Films that affirm "Traditional" Christian Values
or depict characters who believe, devoutly, in traditional Christian values.
| Elmer Gantry | There are still a lot of Elmer Gantry's around. |
| Breaking the Waves | I don't really recommend this: the
bouncing camera will irritate most viewers, but the concept is very
provocative. |
| Resurrection | Very unusual movie-- can you have a spiritual
experience without a church? |
| Matewan | Like Grapes of Wrath, challenges traditional
evangelical teachings on social justice. |
| Cool Hand Luke | Luke is a Christ figure... which means we
sometimes expect him to carry the wrong burden. |
| GroundHog Day | This movie is really about the persistence
of grace. |
| Therese | The searing authenticity of the spiritual devotion
of Therese may shake you up. |
| Inherit the Wind | Questions the political and social issues
Christians have sometimes supported. The depressing news is that some of us
are still fighting this same absurd battle over and over again, trying to
get "creationist" text books into the classrooms. |
| Grapes of Wrath | The itinerant preacher my challenge your
assumptions about Christianity and economic justice. |
| Spenser's Mountain | The TV show "The Walton's" was a
watered-down, sanitized version of this story: note especially the character
of dad Walton. |
| Edward Scissorshands | Another parable about a man with
Christ-like innocence colliding with a cold-hearted society. |
| Crimes and Misdemeanors | Woody Allen raises fundamental questions about justice and meaning. |
| Grand Canyon | How do we build bridges to our neighbors? |
| Seventh Seal | Is there a God? Is there a devil? |
| Wings of Desire | Can love heal alienation? |
| Six Degrees of Separation | Who is our neighbor? |
| Monty Python's The Meaning of Life | Interesting as an exposition of Classical humanism with Python's usual vulgar humour. |
| The Third Man | Written by Catholic Graham Greene, a very compelling look at a moral and spiritual wasteland: post war Vienna. To what extent does naive good intentions do more harm than good? |
| Heavenly Creatures | Highlights the complexity of discerning good and evil in our time, when we know so much about the circumstances of a horrifying crime. |
| Jesus of Montreal | Interesting modern version of the gospels set in Montreal. |
| King of Kings | Pietistic, pompous, and boring. |
| The Greatest Story Ever Told | Awful. Awful. Awful. Did I say it was awful? |
| Ten Commandments | Nice special effects for it's day, but melodramatic and just plain dumb. Classic example of Hollywood film that is all pretend piety while titillation abounds. |
| Jesus of Nazareth | Better than most, but excessively solemn and characterless. |
| Last Temptation of Christ | Martin Scorcese's low-budget controversial take on the gospels. Asks what would have happened if Christ had chosen to live an ordinary life (the real "temptation"). Not really as unorthodox as critics think. |
| The Gospel of St. Matthew | (Italian, sub-titled, severe, black and white, hard to find, but one of the most purely authentic of the Jesus films). Oddly, the most faithful rendering of the gospel I know of. It tells you something important about American culture that most Christians in the U.S. have watched "Will and Grace" and ""Dancing with the Stars" but not a single really authentic movie about Christ. |
| Robe | Shlop. |
| Ben Hur | Big shlop. |
| Godspell | Give it points for originality, but this is really low, low budget. |
| Jesus Christ Superstar | I still like this
one more than any other Jesus film. It's energetic, original, provocative,
and well-filmed. Leaves you with a question rather than an answer, but it
asks the right question. |
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