KH EE
17-12-2004, 11:10 AM
movies to watch this coming xmas season...
from http://christianity.about.com/od/themovies/tp/moviesmatter.htm
In contemporary culture movies convey, the core values and beliefs of a people. The following movies deal either directly or indirectly with spiritual themes. Sometimes God figures prominently in these films; at other times the references to religion are glancing. But if you want something to think about; if you're interested in a window unto the soul of popular culture; these films are well worth looking at, or even owning as part of a well rounded library.
1) The Matrix
The Matrix deals with a central theme of religion: the ultimate fate of life on this planet in the context of a titanic struggle between good and evil. The chief difference between this film and the Bible is the absence here of a transcendent God. Matrix reflects a topless spirituality in which people find salvation by drawing upon a power within themselves. But is this God? You decide.
2) The End of The Affair
On a rainy night in 1946, novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) begins a journey of discovery. Why did his ex-mistress Sarah (Julianne Moore) abruptly end their passionate love affair two years before? Never have I seen a movie that comes closer to telling it like it is: that a relationship with the Almighty.
3) The Legend of Bagger Vance
This film conveys something that Christian mystics, Buddhist masters, and others have long understood. Becoming the person you are meant to be involves the sometimes ironic process of letting go of the ego and its needs, dying to the self, so as to enter a deeper relationship with the world, with other people, and with God. A deep truth packaged in the form of a good yarn.
4) The Hurricane
This movie centers around the story of the wrongly convicted boxer, Hurricane Carter. But it is neither about boxing, nor even the actual human being whom Bob Dylan brought to national prominence with a 1975 protest song. This movie touches the more fundamental questions that all of us face in our search for freedom and redemption.
5) Dogma
Dogma is one of the most entertaining films ever made about religion. Keep in mind that it's a satire that aims directly at the flaws and pretensions of organized religion. Film maker Kevin Smith's humor is outrageous, so if you are easily offended, this film is not for you. But Smith is teasing us to share in his vision of a God who has a supreme sense of humor!
6) Chocolat
There is enough eye candy here to please those who go to the movies for pure pleasure: the sensuality of Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, the picturesque French village of Lansquenet, and the action that flows in and out of a village church, chocolate shop, medieval castle and surrounding countryside. But this film also works as a parable, offering a formula for the reform of Christianity.
7) Fight Club
On September 11, as I watched the towers of the World Trade Center collapse, taking thousands of innocent victims with them, I was reminded of the final scene in this movie. Those who bring down the towers of corporate capitalism in this film are not terrorists from a distant land, but sons of our own, suggesting there may be more than we want to learn when we ask, "Why do they hate us so?"
8) Stealing Beauty
Can a film which is so obviously about sensuality also be about the spirit? Can a work of art which celebrates sex also speak of the soul? Can anything as secular as Stealing Beauty also be about the search for God? Using this movie as a case in point, the answer to these questions is obviously, “Yes!”
9) American Beauty
What this film reveals even in the midst of an apparently boring suburban culture is, to put it in a word, beauty. Not the simple beauty of appearances, but the deeper beauty that conveys a sense of the ultimate worth of life itself and the mystery that lies behind it.
10) The Spitfire Grill
This is a deeply theological film packaged as a feel-good drama. It is set in the down-east village of Gilead where institutional religion may be on the skids, but where the hearts and souls of its central characters are very much alive. As the film unfolds, we are drawn into a drama of sickness and healing, death and resurrection, sin and redemption. The combination works for me!
from http://christianity.about.com/od/themovies/tp/moviesmatter.htm
In contemporary culture movies convey, the core values and beliefs of a people. The following movies deal either directly or indirectly with spiritual themes. Sometimes God figures prominently in these films; at other times the references to religion are glancing. But if you want something to think about; if you're interested in a window unto the soul of popular culture; these films are well worth looking at, or even owning as part of a well rounded library.
1) The Matrix
The Matrix deals with a central theme of religion: the ultimate fate of life on this planet in the context of a titanic struggle between good and evil. The chief difference between this film and the Bible is the absence here of a transcendent God. Matrix reflects a topless spirituality in which people find salvation by drawing upon a power within themselves. But is this God? You decide.
2) The End of The Affair
On a rainy night in 1946, novelist Maurice Bendrix (Ralph Fiennes) begins a journey of discovery. Why did his ex-mistress Sarah (Julianne Moore) abruptly end their passionate love affair two years before? Never have I seen a movie that comes closer to telling it like it is: that a relationship with the Almighty.
3) The Legend of Bagger Vance
This film conveys something that Christian mystics, Buddhist masters, and others have long understood. Becoming the person you are meant to be involves the sometimes ironic process of letting go of the ego and its needs, dying to the self, so as to enter a deeper relationship with the world, with other people, and with God. A deep truth packaged in the form of a good yarn.
4) The Hurricane
This movie centers around the story of the wrongly convicted boxer, Hurricane Carter. But it is neither about boxing, nor even the actual human being whom Bob Dylan brought to national prominence with a 1975 protest song. This movie touches the more fundamental questions that all of us face in our search for freedom and redemption.
5) Dogma
Dogma is one of the most entertaining films ever made about religion. Keep in mind that it's a satire that aims directly at the flaws and pretensions of organized religion. Film maker Kevin Smith's humor is outrageous, so if you are easily offended, this film is not for you. But Smith is teasing us to share in his vision of a God who has a supreme sense of humor!
6) Chocolat
There is enough eye candy here to please those who go to the movies for pure pleasure: the sensuality of Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp, the picturesque French village of Lansquenet, and the action that flows in and out of a village church, chocolate shop, medieval castle and surrounding countryside. But this film also works as a parable, offering a formula for the reform of Christianity.
7) Fight Club
On September 11, as I watched the towers of the World Trade Center collapse, taking thousands of innocent victims with them, I was reminded of the final scene in this movie. Those who bring down the towers of corporate capitalism in this film are not terrorists from a distant land, but sons of our own, suggesting there may be more than we want to learn when we ask, "Why do they hate us so?"
8) Stealing Beauty
Can a film which is so obviously about sensuality also be about the spirit? Can a work of art which celebrates sex also speak of the soul? Can anything as secular as Stealing Beauty also be about the search for God? Using this movie as a case in point, the answer to these questions is obviously, “Yes!”
9) American Beauty
What this film reveals even in the midst of an apparently boring suburban culture is, to put it in a word, beauty. Not the simple beauty of appearances, but the deeper beauty that conveys a sense of the ultimate worth of life itself and the mystery that lies behind it.
10) The Spitfire Grill
This is a deeply theological film packaged as a feel-good drama. It is set in the down-east village of Gilead where institutional religion may be on the skids, but where the hearts and souls of its central characters are very much alive. As the film unfolds, we are drawn into a drama of sickness and healing, death and resurrection, sin and redemption. The combination works for me!