CHRISTIAN MOVIES REDUX

In the beginning, the elohim created skies and earth.

Welcome back. Let's think about the movies since it is Oscar night.  The following is a repost with changes.

There have been a lot of Christian movies that were duds. They tried so hard to be evangelical tracts instead of art. I'm thinking of the The Hiding Place.  I also recall some Billy Graham movies I was forced to watch at church when I was a kid.  Their characters' need for God seemed strained and insincere.

I’m glad to report that the movies are full of Christian stories that sizzle.  Christians great and nefarious have blown us away on the screen. Below is a short list of my favorites.

Best Lead Christian in a Jerk Role

If there were such a category, then the winner hands down must be the Reverend Abner Hale (Max von Sydow) in Hawaii.

Brother Hale just doesn't get it. He serves a God of love who blesses him despite his hopeless tendency to be an insufferable prig.  He is as plain and clumsy as he is self righteous.  Despite these setbacks, Brother Hale marries the lovely Jerusha Bromley (Julie Andrews) who miraculously accepts his proposal of marriage.  He whisks her away from her home in New England to start a mission in Hawaii.

Brother Hale’s is a cold, pious heart for Jesus. Sister Jerusha’s is a warm, loving heart. Together they struggle to build a church.  Separately, Brother Hale struggles with his contempt for the native people of Hawaii.  Throw into the mix Jerusha's former lover, the dashing Captain Rafer (Richard Harris), and we feel a ton of tension building in this movie.  Indeed, we suspect Captain Rafer 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’ 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 plays an indignant Judas 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 human struggle shines through this very human Jesus.

            Honorable Mention:  Robert Powell in Jesus of Nazareth.

Best Jesus You’d Ever Want to Cuddle With

Aslan, definitely, in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe possesses a mane beckoning children and old guys like me to bury out faces deep within it while we hold on everlastingly.

Best Near Jesus

Brian Cohen 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?

Honorable Mention:  Captain Christopher Pike in King of Kings and Max Von Sydow in The Greatest Story Ever Told. Did first century Jewish men have such blazing blue eyes?

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 was simply lovely in Elmer Gantry as Sister Sharon Falconer. Hearing her preach in that movie makes us long for ministers who truly reveal rather than repel God’s love.

            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 is the devil super-sized in Needful Things. This movie, based on Stephen King’s terrific novel, amazes with satanic logic that unfolds 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 the Hand of God killer 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 Jesus Movie of All Time

Although it was a TV mini-series, Jesus of Nazareth is as great as any movie can be about Jesus without one moment of insincerity.  Jesus seems like one of us.  He is not transcendent almost comical tertium quid we behold in other movies.  The Lord is given his due as being an interesting man proclaiming the kingdom of heaven without being a pious bore. 

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…