Christian Movies or Movies by Christians
Listening to Focus on the Family while driving to work this morning, I heard a fascinating interview with Douglas Gresham, C.S. Lewis’ stepson. The conversation centered around the upcoming release of Prince Caspian, the latest installment of the Narnia movies.
One of the things asked was “why aren’t there more Christian movies being made?” Mr. Gresham’s answer was thought-provoking. He said he’d like to see more Christians making movies instead of seeing more Christian movies being made. I think I know what he’s getting at.
So I got to thinking … what are some of your favorite movies that convey a Christian theme, subtle or otherwise? Specifically, movies that are not religious, ie, The Ten Commandments, The Robe, The Passion …
Obviously, the Narnia movies would fall into this category. Some may even put Lewis’ contemporary, and fellow Inkling, J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings films into this category.
What say you?
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May 9th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I love the movie “Signs”. M. Night Shamalan is not a Christian but he certainly gets the point across that things in life don’t “just happen”. There is a purpose to life and even horrible tragedies can be used for good.
The movie, “The Pianist” always makes me think about human depravity. It’s about a Polish Jewish musician that struggles to survive the destruction of a Warsaw ghetto in WW2. To see what human beings were (are) capable of doing to other human beings clearly illustrates that we are bad to the bone.
May 10th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Mine is an old one. Man of La Mancha. The themes are hidden somewhat but the willingness to sacrifice one selves interest to help others, seeing good where others do not, and the world looking at you as if you were insane for following your convictions. Of course there are other things that may not fit such as the shaving bowl mistaken for a helmet but all in all I think I could talk about it quite a while.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:21 am
Dan, I would have to agree with you about Signs. Many things have hit me over my movie watching years, but nothing else comes to mind as I’m writing this.
July 27th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
The downside to popular movies is that usually any truth is wrapped up with other stuff such as “everyone is basically good” or “good things come around in the end.” Some truth examples that come to mind are; a) characters like Batman and Spiderman who are blamed (or moreover, ask to take the blame) for evil they did not commit. b) The Terminal, where he puts up with immigration and living in an airport for the selfless pursuit of his father’s last wish. Probably there are better examples not on the tip of my tongue.