10 Unconventional Films about Faith for Easter
There have been many films made about Christianity, faith, and spirituality over the years, and it is likely that you have seen many of them. From award winning films like The Passion of the Christ, to classics like The Ten Commandments, all the way to films of debatable quality such as God’s Not Dead, these films have tackled the mainstream with their obvious and usually uncontroversial portrayal of religion, faith, and Christianity. This article is not about those kinds of films. Not every film here will be obscure, but each film chosen for this list would not be one most people would think of when presented with the term “Christian film.” Some of these offer faith in the background, not obvious to every viewer, but there for all if you look a little closer. Some of these are controversial, and some may even be too much for the general viewer. However, what they all share in common is themes of Christianity, faith, and ultimately love.
Bad Lieutenant
I decided to start this list with the film that is the hardest to recommend, Bad Lieutenant. It’s not an easy film to watch at all. It’s grim, gritty, sometimes cruel, often violent, and it’s even got an NC-17 rating to boot. If you can’t deal with heavy topics, I can’t in good faith recommend this movie to you. That being said, don’t let the name, reputation or rating of this film fool you in any way. Bad Lieutenant is a deeply spiritual film. Although it’s dealings are mostly Catholic (a branch of Christianity I don’t personally align with) the message here is universal. This is a film that follows a bad man, the titular Lieutenant, who is never given a name and who is a broken and corrupt person. The plot takes this corrupt person and pits him at odds against not a criminal, but his faith. Harvey Keitel delivers a show stopping performance of a man so utterly torn up inside from his own wrongdoings that he begins to seek redemption for his sins, although he, himself, believes he can’t be forgiven. It’s haunting, it’s often depressing, but it is incredibly profound.
The Book of Eli
Moving away to something less controversial, we have 2010’s The Book of Eli. Denzel Washington stars in this film as the leading character in the post-apocalypse who fights his way across the wasteland that America has become in order to deliver a Bible to a destination he believes God has told him to go. Although this movie at times focuses more on the action in it than the spirituality, there is never a point in the film where it strays so much from the main plot of delivering a Bible somewhere to save humanity. Although it has its bleak moments, there are also wonderfully pulled back moments such as Eli teaching a young girl how to pray and his constant devotion to studying the word and letting it influence his life.
First Reformed
First Reformed is a struggle with faith, but not a traditional struggle with belief at all. Instead, what we are offered is Ethan Hawke playing the role of Pastor Ernest Toller, a priest whose struggles in life have led to lots of hardships, but no loss in love for God. Instead, his struggle comes in that of the church and his belief that it is not carrying out God’s word in the way he believes is right. This spirals after an encounter with a mentally unstable environmental activist, a new relationship with said activists’ pregnant wife, and his own declining health. Every moment of this is powerful, beautiful, and uniquely faithful.
In Bruges
In Bruges is a dark comedy, a thriller, and an emotional drama that may not appear to be reflective of any religion on first viewing. It’s impossible to elaborate on this without giving away massive story beats to this fantastic film, so I recommend watching it and looking for those themes yourself. I find these themes occurring regularly throughout, but especially in the ending scene.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Despite being by far the most well-known film on this list, the most easily accessible, and generally one of the most talked about films of all time, I rarely hear anyone discussing the incredibly overt spiritual themes in It’s a Wonderful Life. It is with good reason that this film is regarded as one of the all-time greats, as you watch and see the life of George Bailey and his incredible loving spirit. The story, of course, culminates in a narrative we all know — A man wishes he were never born, is shown what life would be like if that were the case, and realizes that his life is worth living after all. It’s simple, but effective; however, the underlying theme of love and compassion, coupled with the overuse of a guardian angel in the story, makes this one effective on a spiritual level as much as it is on an emotional level.
The Last Temptation of Christ
Whenever writing about The Last Temptation of Christ, one must toe the line rather carefully. When this film came out it was easily the most controversial film of the time. People boycotted theaters, even some resulted in committing acts of violence due to their objection to the contents of this film. Looking back on this, many — including myself — wonder why exactly this happened and with such venom and bitterness. After all, director Martin Scorsese is a devout Christian. The most cited reasoning for this is due to the constant accusations of this film being sacrilege and the perception that it portrays Jesus as only human and a sinner. This film never once claims to be an accurate retelling of the Gospel, and in fact it opens with a disclaimer telling the audience not to take the film literally at all. It is by all accounts an allegory using the story of Christ to tell its message of love, care, and betterment for the human race. It is deeply spiritual and profound as an allegory, and one that made me weep deeply upon my first viewing of it. The film isn’t sacrilege and doesn’t portray Jesus as only human. He is expressly displayed as the son of God, and although the accusation that this film displays Jesus as a sinner is debatable, the film once again asks you before it even begins to not take it as a direct interpretation of the Gospel, but rather an allegory of human faith through the story of Jesus. I implore you to give this a watch if you haven’t; it’s truly beautiful. You can even check it out at Easley Library.
Light Sleeper
I feel obligated to mention the name Paul Schrader at this point, seeing as this is the third film I’ve mentioned with his involvement. He directed Light Sleeper and First Reformed and wrote The Last Temptation of Christ. His films don’t always tackle spirituality, but when they do they are incredibly effective. Light Sleeper is no exception, although its use is much more subtle. While the story follows a drug dealer and former addict on the path to reform, the film focuses more on his pain and loneliness, while applying a heavy use of Christian imagery and symbolism that makes its story just that much more effective.
Menace II Society
Early on in Menace II Society, Cain (the protagonist) is asked by his grandfather a simple question: “Are you right with God?” Although he quickly answers, the question seemingly takes a hold of him, and throughout the rest of this beautifully tragic tale of crime, mistakes and struggle that question almost haunts him. It is likely no coincidence that he is named Cain, as the events of the story lead him down a dark and violent path at points that also haunt him. He wears a cross on his neck for most of the film, and he feels pain and regret where some of his friends don’t. Menace II Society is as much a film about Cain’s struggle with adversity, crime and life in a broken and mistreated neighborhood as it is about his struggle with faith.
The Oh, God! Trilogy
Despite being a massively successful franchise in the ’70s and ’80s, Oh, God! and its two sequels remain a mostly forgotten comedy relic, which is quite a shame considering how incredibly sincere and entertaining these three films truly are. George Burns stars in this trilogy as God himself, taking the form of a human on Earth in order to spread a message of love around the world in hopes that human beings begin to take better care of the planet. In the first film, he asks a man to tell the world that he still cares, in the second he enlists the help of a young girl to spread the message “Think God,” and in the final installment Burns plays both the role of God and the devil in a battle over the spirit of a struggling musician who accidentally sells his soul to the devil in order to become a success. All three of these films are incredibly-fun little comedy romps that offer a significant amount of sincerity and love in their messages. Although the third doesn’t offer as much of a message, and the first two aren’t entirely theologically sound, these films are incredibly touching and loving films that deserve to be remembered.
Silence
Silence is perhaps the most emotionally-powerful film made in the field of religion, faith, spirituality and Christianity. It is in no way an easy film to watch, as the audience is subjected to witness a near three-hour tale of Jesuit priests in Japan in the 17th century, a time in which Christianity was banned and punishable by death, and even worse, torture. Despite it focusing on a bleak subject matter, there isn’t a moment in this film without some level of hope. It is a movie filled with the love of God and devotion to faith. It’s brutal and raw and made me weep upon viewing it, but I would gladly watch it again for how immensely beautiful and powerful it is. There are few films better than this. Its harrowing and grounding just as much as it is beautiful and compelling. If you watch any film on this list, make sure you see Silence; there’s not much else like it.