By Steve Penhollow
The Journal Gazette

Many of the critics who were able to weigh in early on the film agreed.

Other people, however, have branded "Dogma" with conflicting adjectives: blasphemous, obscene, profane, and Catholic-bashing.

"Dogma," opening today at the Coventry Theatres, is the most maligned and misunderstood movie of 1999. In April, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and its president, William Donohue, launched a well-publicized campaign of denunciation, calling for a boycott of the film, protests at theaters showing it, and a cleansing reorganization of the Disney corporation, which once owned "Dogma" but has since relinquished it.

Neither Donohue nor most of the letter writers and New York Film Festival picketers who answered his call have seen the film.

Locally, Christine Bonahoom, director of communications for the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, says she knows little about the film. After consulting with a number of area priests, she reported that no one she talked to felt they had enough information to comment.

Like Smith's three previous films - "Clerks," "Mallrats" and "Chasing Amy" - "Dogma" is filled with four-letter words, jokes about body functions, and marijuana use.

Unlike his previous films, "Dogma" offers up two fallen angels (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck) looking for a doctrinal loophole that will give the lie to the infallibility of God, a female (and Canadian) incarnation of the Almighty (Alanis Morissette), a cardinal (George Carlin) who acts more like a used car salesman, a descendant of Jesus (Linda Fiorentino) who works in an abortion clinic, and an apostle (Chris Rock) angry because he was edited out of the New Testament.

Smith says he honestly didn't know when he started the project that it was going to cause so much trouble.

"My chief worry going into it was that fans of my other movies would walk out saying, `What happened to the `Clerks' guy?' I honestly didn't think the sort of people who were offended by the profanity in my previous movies would ever even see it."

Smith says he dismissed early on the possibility that some people would react to the mere existence of the film as if scalded by it, because - as always - he was essentially interested in generating yuks.

"People objected to `Last Temptation of Christ' because it attributed the behavior of a normal man to the son of God. I thought, `No problem. "Last Temptation of Christ" was a drama. I'm making a comedy.' For the most part, comedies don't draw protests."

Obviously, he was mistaken.

In April, Bob and Harvey Weinstein - the masterminds behind Disney's independent film arm Miramax, the initial distributor of the film - purchased "Dogma" from Disney to deflect criticism from their more family-oriented corporate parent. They eventually arranged with Lion's Gate Pictures to distribute "Dogma."

Smith says he personally has not been the recipient of the lion's share of the vitriol; the most virulent barbs have been hurled at the Weinsteins.

"We've seen a ton of hate mail on the movie but most of it has been directed at Harvey and Bob, because they're Jewish. Many letter writers see the movie as a large Jewish conspiracy against the Catholic church.

"Several of the letters are very anti-Semitic. One that sticks out in my mind said, `You Jews better take the money you stole from us and invest in flak jackets, because we're coming after you with guns.' Apparently, there are a lot of Christians out there who aren't very Christian."

Smith says Donohue's continuing focus on Disney, which cut all financial ties to the film six months ago, reveals his true motivations.

"I would read these interviews with him where he'd say, `I tried to contact (Disney chief exec) Michael Eisner, but he wouldn't return my calls.' I'm the one he should have wanted to talk to, but he never tried to call me.

"You don't get press attacking the guy who made `Clerks.' You get press attacking the guy responsible for `The Wonderful World of Disney.'

"The dude is a heat-seeker; publicity is his primary motivation. He gets up there, and everything he says is `I, I, I. I accomplished this and I am offended by that.' He is a politician at best and a pharisee at worst."

Smith says it infuriated him that Donohue drubbed "Dogma," but passed over the September horror film "Stigmata," which reversed the plot of "Exorcist," suggesting the spirits of vengeful Catholic higher-ups can possess and abuse the bodies of innocent young girls.

A woman representing Donohue finally did contact Smith late last month.

"I get a call from someone who says she's a representative of Dr. Donohue. This is the first time in six months of attacks that anyone from the Catholic League has tried to contact me.

"This woman, Susan, said, `Dr. Donohue requests a screening of the movie so he can talk about it intelligently.' I'm thinking, `So what has he been doing for the last six months?'

"I said, `Susan, if you were me and someone said all the things about you that Dr. Donohue has been saying about me, would you really want to show him the movie?' "

Susan offered Smith an analogy in the form of a question to illustrate why the Catholic League reacted the way it did to "Dogma."

"She said, `What's the first thing you'd do if you got slapped?' I said, `I'd ask the guy why he slapped me.' And she said, "Really? I'd slap him back.' I said, `And you call yourself a (expletive) Christian?' "

Exploring what it means to be a Christian - to be a Catholic, especially - on the chaotic cusp of a new millennium is "Dogma's" primary reason for being.

Smith says the movie wasn't designed for people who think Catholicism and the Catholic Church are beyond close inquiry. "Dogma" is for people who believe in God and think of themselves as spiritual but are confused and demoralized.

"This movie is not for the converted. It's for the disenfranchised. It's for the people who turn on the news at the end of the day and see stories about priests molesting kids, war in Ireland and conclude, `Well, that's what religion does for people. That's what God does for people.' "

Smith believes faith is the most important thing in life.

"All you have to show for yourself at the end of the day is your faith. The movie is for those cats, younger people, who would like to think about faith but can't because the trappings of organized religion sometimes get in the way."

Smith says many Catholics mistakenly equate asking tough questions with blasphemy.

"Some people were raised during a time when they didn't question anything; every belief was arrived at through a blind leap of faith. I don't think asking questions is necessarily a bad thing. Asking questions shows a willingness to understand. Some people think asking questions is like looking for a way out."

Smith says the Catholics who have scorned him make snap assumptions about his personality and his politics.

"I'm the guy everyone assumes must be Joe Liberal and a half. I'm actually fairly conservative and boring. I'm married now. I have a child. I've never been much of partier . . .

"I'm not a person who looks down on people for what they believe. I do believe in the faithful. It's the fanatics that give us a bad name; they feel the need to convert everyone."

Smith says he is not out to covert anyone to any cause. After all, "Dogma," he points out, is just a movie.

"I'm not convinced any film can rattle anybody's faith, and certainly not `Dogma.' If you're truly steady in your faith, nobody can shake it."