Films with Moral and Spiritual Themes by Ken Boa

Home , Crimes and Misdemeanors, Dead Poets Society, Jean de Florette, The Deer Hunter, The Tree of Wooden Clogs

Film is a little like food: it ranges from junk to gourmet. As with your own nutritional choices, you’ll have to choose your cinematic diet with care, cognizant of your personal proclivities and temptations. The following are select films with moral and spiritual themes. A longer list follows the short list.

Short List

• The Seventh Seal—Despair in a world without God • Close Encounters of the Third Kind—The quest for transcendence without God • The Matrix—The question of what is real in a postmodern world • Crimes and Misdemeanors—The problem of morality without absolutes • Chariots of Fire—Heroism inspired by radically different quests • The Shawshank Redemption—Redemptive suffering in a fallen world • Babette’s Feast—Reconciliation through sacrificial love • Enchanted April —Enhanced relationships as a hint of heaven Longer List

(Key)

• Good synthesis of artistic merit and spiritual themes •• Great synthesis of artistic merit and spiritual themes Bold = films taught by Ken Boa

About Schmidt Amacord (Fellini) Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstein) • AmadeusAmélie (Jeunet) All Quiet on the Western Front • Babette's Feast (Axel) A Beautiful MindBeauty and the Beast The Lion King (Cocteau) •• The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (The • Being ThereBen-Hur (1959) Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, The • Blade Runner (reality, humanity) Return of the King) Blue, White, Red (Krysztof Kieslowski's Three The Magnificent Ambersons Colors Trilogy) • A Man for All Seasons Braveheart Manhattan Broadway Danny Rose (Woody Allen) • The Matrix Bruce Almighty (some sections) Metropolis (Lang, 1927) • Casablanca A Midsummer’s Night Dream (1935) •• Chariots of Fire Much Ado about Nothing Citizen Kane Nosferatu (Murnau, 1922; Herzog, 1979) City Slickers (some sections) O Brother, Where Art Thou? • Close Encounters of the Third Kind October Sky • The Color of Paradise (Majidi) One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest •• Crimes and Misdemeanors • The Ox-bow Incident • Dead Poets Society Papillon The Decalogue, (Kieslowski) Pleasantville The Deer Hunter Rain Man Diary of a Country Priest (Bresson) •• Rashomon (Kurosawa) The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie Regarding Henry (Buñuel) • Saving Private Ryan Dreams (Kurosawa) The Scarlet Letter (sin, grace, redemption) • Enchanted April • The Searchers Forest Gump The Scent of Green Papaya (Tran) The Fountainhead •• The Seven Samurai (Kurasowa) Gate of Hell (Kurosawa) •• The Seventh Seal (Bergman) • Gladiator •• The Shawshank Redemption The Gospel According to Matthew (Pasolini) •• Schindler's List • Grand Canyon Simon Burch Groundhog Day • Tender Mercies Henry V The Tree of Wooden Clogs (Olmi) The Hour of the Wolf (Bergman) Throne of Blood (Kurosawa) Ikiru (Kurosawa) The Truman Show • It’s a Wonderful Life 2001: A Space Odyssey •• Jean de Florette/Manon of the Spring Ugetsu (Kurosawa) (Berri) • Unforgiven • King of Hearts Viridiana (Buñuel) • La Strada (Fellini) • War and Peace (Bondarchuk) Last of the Mohicans • Wild Strawberries (Bergman) Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais) The Wizard of Oz •• Les Misérables • Yojimbo (Kurosawa) • Life Is Beautiful

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