Galileo
(1975)
Life of Galileo was a play by Bertolt Brecht written
in 1938 that was converted into a movie Galileo in 1975 by the American Film
Theatre. The movie is a biographical account of Galileo’s life and his greatest
discoveries. Looking at Galileo’s paper A
Sidereal Message, we can see the similarities between the way the
observations are detailed and the way the movie says they were made. The
science seems to have been mostly correctly depicted in the movie, but that’s
not really what it’s about.
This movie is about the conflict of religious belief
and scientific evidence over the years, and about the importance of standing
true to one’s beliefs and not giving in to coercion.
Brecht, the writer of the story, depicts Galileo as a
coward who gave into the Church’s threats and recanted despite knowing that he
was willingly saying that the truth is a lie. Galileo himself, at the end of
the movie, in a moving monologue says that he stepped back where he should have
stood firm. As a direct result, a large amount of scientific research across
Europe stopped including Descartes who had been about to publish his Treatise
of the World. He says that he betrayed his calling by surrendering his
knowledge to the hands of the Church, and that science has no place in his
ranks for a traitor like him.
As far as historical context goes, several liberties
have been taken with Galileo’s personal life. The most significant of these is
the role of his daughter, Virginia, who instead of having her marriage
cancelled due to Galileo’s work, was actually sent to a convent to be a nun at
the age of 13. She stayed there throughout the period of the play, and died of
dysentery shortly after Galileo recanted. This could be taken as another
instance of how Brecht attempted to villainise Galileo by making it seem like
he ruined his daughter’s life.
Brecht also makes several other pertinent points, such
as the idolisation that Galileo is subject to, as seen when Andrea on seeing a
new book by him, immediately takes back all his criticism and accusations and
starts ascribing great ethics to him.
The depiction of religion as a belief system that
cannot allow anything to counter its beliefs is also important. In an important
song in the second half of the movie, we are told how Galileo and other scientists,
who operate on the basis of doubt, have affected the common mind. The peasants
and manufacturers start to doubt the landlords and even the priests, which
lessens the power of the Church as a result. This idea of doubt being
propagated by a man who even then was seen as Italy’s premier scientist was a
major reason for the punishment that Galileo was subject to.
The cinematography and drama in the movie are also
hallmarks of good theatre, with a very interesting scene of how Galileo’s
disciples and his daughter are waiting to see if he will recant his work. With
shadows playing on white backgrounds, the daughter prays for his ‘salvation’
while Andrea standing in front of her talks about the truths that they have
observed. That to me, really symbolises the religion vs science discourse
throughout the movie.
As a whole, Galileo is an interesting film, but that
is only because the original play was interesting. It in fact loses a lot of
the effect that Brecht’s original screenplay would have added, due to the
change in medium.
