Movie Review
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Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame:
Tolerance for Sin & Error
Directed by Gary Tropusdale, Kirk Wise, 1996 Disney film
Elizabeth Anne Lozowski
Although this movie leaves out many questionable scenes from the original story, it is still wrought with errors, meriting it to share in the book’s condemnation by the Catholic Church when it was placed on the Index of Forbidden Books. This alone should deter any faithful Catholic from reading or watching any version of the story.
However, as one of our readers requested a review of this film, a careful analysis can help to instill greater vigilance against revolutionary errors.
Esmeralda & the Gypsies
The plot of The Hunchback of Notre Dame follows the story of the deformed hunchback, Quasimodo, who falls in love with a beautiful gypsy, Esmeralda. Esmeralda catches the attention of two other men: Judge Frollo, the guardian of Quasimodo (in the original story he is an archdeacon), and Captain Phoebus, a brave knight returning from war who serves under Frollo as captain of the guard (in the original story he is the captain of the King’s archers). It is the desire for Esmeralda that causes all of the turmoil of the story.
Esmeralda shows herself as feminist & bold
Bold and feminist, Esmeralda says what she thinks and puts men to shame. Such a protagonist should never be admired, certainly not by good Catholic girls, but her domineering personality makes her likable and encourages revolutionary behavior. She and the other gypsies are rightly criminated by Judge Frollo, who is made to seem prejudiced for so doing.
Towards the beginning of the movie, the dashing Captain Phoebus offers his service to Frollo, who reveals his reason for summoning him from the war: It is to rid Paris of all of the gypsies who “live outside the normal order. Their heathen ways inflame the people’s lowest instincts and they must be stopped.”
Captain Phoebus is not so committed to destroying the gypsies as Frollo, for he can see nothing wrong with “fortune-tellers and palm readers,” and the rest of the movie sets about proving that Esmeralda and the other gypsies are good.
Gypsies are known to be prone to many vices
The movie pretends that these ideas about the wrong-doings of gypsies stem from prejudice, leaving the viewer thinking that fortune-telling and immoral dancing are innocent entertainments.
Frollo speaks truly when he notes that they “inflame the people’s lowest instincts,” although his zeal to destroy them is mere self-vengeance. If he were a good Catholic, he would strive to convert and civilize the gypsies, instead of anathematizing their race.
Righteous villain & divine vengeance
Judge Frollo is rigid and strict with his subordinates, demanding a high degree of morality and holding himself up to be a just man, “purer than the vulgar weak licentious crowd,” without ever humbling himself to help them rise above vulgarity.
The ‘righteous’ Judge Frollo is the villain - he is too ‘rigid’
In the opening scene, the viewer learns the back story of Frollo and Quasimodo: Frollo arrests a gypsy man and accidentally kills his wife who clutches a bundle in her arms. That bundle is the deformed baby Quasimodo. Frollo intends to drown the disfigured child, but is stopped by the archdeacon in a rather moving scene.
The archdeacon rebukes the spilling of innocent blood and makes Frollo realize his guilt, warning him “You can lie to yourself and your minions …but you never can run from nor hide what you've done from the eyes of Notre Dame.” Glancing around him at the stern eyes of the Cathedral statues, Frollo “felt a twinge of fear for his immortal soul” and agrees to raise the child as long as it can be locked away in the Cathedral.
Frollo proceeds to raise the boy, teaching him his dark view of the cruel and wicked world. The hunchback Quasimodo must learn consists of attributes dealing with the justice of God, “abomination, blasphemy, contrition, damnation, eternal damnation,” all intrinsic to our Catholic Faith. However, by placing these words with the villain, Disney is subtly insinuating that they are evil or in the very least exaggerations. It appears to the viewer that Frollo’s obsession with these things is what makes him villainous.
Duty obliges Frollo to attend a peasant festival which he detests for its worldliness (drunkenness and immodesty are indeed present). There he witnesses one of Esmeralda’s dancing spectacles. Her sensuous moves incite him to lust, driving him insane with the desire to have her.
Esmeralda openly seduces Frollo, enticing him to sin
In the end, the justice of God punishes Frollo when the gargoyle on which he is standing comes alive and casts him into the burning streets of Paris. Foretelling his own doom, Frollo proudly cries before his death: “And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit.”
This death is one of the best scenes of the movie, because it alludes to a Divine Power and gives the villain his just reward, something rarely seen in modern children’s movies. Yet, if this justice were applied correctly, the unrepentant Esmeralda would also burn with him.
False virtue of tolerance
There are many Catholic elements to the story that make undiscerning Catholics applaud the movie. Notre Dame Cathedral is the highest place in the city, and draws the attention of all with her bells constantly ringing out to the people.
Notre Dame towers benevolently over Paris, & provides a place of refuge to Esmeralda
Additionally, the archdeacon and the knight – two characters often slandered in Hollywood – are portrayed in a good light. Of course, in the original book, neither of these characters are good.
Overall, the Church is regarded as a sanctuary, the guardian of the poor and outcast. Stern statues of the Saints guard the outside of the Cathedral, rebuking Frollo when he sins; inside the statue of Our Lady and the Christ Child comfort Esmeralda. The mercy of the Church, however, is used to promote the revolutionary ideas of tolerance and human fraternity.
Esmeralda seeks refuge in the Cathedral, where she sings a sort of prayer asking for mercy for her people, the “outcasts.” However, she prays without faith, admitting that she doubts “if you’re even there.” Still less does she ask for the conversion of her people – only for their acceptance in society.
It is only in the Cathedral that she hopes to find help, and she is impressed by its grandeur. But, in the end she and the other characters must help themselves. There are no hints of divine intervention, nor any mention of God among her friends.
Although the church is a sanctuary, it is also cold and stern, a prison for Quasimodo and Esmeralda. True freedom and happiness for both of these characters exists beyond the walls of Notre Dame. Quasimodo sings of his desire to experience the pleasures of life in the second scene of the movie, exclaiming that he wishes to be “out there, like ordinary men” for just one day. Quasimodo longs to escape the Cathedral and be free
Quasimodo longs to escape to the ‘real world’
Later, when Esmeralda is trapped in the Cathedral, she follows Quasimodo to his tower and befriends him. She ‘teaches’ him that – contrary to Frollo’s doctrine – people are really good and, ultimately, the only evil in the world is the righteous Frollo.
The message is clear: The only evil in the world is those who say there is evil. One must simply trust in the goodness of humanity and not look for what is evil, nor should one try to change anyone else.
The happy ending: the Hunchback is welcomed into the community & Esmerelda marries handsome Phoebus
What is missing in this picture? It is the haunting question that Frollo often brings up – the immortal soul and the fear of Hell. One cannot be saved simply by “being a good person” and by enjoying life. Only through prayer, penance and grace can one overcome the trials of life to obtain the eternal goal of Heaven.
But, Disney knew well what it was doing. By emphasizing the importance of living a happy life on Earth, it makes people forget about the future glory of Heaven and the terrible pains of Hell that awaits those who reject God in this life.
Frollo’s plunge to Hell,
the only instance of God’s justice
Posted December 18, 2024
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