If it hasn’t been mentioned, Miracle on 34th Street.
Just a reminder- the film is about movies that are essentially Christian or Christian-friendly but which do not fit into the “Christian movies” mold. I did disqualify Bible, historical, Christmas & “classical Christian literature” movie but we’ve been fudging that, so let’s take off that constraint.
Where does Christianity fit in except that it’s a story about faith?
That, and it does have the word ‘Miracle’ in it, which indicates a Christian (though not uniquely) belief.
Warren Beatty’s fine romantic comedy Heaven Can Wait isn’t a “Christian movie,” even though angels appear in it. It’s about fate, second chances and enduring love.
Thought of a really good one-
Hawaii (1966)- based on a few chapters of James Michener’s 502,000 page novel, and actually better in many ways than the novel because it fleshes out the characters. Abner & Jerusha Hales (Max von Sydow and Julie Andrews) are Congregationalist missionaries and newlyweds in a “marriage of convenience” (missionaries were required to be married) from New England (though oddly they have a Swedish and English accent respectively) who make their homes among the ‘savages’ of Hawaii in the 1820s. Their religion is very much at the heart of the movie.
Jerusha is far more New Testament (loving, forgiving, ‘we are sisters and brothers’) and consequently is beloved by the locals, particularly their Alii Nui (queen, more or less) Malama (pic) and her husband/brother Kelolo. Her husband Abner is far more Old Testament fire-and-brimstone, who refuses to baptize Malama or her husband while they live in the sin of incest and polygamy (he has other wives, she is also married to King Kamehemeha) and refuses to ordain their son because of his inbreeding and the fact he is not white. The differences between Abner and Jerusha come to critical mass when
Keoki, the son of the Alii Nui, alienated by Abner’s harshness and the hypocrisy of the other missionaries, renounces Christianity, marries his sister, and when their child is born deformed it is exposed in the water. Abner and Jerusha run to save the child but it is too late- it has drowned. Abner mourns that he was not able to save the child’s soul with baptism, while Jerusha berates him that she wanted to save the child itself.
An interesting thing though is that Abner is NOT a simple holyroller character but morally complex. While he is cold and unrelenting in his view of the Hawaiians as pagans and mostly damned, he becomes their staunchest ally against his fellow missionaries as well as other westerners intent on taking control of the island. In their early years on the island he is probably spared only because of his wife, but in the end (after- slight spoiler- Jerusha’s death) he is revered because the islanders know that while his views are not their own (save for the few converts he has made) he is completely noble and honest in his intentions. Unlike other missionaries he has no desire to enrich himself or his family from their lands and his sole concern is their souls and well being, and over the years Jerusha has made him a bit less hard spiritually.
One of the greatest scenes in the movie is when “The Divine Winds” (not in any way associated with kami kaze but a Hawaiian prophecy) come. (To tell more would be a spoiler.) Abner has dismissed their superstitions as total mumbo jumbo and is amazed when it comes to pass and loses his temper in frustration and fear.
Add to this Richard Harris- another New Englander with a Brit accent who coincidentally used to be in love with Jerusha (Julie Andrews) and happens to find her when he sails to her island.
As mentioned the movie fleshes out the characters more than the book does. (The consummation of their marriage for example- not mentioned in the book but in the movie a source of major spiritual concern to Abner, or a powerful scene when Abner, after delivering their first child, breaks down in tears and blurts out that he loves his wife and son more than he loves God.) It also romanticizes the Hawaiians a bit- while I agree with Twain and others that there was much admirable in their culture, it glosses over the human sacrifice and tribal caste system and other ‘not so romantic’ notions.
In Rooster Cogburn, Katherine Hepburn’s devoutly Christian character slowly wins the respect and admiration of the surly heathen Cogburn (John Wayne).
A generation earlier, Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart played very similar characters in The African Queen.
We’re on a good roll. Sampiro, thanks for the info about Hawaii. I’d never taken the time to see it & now I’ll be on the watch for it.
spoke- Thanks for the reminder about Kate.
Another one I thought of that I saw this summer at the local theatre (Irene Dunne came from here)- LIFE WITH FATHER. While I balk at its baptismal regeneration theology, I love the scene where Father “prays” by barking orders at God & then is reduced to desperate bargaining.
''In this moment of hardship, let us all consider the words of our Mother Madonna:
Papa don’t preach
I’m in trouble deep
Papa don’t preach
I’ve been losin’ sleep…’’
Classic.
Freeway- a modern day update of Little Red Riding Hood with Reese Witherspoon. When mommy (Amanda Plummer as a cheap roadside hooker) is arrested she sets off for Granny’s trailer but is abducted by Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a serial killer who preys upon young girls.
I won’t ruin the scene, but best use of Christianity in a showdown twixt a teengirl from a broken home and a serial killer ever.
[SPOILER]Reese w/gun: Do you accept Jesus as your personal savior?
Kiefer sobbing: Yes! Yes, I do!
Reese: That’s very good. BLAM!!![/SPOILER]
I’ve been a Reese fan ever since.
The Stand (miniseries). The whole thing, with the prophet (Mother Abigail), the disciples, Satan, death by crucifixion to save the world.
The Shawshank Redemption. This is a bit more of a stretch. But Andy, an innocent man, sent to save Shawshank from the evil people that ran it. He makes life better for the inmates (builds the library, helps prisoners get their GED, generally improves moral - like curing the blind and the lame), and eventually overthrows the corrupt order (as Christianity replaced paganism). When his mission was accomplished, he descended to Hell (crawled through the sewer) and was received into Paradise (Mexican beach town), to be followed by his disciple Red.
StG
A good one that I forgot until now:
Night of the Hunter.
Excellent pick!
StG- good! I always wondered how much SK was inspired by *Night of the Hunter *for The Stand. Of course, TS is essentially The Apocalypse according to SK.
I have never seen TSR. hangs head in shame
Oh another one I forgot to mention (but I’m not positive it fits with what this thread is looking for) is Dancer in the Dark, which may not be explicitly Christian but which my good friend, an evangelical Christian who graduated from Biola (the “Bible Institute of Los Angeles”), calls one of the “best Jesus movies ever”. I haven’t seen it, but my understanding is that it contains many Christian themes, so it may be worth checking out.
I meant to mention this a while back- I’m not sure how many other versions can be considered Christian, but the Disney version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame is very much so… the scenes where Esmerelda prays/sings “God Bless the Outcasts” with the line “Were You once an outcast to?” before an image of the Madonna and Child, and Judge Frollo’s triumphant cry that “the wicked will be cast into eternal fire” right before he plunged to his doom with a burst of… yep, eternal fire! Couldn’t get more explicit if it were a Chick tract!
How about Brian’s Song?
FriarTed - Have you seen The Shawshank Redemption yet?
Speaking of Stephen King, I don’t remember if The Green Mile was mentioned earlier. John Coffey (JC), an innocent man with a God-given gift for healing, imprisoned and killed by the people in charge who didn’t see or understand his gift. That gift, like the Holy Spirit, was passed to his disciple.
StG
I’m listening to the book, read by Frank Muller. The way he delivers that line is memorable. “Recalled to life” indeed.
btw: Do you know Dickens wrote the book after playing a role in a play where he sacrificed his life so that his rival could win their romantic interest?
btbtw: Just got the idea, from the Hunchback comment, of turning Chick tracts into Disney movies!
btbtbtw: Has Stephen King ever discussed Christian-ness of his works? Shawshank and Green Mile do seem to have some, sans preachiness.
No, I didn’t know that about Dickens. I hope the book is unabridged! Not familiar with Frank Muller – but I looked him up on Audiofile Magazine and found some bad news – he died in 2008 after a motorcycle accident in 2001. (I’ve included the link, but it’s a membership site so you might not be able to see it.) How sad.