1. Starting a much-needed break for Easter time. Don’t have much time left in school after that; only about ten or twelve class days. It’s rushed by faster than I thought, and I’ve really enjoyed my first year teaching. Right now the plan is to figure out a way to keep doing it and earn a full-time income in the process.

2. In my Classical History class we’re reading a young readers adaptation of Caesar’s Gallic War, which is really quite excellent so far. To be clear, it isn’t a direct translation, but more of a Young Adult novel structured around Caesar’s account (the introduction is very straightforward about this, though the title may be a little misleading).

I haven’t read the original for comparison, but taken on its own merits it does a very good job of conveying the political machinations at work, as well as Caesar’s brilliance as a strategist both on the battlefield and in politics, all conveyed in broad, clear strokes that allow readers to easily perceive and grasp the complexities involved. And it avoids the cardinal sin of historical fiction, which is having historical figures talk and think like moderns (being, Chesterton described it, “the adventures of a modern university student at a fancy dress ball”). The Roman protagonists think nothing of owning slaves, for instance, or selling captured cities into slavery, massacring fleeing enemies, and so on. They don’t cease to be sympathetic and interesting for that. It also keeps the focus on Caesar himself, rather than trying to conjure up a young protagonist for the readers to relate to (there is a fictional young soldier who serves as a partial POV character, but his story is secondary). So far, I’d highly recommend it for younger readers!

3. The opening chapter has a textbook example of an establishing character moment. The narrator – a fictional officer in Caesar’s army – is riding with Caesar and his retinue to take command of the legions in Gaul. They have to change horses at a tavern in a backwater village, but the tavern doesn’t have the eight horses they need. The narrator rants and storms and threatens, while the tavern keeper cringes and pleads that he simply doesn’t have eight horses. Then Caesar politely interrupts to ask the important question; how many horses does the man have? He then immediately makes plans for the most efficient use of the situation, taking the opportunity to send the extra entourage members back to Rome with letters he’d meant to send anyway. It’s a neat, clear little incident illustrating how a good strategist operates.

4. As part of my US History course, I finally saw The Scarlet and the Black this week. That’s a really excellent film; three great actors running around Rome, telling a true story of heroism. Gregory Peck plays Msgr. Hugh O’Flaherty, an Irish priest working for the Holy Office (once the Inquisition) during the Nazi occupation of Rome. There he uses his wit, charisma, and diplomatic status to hide refugees and escaped POWs under the watchful eye of SS Col. Kappler, played by the brilliant Christopher Plumber. Meanwhile, the drama is watched over and quietly supported by Sir John Gielgud’s Pope Pius XII (who is portrayed sympathetically, though as being both less active and more reserved than the real Pope. I’ve heard him described as a broadly lovable personality, with a habit of saying things twice in his eagerness (“How are you? How are you?”), and while Gielgud is a great actor, he doesn’t really have that kind of energy).

5. It’s a really great little film, full of well-structured moments and smart writing to accompany the first-class acting (as well as the gorgeous Roman background). Like the bit where O’Flaherty improvises a plan to forge Kappler’s signature by simply asking for his autograph. Or where the Irish priest storms out of the British consul’s office in disgust at his apparent indifference, only for the man’s valet to catch up with him, hand over the consul’s monetary donation, and explain that he (and his black market contacts) have been placed at O’Flaherty’s service, since the British ambassador wasn’t just putting on airs when he said he wished he could help.

Things like that – O’Flaherty having a temper and prejudices that sometimes get the better of him and Kappler being a loving family man even in the midst of committing atrocities – make the story and characters feel much more real and not like lay figures performing a sanctimonious morality play. There is sympathy for the delicate and complicated situation that the Vatican is in, and the difficulties involved in these sorts of heroic actions. It also helps that Kappler isn’t stupid, very quickly picks up on what O’Flaherty is doing, and is at his heels every step of the way. The worst you can say about it is that it’s arguably overlong at two-and-a-half hours, and that the comments on faith are largely confined to bland talk of brotherly love and charity rather than anything meaty (which is par for the course).

6. The most satisfying moments, for me, are when Kappler, the representative of the SS who at one point boasts “I own Rome” runs up against the limits of his authority and gets put in his place. Like the scene where he goes to ask the Pope to hand O’Flaherty over for ‘questioning’, and the Pope gives him a flat refusal. Or another one where O’Flaherty shuts him down at a party and reads him the riot act; that he is both a citizen of a neutral nation and an official of the Roman Catholic Church, concluding “You cannot tell me what to do!” Knowing (and seeing) how the SS throws its weight around and imposes its power at gun-point, it is immensely satisfying to see him run up against something that he can’t murder his way out of.

I also appreciated how the film shows O’Flaherty receiving help from the Italian aristocrats, who slip him huge sums of money and, at one point, one of them uses what remnants of authority he has to try to stonewall the Nazis when they come to seize the priest. And how the film depicts the Catholic respect for priestly authority, as even the fascist prison guards can’t bring themselves to execute a captured priest, forcing Kappler to do it himself.

Overall, it’s an excellent film and highly recommended (and it’s available for free, albeit with ads).

7. Incidentally, it’s rather funny that a lot of audiences still find it jarring to see the late Christopher Plumber playing a Nazi following his signature role in The Sound of Music. It’s a testimony to how iconic that film is, though the more you watch of his filmography, the more you realize that that was the odd role of his career; most of the time he played villains or at least antagonistic or intimidating characters (though I’ve seen clips of him brilliantly assailing a sympathetic depiction of Kaiser Wilhelm II). He famously hated Sound of Music and everything to do with it (except his co-stars), which honestly lends a lot of depth to his performance in that film, giving it the slightly on-edge, sarcastic tone that helps to make the character.

Seeing him and Gregory Peck – these two great, intensely masculine actors – going head-to-head is a real treat.