CHRISTIAN AT THE MOVIES

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's think about the movies since it is Oscar season.

There have been a lot of Christian movies that were duds just because they tried so hard to be evangelical. I'm thinking of the The Hiding Place and some Billy Graham movies I was forced to watch at church when I was a kid.

But in reality, there are so many riveting stories that are about great and nefarious Christians. Below is a short list of my favorites.

Best Christian Jerk

If there were a category like this at the Oscars, then the winner hands down would be the Reverend Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) in Hawaii.

Brother Hale just doesn't get it. He marries the lovely Jerusha Bromley (Julie Andrews) and whisks her away from home in New England to start a mission in Hawaii. His is a cold, pious heart for Jesus. Hers is a warm, loving heart. Jerusha's former lover, the dashing Captain Rafer (Richard Harris), was right in the end when he accused Brother Hale of killing his wife.

Honorable Mention:  The Priest and the Baptist preacher in Needful Things

Worst Beating in a Christian Role

Jesus's mauling, definitely, in The Passion of the Christ is savage. The movie never explains why the Romans beat the living crap out of Jesus. I guess we were all supposed to know already. If only the gospel had been as gratuitous as the brutality.

Best Virgin Mary

Olivia Hussey in Jesus of Nazareth takes top billing. I haven’t seen all the Jesus movies. I cannot recall the other Mother’s of God, but Olivia Hussey brought the same sweet innocence to the screen as Mary that she gave to us as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s other classic.

           

Best Judas

Carl Anderson in Jesus Christ Superstar. Anderson sang better than other Judases. It always bothered me that a black man was cast as the supreme traitor, but it might have been deliberate if for no other reason than to engender repugnance in viewers for its suggestion of racism. Repugnance towards Judas is what the gospel writers would have us feel. However, I loved Anderson’s sympathetic performance. For days I felt sad for “Poor old Judas....So long Judas…”

Best Jesus

I loved Willem Dafoe in The Last Temptation of Christ. He played the haunted Jesus conceived by Nikos Kazantzakis in his wonderful book. The gospel is in this very human Jesus.

            Honorable Mention:  Captain Christopher Pike in King of Kings and Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told. I didn’t imagine Jesus’s eyes were so blue.

Best Jesus You’d Ever Want to Cuddle With

Aslan, definitely, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Best Near Jesus

Brian in Life of Brian is a hilarious depiction of just another first century messiah. It admonishes us to always look on the bright side of life while asking  the immortal question:  What have the Romans ever done for us?

Best Preacher in a Male Role

Burt Lancaster was unforgettable in Elmer Gantry. Although the movie did not underscore the hypocrisy and fraud of revivalism as mightily as Sinclair Lewis did in his disturbing novel, it stands on its own as an important work of art.

Lancaster won an Oscar for his performance, as did Mrs. Partridge, Shirley Jones, who won best supporting actress as the salacious Lulu Bains.

This is one of my favorite all time movies. I still can’t believe it lost out to The Apartment for Best Picture in 1960. The gospel is in it. You do not have to look very hard to see it if you look past the gilded evangelical fervor.

Best Preacher in a Female Role

Jean Simmons in Elmer Gantry. She was simply lovely as Sister Sharon Falconer.

            Honorable Mention:  Susan Sarandon as Sister Helen Prejean in Dead Man Walking. Sarandon shows what it means to live out the words, “I was in prison and you visited me.”

Best Satan in a Starring Role

            Once again, Max von Sydow as Mr. Gaunt in Needful Things. This movie, based on Stephen King’s terrific novel, reveals satanic logic in all of its steely discord.

Best Pure Soul

            John Coffey, spelled like the drink only different, in The Green Mile is simply remarkable as a character too innocent for our slimy world.  The story creates in us a yearning for godly magic to be real.  We shall miss you: Michael Clarke Duncan.

Best Christian Horror Movie

Frailty starring Matthew McConaughey cannot be written about without spoiling the surprise.  Watch it and be amazed.

Best Christian Science Fiction Movie

Planet of the Apes (with Charlton Heston) shows how stupid apes can be when they believe in creationism.

Best Christian Action Movie

With ship wrecks and chariot races, Ben Hur is undoubtedly the most exciting Christian movie ever. It stars Charleton Heston as the scion of a rich Jewish family who falls out of favor with those testy Romans. It also stars Jesus’ hands in some of the most touching scenes ever shown in cinema. Indeed, there is also a touch of horror commingled with redeeming pathos among lepers.

Best Christian Movie of All Time

It was nominated in so many categories, but only won Best Cinematography. Visually stunning and artistically beautiful, The Mission tells the story of the Jesuit Father Gabriel (Jeremy Irons) and his convert, the dangerous fratricide Rodrigo Mendoza (Robert De Niro). They attempt to rescue a remote tribe in South America from Portuguese slavers in the 18^th Century.

Father Gabriel resists those dirty rotten slavers the way we imagine Jesus would resist them. Rodrigo Mendoza struggles between following his priest or following his past. It is one of the most remarkable movies I have ever seen in my life. The oboe playing throughout the movie touches heaven.

I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

Blessings…