Spare Change

Spirituality in Cinema

Posted by Bryan

The Evangelical Outpost links to and opines about Arts & Faith's list of the 100 most Spiritual Significant Films.

Following old precedent of bolding what I've seen, here's the list, (along with the EO-imitated idea of rating the spirituality quotient on a scale of 1-4 asterisks in the parenthesis):

13 Conversations About One Thing, 2001, Jill Sprecher
2001: A Space Odyssey, 1968, Stanley Kubrick(*)
The Addiction, 1995, Abel Ferrara
Amadeus, 1984, Milos Forman (**)
American Beauty, 1999, Sam Mendes (*)
Andrei Rublev, 1969, Andrei Tarkovsky
The Apostle, 1997, Robert Duvall (****)
Au Hasard Balthazar, 1966, Robert Bresson
Babettes Gæstebud ("Babette's Feast"), 1987, Gabriel Axel
Bad Lieutenant, 1987, Abel Ferrara (*)
Bad ma ra khahad bord ("The Wind Will Carry Us"), 1999, Abbas Kiarostami
The Big Kahuna, 1999, John Swanbeck
Blade Runner, 1982, Ridley Scott (**)
Breaking The Waves, 1996, Lars von Trier
Changing Lanes, 2002, Roger Michell (**)
Chariots of Fire, 1981, Hugh Hudson (****)
Code inconnu ("Code Unknown"), 2000, Michael Haneke
Crimes And Misdemeanors, 1989, Woody Allen
Days of Heaven, 1978, Terrence Malick
Dead Man Walking, 1995, Tim Robbins (***)
Dekalog ("The Decalogue"), 1987, Krzysztof Kieslowski
Dersu Uzala, 1975, Akira Kurosawa
Dogma, 1999, Kevin Smith
Dogville, 2003, Lars von Trier
La Dolce vita, 1960, Federico Fellini (*)
The Elephant Man, 1980, David Lynch (*)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004, Michel Gondry
Fearless, 1993, Peter Weir (**)
Fight Club, 1999, David Fincher(**)
Le Fils ("The Son"), 2002, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Fuori dal mondo ("Not of This World"), 1999, Giuseppe Piccioni
Grand Canyon, 1991, Lawrence Kasdan
Groundhog Day, 1993, Harold Ramis (**)
Hell House, 2001, George Ratliff
Henry V, 1989, Kenneth Branagh
Der Himmel über Berlin ("Wings of Desire"), 1987, Wim Wenders
Ikiru ("To Live"), 1952, Akira Kurosawa
It's A Wonderful Life, 1946, Frank Capra (****)
Jean de Florette, Manon des sources, 1986, Claude Berri
Jésus De Montréal ("Jesus of Montreal"), 1989, Denys Arcand
Jesus Of Nazareth, 1977, Franco Zeffirelli (***)
Le Journal D'un Curé De Campagne ("The Diary of a Country Priest"), 1951, Robert Bresson
Ladri di biciclette ("The Bicycle Thief"), 1948, Vittorio De Sica
The Last Days of Disco, 1998, Whit Stillman
The Last Temptation Of Christ, 1988, Martin Scorsese (***)
Life of Brian, 1979, Terry Jones (**)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The Return of the King, 2001-2003, Peter Jackson (**)
Ma nuit chez Maud ("My Night At Maud's"), 1969, Eric Rohmer
Magnolia, 1999, Paul Thomas Anderson (**)
A Man For All Seasons, 1966, Fred Zinnemann (***)
The Matrix, 1999, Andy & Larry Wachowski (***)
Mies vailla menneisyyttä ("The Man Without A Past"), 2002, Aki Kaurismaki
The Miracle Maker, 2000, Derek W. Hayes & Stanislav Sokolov
The Mission, 1986, Roland Joffé (**)
Nema-ye Nazdik ("Close-Up"), 1990, Abbas Kiarostami
The Night Of The Hunter, 1955, Charles Laughton
Offret—Sacrificatio ("The Sacrifice"), 1986, Andrei Tarkovsky
On The Waterfront, 1954, Elia Kazan (*)
Ordet ("The Word"), 1955, Carl Theodor Dreyer
La Passion De Jeanne D'arc ("The Passion of Joan of Arc"), 1928, C. Dreyer
The Passion Of The Christ, 2004, Mel Gibson (***)
Peter and Paul, 1981, Robert Day
Ponette, 1996, Jacques Doillon
The Prince Of Egypt, 1998, Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, Simon Wells (***)
La Promesse, 1996, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne
Punch-Drunk Love, 2002, P.T. Anderson (*)
Roma, città aperta ("Open City"), 1945, Roberto Rossellini
Sansho Dayu ("Sansho the Bailiff"), 1954, Kenji Mizoguchi
Schindler's List, 1993, Steven Spielberg (***)
Secrets & Lies, 1996, Mike Leigh
Shadowlands, 1993, Richard Attenborough (**)
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994, Frank Darabont (**)
Signs, 2002, M. Night Shyamalan (*)
The Sixth Sense, 1999, M. Night Shyamalan (**)
Det Sjunde Inseglet ("The Seventh Seal"), 1957, Ingmar Bergman (**)
Smultronstället ("Wild Strawberries"), 1957, Ingmar Bergman
Solyaris ("Solaris"), 1972, Andrei Tarkovsky
Stalker, 1979, Andrei Tarkovsky
Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, 1977, 1980, 1983, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Richard Marquand (*)
Stevie, 2002, Steve James
The Straight Story, 1999, David Lynch
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, 1927, F.W. Murnau
Sånger från andra våningen ("Songs From the Second Floor"), 2000, Roy Andersson
The Sweet Hereafter, 1997, Atom Egoyan
Tender Mercies, 1983, Bruce Beresford (**)
Trois coulers: Bleu, Trzy kolory: Bialy, Trois coulers: Rouge ("Three Colors: Blue, White, Red"), 1993, 1994, 1994, Krzysztof Kieslowski
Tokyo Monogatari ("Tokyo Story"), 1953, Yasujiro Ozu
The Truman Show, 1998, Peter Weir (***)
Unforgiven, 1992, Clint Eastwood (***)
Il Vangelo Secondo Matteo ("The Gospel According to Matthew"), 1964, Pier Paolo Pasolini
Vanya on 42nd Street, 1994, Louis Malle
Le Vent souffle où il veut ("A Man Escaped"), 1956, Robert Bresson
La Vita è bella ("Life is Beautiful"), 1997, Roberto Benigni
Vredens dag ("Day of Wrath"), 1943, Carl Theodor Dreyer
Waking Life, 2001, Richard Linklater
Werckmeister Harmonies, 2000, Béla Tarr
Witness, 1985, Peter Weir (*)
The Year Of Living Dangerously, 1982, Peter Weir (*)
Yi yi ("Yi Yi: A One and a Two"), 2000, Edward Yang
Zerkalo ("The Mirror"), 1975, Andrei Tarkovsky

So, I've seen only 41 of this list. I think Bruce Almighty belongs on this list. That movie was spiritually significant, with as fine of a repentance scene as I've seen. Some of the ones on this list offer very little, spiritually speaking, namely the Star Wars Trilogy (even -- or especially -- if you claim Jedi as your religion).