Spirituality in the Movies
The movies - dramas, not documentaries - with a spiritual / religious (not merely moral) dimension, appealing to the idiosyncratic soul of theNeoplatonist. In alphabetical order...
NOTE: There's a good movie called "Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", starring Anne Baxter, which I can't find on the IMDB. It's on the life of the poet William Blake.
NOTE: There's a good movie called "Blake: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", starring Anne Baxter, which I can't find on the IMDB. It's on the life of the poet William Blake.
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- DirectorJohn FarrowStarsRay MillandAudrey TotterThomas MitchellA district attorney rises to political success and the governorship but loses his sense of morality once he starts associating with the shadowy and perhaps diabolical Nick Beal.This movie has two titles - "Alias Nick Beal" and "The Contact Man". The IMDB can't make up its mind whch one it should be, so I can't guarantee the alphabetical order here. Anyway, Nick Beal is very likely Old Nick himself. And performed by Ray Milland with some convincing force and malignity.
- DirectorAndrei TarkovskyStarsAnatoliy SolonitsynIvan LapikovNikolay GrinkoThe life, times and afflictions of the fifteenth-century Russian iconographer St. Andrei Rublev.Utterly captivating - a moving icon of Russia's most sublime iconographer. Arguably, indeed, Rublev is planet earth's greatest religious "painter", although icons are not really paintings (they're meeting points of earth and heaven).
- DirectorChristian DuguayStarsAlessandro PreziosiMonica GuerritoreAlexander HeldThe story of the life and conversion of Aurelius Augustinus to Saint Augustine of Hippo.Pretty decent effort at putting Augustine on the screen. His "Confessions" are the ultimate in spiritual autobiography, in theNeoplatonist's humble opinion.
- DirectorWilliam WylerStarsCharlton HestonJack HawkinsStephen BoydAfter a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend in 1st-century Jerusalem, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.I suppose everyone knows this one. Has some perhaps surprisingly poignant religious moments, such as the brutal Roman soldier outstared by Christ - no words, just a long staring match. Remarkable.
- DirectorJohn BoultingStarsRichard AttenboroughHermione BaddeleyWilliam HartnellIn Brighton in 1935, small-time gang leader Pinkie Brown murders a journalist and later desperately tries to cover his tracks but runs into trouble with the police, a few witnesses, and a rival gang.Heaven versus Hell in the Brighton gang-world.
- DirectorHugh HudsonStarsBen CrossIan CharlesonNicholas FarrellTwo British track athletes, one a determined Jew and the other a devout Christian, are driven to win in the 1924 Olympics as they wrestle with issues of pride and conscience.
- DirectorJeremy KaganStarsMaximilian SchellRod SteigerRobby BensonIn 1944, in Brooklyn, two Jewish kids become friends. One is from a very conservative family, and the other is more liberal. The issues of importance of tradition, parental expectations and the formation of Israel cause constant friction.A veritable induction into the complexities of modern Judaism.
- DirectorRobert BressonStarsClaude LayduNicole LadmiralJean RiveyreA young priest taking over the parish at Ambricourt tries to fulfill his duties even as he fights a mysterious stomach ailment.THE Christian Existentialist masterpiece of all time. In theNeoplatonist's worthless estimation...
- DirectorWilliam DieterleStarsEdward ArnoldWalter HustonJane DarwellA nineteenth-century New Hampshire farmer makes a pact with Satan for economic success, then enlists famed orator Daniel Webster to extract him from his contract.Diabolical goings-on in New England. Yes, Daniel Webster is the actual Daniel Webster. Suffused with surreal magic.
- DirectorRichard BrooksStarsBurt LancasterJean SimmonsArthur KennedyA fast-talking traveling salesman with a charming, loquacious manner convinces a sincere evangelist that he can be an effective preacher for her cause.
- StarsSamer IsmailAssad KhalifaMehmet Sah CelikThe life of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, the second Caliph of Rashidun Caliphate, before and after he embraces in Islam.Some won't be able to watch this because it portrays some of the earliest saints of Islam, the Companions (which for some is a sort of sacrilege). If you can watch it, however, it brings pristine Islam to life in a way that simultaneously humanizes it and brings out its authentic and infectious spirituality.
- DirectorTony TewStarsRoger ReesBernard ArchardKeith BarronA dramatized biography of William Tyndale, the 16th Century reformer determined to translate the Bible into English, which illegal act set him at odds with the Catholic Church, Sir Thomas More and King Henry VIII.Apart from the absurd opening scene which is hammy melodrama gone mad, and should be skipped, a faithful portrayal of William Tyndale, to whom largely we owe the Bible in English.
- StarsRobert PowellOlivia HusseyLaurence OlivierBeginning before the Nativity and extending through the Crucifixion and Resurrection, this mini-series brings to life all of the sweeping drama in the life of Jesus, as told by the Gospels.As with "Omar", some won't be able to watch this because it portrays the unportrayable, but if you can watch it, it's the most engrossing and challenging interpretation of the Jesus of the Gospels that theNeoplatonist has come across.
- DirectorRichard PearceStarsSteve MartinDebra WingerLolita DavidovichFake faith healer Jonas Nightingale is stranded in a small town where he finds he can't fool all of the people all of the time.
- DirectorIrving PichelStarsNiall MacGinnisJohn RuddockPierre LefevreBiopic of German priest Martin Luther (Niall MacGinnis), covering his life between 1505 and 1530 A.D., and the birth of the Protestant Reformation movement.Highly accurate presentation of the early life of Martin Luther, the primary founding father of Protestantism, played wonderfully by Niall MacGinnis (better known as Dr Julian Karswell from "Night of the Demon"). Doesn't take us much beyond the 1520s, though.
- DirectorLana WachowskiLilly WachowskiStarsKeanu ReevesLaurence FishburneCarrie-Anne MossWhen a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.Metaphysics for the masses. And very well done too.
- DirectorMoustapha AkkadStarsAnthony QuinnIrene PapasMichael AnsaraThis epic historical drama chronicles the life and times of Prophet Muhammad and serves as an introduction to early Islamic history.Much more reserved than "Omar" in its non-depiction of the Companions, although I think some would even object to the portrayal of Hamza (Anthony Quinn). Otherwise a reverent attempt to get across to Western audiences what was happening in Mecca and Medina in the early 7th century (Christian caldendar).
- DirectorRichard RichStarsNicholas KadiRichard EpcarEli AllemAn account of the birth of Islam.A further step in the direction of reservedness - no Hamza here! Perhaps aimed more at children?
- DirectorXavier BeauvoisStarsLambert WilsonMichael LonsdaleOlivier RabourdinUnder threat by fundamentalist terrorists, a group of Trappist monks stationed with an impoverished Algerian community must decide whether to leave or stay.Stunning, in theNeoplatonist's pointless view. But not for those wanting a movie that explains everything as it goes along. This one forces you to think. Unpardonable crime....
- DirectorAlbert LewinStarsGeorge SandersHurd HatfieldDonna ReedA corrupt young man somehow keeps his youthful beauty, but a special painting gradually reveals his inner ugliness to all.By far the most effective adaptation of Wilde's moral and spiritual parable. A study in corruption, with of course the "horror" of the last scene.
- DirectorDanny CarralesStarsDaniel KruseJeremiah GuelzoHugh McLeanAn allegory of the life of a believer on a journey from the City of Destruction to the Celestial City.Reasonable stab at Bunyan's immortal allegory.
- DirectorMervyn LeRoyAnthony MannStarsRobert TaylorDeborah KerrLeo GennAfter fierce Roman commander Marcus Vinicius becomes infatuated with beautiful Christian hostage Lygia, he begins to question the tyrannical leadership of the despotic emperor Nero.The history is a trifle dodgy but the spectacle is undeniable. And an Apostle Paul who actually looks Jewish.
- DirectorKevin ReynoldsStarsJoseph FiennesTom FeltonPeter FirthIn 33 AD, a Roman Tribune in Judea is tasked to find the missing body of Jesus Christ, who rose from the dead.Interesting thought-experiment. Largely successful, although the Christians at times are a dopey lot.
- DirectorHenry KosterStarsRichard BurtonJean SimmonsVictor MatureIn the Roman province of Judea during the 1st century, Roman tribune Marcellus Gallio is ordered to crucify Jesus of Nazareth but is tormented by his guilty conscience afterwards.Again, the history is a bit iffy (would the first Christians really have whipped out their swords and fought their way into a Roman prison to rescue a captive?). But in other ways, a thoughtful and supremely well-acted tale of conscience and conversion.
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.Christian opposition to the Nazis, rewarded with martyrdom. Not only a true story but filmed without melodrama, which makes it so much more convincing.