The Best Movies on Spiritual Themes?

[Berserk]

"The Mission," starring a young Robert De Niro and Jeremy Irons, was voted the best movie ever on a spiritual theme. It is my personal favorite, though I should probably distinguish "favorite" from "best." Yet it didn't receive very glowing reviews in the USA. It's probably too slow-paced for American attention spans. It's loosely based on true incidents in the era when the Spanish and Portuguese were enslaving Amazon Indians at the same time the Jesuits were trying to convert them. That is the source of the movie's dramatic tension. The Jesuits are conflicted about the best way to deal with this problem and I found their inner conflict deeply moving, with a case to be made on both sides. The photography is at times stunning. It was only after several viewings that I discovered that the Screen Actors Guild voted the musical score the 17th best ever. That surprised me because, of course, the movie is not a musical. Yet upon further viewing, I realized that the music sets an appropriate mood marvelously. I also consider that the movie's conversion story is the most moving account in movie history.

I recently saw "Miracles from Heaven" at our small local theatre. It's basically the true story of a little girl's battle with a devastating illness, her mother's moving but futile efforts to find a doctor who can cure her, and the unexpected miracle that healed her after all seemed lost. Critics usually rate movies by 1-4 or 6 stars. Rotten Tomatoes predictably rates them as "fresh" or "rotten." We need another rating system--hankies. I'd rate "Miracles from Heaven" a 4 hankie weeper. People were sobbing and noses were honking. The consensus of those I talked to rated it the best Christian movie ever. Jennifer Garner excelled in her lead role as the mother. But I'd still choose "The Mission."

What's your favorite movie on a spiritual theme? Assume any definition of "spiritual" that you wish, but please make it clear if your conception is unconventional.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Contact, the Carl Sagan novel starring Jodie Foster, has certainly got to be on the list, imo.

A second: Jeremiah Johnson, with Robert Redford.

I'll have to think more about it because I'm not sure there are that many that I think are "spiritual."

 

[Draka]

I've always loved "What Dreams May Come". It hits on several ideas and concepts which resonate with me. Reincarnation, personal "heavens" and "hells", your own karma, your own choices. Life, death, and afterlife all tackled.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The Fountain
What Dreams May Come
The Hellraiser franchise
Prometheus
The Matrix trilogy
Cloud Atlas
The Passion of Joan of Arc
The Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
The Wizard of Oz
The Alice in Wonderland films
Brainstorm
Jacob's Ladder
Pan's Labyrinth
The Seventh Seal
The Ninth Gate

(Honestly, most fantasy and fairy tale movies have spiritual, esoteric, Masonic, Theosophic, etc. themes in them, so you could go on forever listing them. )

 

[Revoltingest]

Gattaca
Defending Your Life
Groundhog Day

 

[Berserk]

For years, I conducted a potluck dinner and movie night at my church. The movie, dinner, and discussions attracted a lot of outsiders. We never showed most of the movies you've suggested, but then I haven't seen most of them! So I appreciate the input. "What Dreams May Come" is particularly poignant for me because of Robin William's apparent suicide. I found the reincarnational ending very cheesy, and for that reason, didn't include the movie, though it's one of my favorites of this genre. The descent into Hell sequence was as powerful for me as anything I've seen in movies with spiritual themes. So I'm grateful that some of your really liked it.

 

[Draka]

Not a movie, but for a TV series I have to mention Battlestar Galactica. From the conflicting religions, the old gods, the one god, the signs, the visions, the scriptures, the hybrids tuned into something more, and whatever Starbuck was in the end...it all had a spiritual undertone to it. Everything had an underlying meaning. So, maybe not a movie, but certainly worthy of my addiction.

 

[Draka]

For years, I conducted a potluck dinner and movie night at my church. The movie, dinner, and discussions attracted a lot of outsiders. We never showed most of the movies you've suggested, but then I haven't seen most of them! So I appreciate the input. "What Dreams May Come" is particularly poignant for me because of Robin William's apparent suicide. I found the reincarnational ending very cheesy, and for that reason, didn't include the movie, though it's one of my favorites of this genre. The descent into Hell sequence was as powerful for me as anything I've seen in movies with spiritual themes. So I'm grateful that some of your really liked it.

I liked the reincarnation part. The alternate ending though was more moving to me. There was still the reincarnation, but it was just told in a different way. I actually teared up at the alternate, didn't with the theatrical.

 

[David1967]

What dreams may come. Loved it.

 

[David1967]

Not a movie, but for a TV series I have to mention Battlestar Galactica. From the conflicting religions, the old gods, the one god, the signs, the visions, the scriptures, the hybrids tuned into something more, and whatever Starbuck was in the end...it all had a spiritual undertone to it. Everything had an underlying meaning. So, maybe not a movie, but certainly worthy of my addiction.

New Battlestar galactica or old one?

 

[vaguelyhumanoid]

 

[Berserk]

I need to do what I sometimes accuse my adversaries of NOT doing in the heat of debate---read carefully. Why? Because I forget that I'd seen both "The Seventh Seal" and "Contact." Both were excellent. I'm going to try to rent some of the ones posters have suggested here. The concepts of spirituality are intriguing, both in terms of what you include and what you omit.

If I judged by audience feedback for the movies we showed, their apparent favorites surprised me. They just loved Robert Duval in "The Apostle," a movie that Duval researched by living among the southerners he engages in the movie. One of his best, if not is best, acting performances. Our guests also loved "The Inn of the Sixth Happiness" from the 1050s, starring Ingrid Bergman in what many critics deem an even greater performance the her preceding movie, for which she won Best Actress. It's based on the true story of arguably the most spiritually effective Protestant female missionary, Gladys Aylward. Gladys wants to be a missionary to China, but is repeatedly told she is not qualified because she isn't bright enough and ins dyslexic. She saves up her pennies as a cleaning lady to take the Stalinist trans-Siberian railroad to northern China. She can't afford the ship ticket! The Missionary society tells her she can stay there only if she works under Jennie Lawrence, a "qualified" missionary. But Jennie is killed in an accident and Gladys refuses to leave. In this movie, everyone is at first appalled by Gladys's simplistic naivitee, but is eventually won over by her charm and sincerity.

The movie is set during the Japanese invasion of northern China. Gladys proves herself extremely effective in winning the hearts of the Chinese and her courage is legendary. Ultimately, the Chinese send their orphaned small children to her, but the arriving Japanese force her to lead her 100 small children across seeming uncrossable mountains and unfordable rivers to unoccupied territpry, evading Japanese scouts along the way. She contracted typhus and other illnesses along the way, but her fierce will overcame this. A WW2 vet told me that they had to study what Gladys achieved in their mountain warfare training. Near the movie's end we hear Gladys' s band sing "This Old Man" and the movie makes this song famous. Despite the fact that the movie seems dated, our guests adored Ingrid's performance.

 

[freethinker44]

Not a movie, but for a TV series I have to mention Battlestar Galactica. From the conflicting religions, the old gods, the one god, the signs, the visions, the scriptures, the hybrids tuned into something more, and whatever Starbuck was in the end...it all had a spiritual undertone to it. Everything had an underlying meaning. So, maybe not a movie, but certainly worthy of my addiction.

Easily one of the best TV series I have ever seen.

 

[Berserk]

Even better than Lost in Space and Star Trek?

 

[freethinker44]

Yes! Well, maybe not Star Trek The Next Generation, but it's a damn good show.

 

[Zardoz]

Zardoz (of course)

Lots of what's been mentioned already.

Recently, Interstellar.

Many SciFi classics have spiritual themes underlying.

2001 A Space Odyssey started it.

 

[Draka]

New Battlestar galactica or old one?

New one. The old one had the beginnings of it, with Starbuck and all, but as it was only a year it didn't have the time to fully develop the whole intricacy of it.

I'm a huge fan. Have the whole series box set with all the bonus stuff and mini-movies as well. Watch the whole thing through at least once a year.

 

[Draka]

Even better than Lost in Space and Star Trek?

To me, Lost in Space doesn't even come close to comparing and Star Trek TNG and Voyager are awesome in their own rights and I love them, but BSG holds a special place for me. While Star Trek could tackle a different story every episode really BSG had a continuity to it that made it so that missing just one episode could leave you lost. If you missed an episode here or there with Star Trek it didn't have as big an impact on overall story.

 

[David1967]

New one. The old one had the beginnings of it, with Starbuck and all, but as it was only a year it didn't have the time to fully develop the whole intricacy of it.

I'm a huge fan. Have the whole series box set with all the bonus stuff and mini-movies as well. Watch the whole thing through at least once a year.

Loved the old one as a kid. Never got into the new one though.

 

[Draka]

Loved the old one as a kid. Never got into the new one though.

My mother has never been able to bring herself to watch the new one just because she liked the old one so much. Well, that, and she had a huge crush on Dirk Benedict and couldn't handle Starbuck being a woman in the new one. I tried to reason with her that Richard Hatch was in the new one at least but that didn't seem to help really.