This narrative device seems designed to jazz the film up enough to get it played in schools more than to actually offer any insight into the man or his theories. Anyway, Galileo's punishment seems to have had an upside in the end - confined to his home in his final years, he discovered papers detailing earlier experiments, which inspired his last book, which revolutionized the laws of physics. GALILEO'S BATTLE FOR THE HEAVENS - Three stars What: ``Nova'' installment on how the astronomer's discoveries led to virulent battles with the Catholic Church. Where: KCET KCET Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo (Japan) KCET Kamaraj College of Engineering and Technology . When: 8 tonight. In a nutshell: Handsomely rendered history slightly diminished by occasional costume-drama histrionics by Simon Callow as Galileo. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion