The movie files

It may be winter in Canada, but it’s also the season to identify the best movies of 2003. The Academy Awards may not be the most appropriate indicator of what you or I might consider a “best film.” Well-known movie reviewer Roger Ebert suggests that an excellent movie engages your right brain while watching it, and your left brain afterwards. It is first of all emotionally and artistically engaging, and then amenable to analysis and discussion.

For a fine example of a “Best Movies of 2003” list by a Christian movie reviewer, see Jeffrey Overstreet’s Looking Closer website), as well as the digest of recommendations in Overstreet’s Film Forum article, “Christian Critics Recommend Year’s Most Overlooked Films”.

Here are my recommendations of recent films that resonate with gospel themes and are worth watching on a cold winter night.

• Whale Rider (PG-13) is a mythic tale rooted in the New Zealand aboriginal (Maori) culture that will be sure to stimulate discussion about faith, the character of leadership, and the role of authoritative tradition.
• In America (PG-13, now in some theatres) tells a moving story of an Irish immigrant family that must both sustain and rediscover faith and hope through difficulty. Told through the eyes of a child, the movie is coloured in mythic overtones and invites conversation about what’s really important.
• The Station Agent (R for language and some drug content) is a simple story about friendship among three people, each of whom suffers in his or her own way. Although not a theological movie, I will risk suggesting that it can be viewed as a parable on Jesus’ saying, “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there.” That saying is poignantly portrayed in the best “movie prayer” I can remember.
• Finally I mention two animated films, both about losing and finding. Finding Nemo (G), a delightful sensory experience, is a tale about a lost child and a searching father. Spirited Away (PG) reverses the quest by having a child searching for and liberating her parents from their cultural captivity.

One of the most important publication projects on movies and faith has now been completed. The three volume Lights, Camera . . . Faith! A Movie Lover’s Guide to Scripture (Boston: Pauline Books and Media, 2001, 2002, 2003) brings Scripture into thoughtful conversation with 217 popular movies. Peter Malone and Rose Pacatte invite dialogue between Scripture and film, engaging faith through culture and culture through faith.

Each chapter includes a synopsis of and commentary on the movie, a section called “Dialogue with the Gospel,” a brief exposition of key scenes and themes related to the gospel, and questions for reflection or for conversation in small groups. The books include four indexes: movie titles, weeks in the liturgical year (Advent, Lent, etc.), Gospel texts, and a Movie Ratings Chart. This set would make a fine addition to a congregational library.

Gordon Matties teaches biblical studies and a course in Film and Faith at Canadian Mennonite University.