My Two Cents (09/09)
- Faith and Culture: The 2006 Taylor Public Lectures on Religion & Culture are coming up. The mp3s will be posted here, and you can hear previous lectures in the archives.
- Intelligent Design: The CSC has a nice ID roundup – "The status of science is at risk from the confusions of Darwinists. If they need to be reminded of this by evangelicals, so much the worse for scientists, who should never have let this situation develop from their own obsessive dogmatism." Amen ;)
- Evolution’s Terms: UD has a nice post explaining the difference between homology and homoplasy, terms which evolutionists fail to discuss often, in part because our increased knowledge of the genome is upsetting their precious relational trees, which are mostly based on genotype. The prevalance of homoplasy makes the statistical possibility of evolution even worse than what it is, and it really begs the really interesting question of how we determine such things as DNA similarity percentages, and how we relate these to relatedness.
- Movies: Don’t miss yet another list of spiritual movies – The 2006 Arts and Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films. many of which I have never even heard of. Also has references to other similar lists.
Tags: My Two Cents
Your own sense of self-importance is just absurd Seeker. Scientists don't need you to remind them of anything.
Movies: Don’t miss yet another list of spiritual movies – The 2006 Arts and Faith Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films. many of which I have never even heard of. Also has references to other similar lists.
Another fine list of some really landmark movies. I have seen most of these movies and what I find so pleasing about this list is that the writers adhere to the words, “Spiritualy Significant” which is not synonomous with “Christian.” Most of the films on this list would be “spiritualy significant” to atheists, non Christians and Christians alike. There is something for everyone here! Here is a synopsis of some of the one’s I’ve seen. What a great job they did with this list!
Some examples…
“Diary of a Country Priest” is about a young European priest who goes through a crisis of faith.
“The passion of Joan of Arc” is a silent movie from the 20’s that has some of the greatest silent performances captured on film.
“The Decalogue” is one I have recommended many times on 2or3 to Seeker and Aaron. It was originally a 10 part polish TV Series that deals with one of the Ten Commandments in each episode. It not the “run of the mill” interpretation of the commandments however! This one will make you think.
“Babette’s Feast” I’ve mentioned this one as well. A great movie about food. It’s about how a religious community was stagnating under rigorous religious codes until a woman reinvigorates them with a “taste” for life with her great French cooking.
“A Man Escaped” is a story of a prison break from a Nazi jail and the persistence of the human spirit.
“Andre Rublev” Fantastic portrait of one of Russia’s great painters of religious art.
“Au Hasard Balthazar” This is about a donkey who suffers horribly at the hands of people throughout his pitiful life yet bears the suffering like a saint to the end. Great ending.
“The Seventh Seal” One of the ultimate existentialist movies. It has some of the greatest movie images in history.
“Ikiru” I’ve recommended this many times to Christians who don’t understand Non-Christians. My favorite.
“Winter Light” another Bergman! A Priest asks, “Why is God silent?”
“The colors Trilogy” – From the director of the decalogue. My favorite part of the trilogy is “Blue” with Juliet Binoche. This film explores the depths of grief and only Binoche, in my opinion, had the nuance required for this role.
“Jesus of Montreal” The second coming of Jesus, in Canada! Want to see how Jesus would be welcomed today?
“Stalker” Tarkovsky, really slow paced meditation on existence. I don’t think many will have the patience for this one.
“La Promesse” Just a great film about a child who’s burgeoning sense of morality is shaped by a promise he made to a dead man, in spite of the immorality of his father.
“Sunrise” one of the great silent era films.
“A Man for all Seasons” Sir Thomas More’s story of how he stood up to King Henry the VIII’s church on a matter of principle. Incredibly inspiring.
“Yi Yi” Existentialist film! “Why is the world so different from what we think it is?” Awesome movie.
“Wild Strawberries” More Ingmar Bergamn. This one explores the spiritual crises that comes with age.
“The Sacrifice” It’s world war III and a man must make the ultimate sacrifice in a pact with God.
“Shadowlands” C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicals of Narnia” was one of my favorite childhood series. This movie looks at the all to real human behind the books.
“A taste of Cherry” Iranian movie about a man in spiritual crises who drives around searching for someone to help him commit suicide. Slow paced and meditative so not for all viewers.
“Ponette” Remember what it was like to be a child? Spectacular movie about a little 4 year old girl coming to grips with her mothers death. Greatest performance by a child actor EVER!
“Tokyo Story” One of the greatest movies of all time. Like all Ozu’s films, this is about family.
“Breaking the Waves” This one is so emotionally painful to watch. It’s like getting punched in the stomach. I loved it.
“To Kill a Mocking Bird” if you have not seen this yet, your weird.
“The Mirror” This movie is the most difficult movie to interpret. It’s more like a visual poem with images I’ll never forget.
“Hotal Rawanda” About a man’s humanity in the face of genocide.
“Solaris” One of my favorite science fiction films. I recommend the new Steven Soderberg version with Geaorge Clooney to first time viewers as the original is really really deep.
“Cries and Whispers” is a devastatingly cathartic film. This movie made me more cognizant of my relationships with those who are close to me. In the end, those are the relationships that delineate people who live rich lives from those living in a wasteland.
“The Apu Trilogy” Sinmply beautiful.
“Dersu Usala” Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece about civilized man’s relationship, or lack thereof, with nature. One of the great “buddy movies” of all time.
“The Elephant Man” I’m sure most have seen this one.
“Ugetsu” A masterpiece. A Japanese ghost story that explores the human condition.
After reading this list, I am reminded of how many more movie reviews I still have yet to add to my site. Great post topic Seeker though the three above it kind of sucked :)
<bump> Any comments?
Yeah, you have watched WAAAY more movies than me.
I still have Ponette sitting on my tv. I started it, but it was slow and depressing. I guess I should expect that from a French film, but I have to admit that I am not much of an "art film" lover, though I do like some non-mainstream stuff. I mean, I really enjoyed The Triplets of Baskerville, Max, and No Man's Land, for example.
Before I had kids, I used to watch about 4 movies a week. Now I watch maybe two a month, which sucks.
Babette's Feast – I liked this, but I think I enjoyed Chocolat more, which was basically a more fun, faster-paced version with the same theme.
I have not seen ANY of the other movies you mention. Really. However, I did previously list my list of spiritually significant films as well as my Best Movies You've Never Seen.
Seeker, if any of those movies interests you let me know. I probably have it on DVD and can let you borrow it. Aaron, Sam, same goes for you guys also :)
I loved Spirited Away. I *won't* let my kids see that awful film Old Yeller. It's dark and traumatic and scary for no good reason. Hate that film.
My kids are too young for horror-ish films like Wallace and Grommit, but we already enjoy all of the Disney and Pixar animations, not to mention the Backyardigans (our favorite).
And I really like Jimmy Neutron, the movie and the series. Believe it or not, like many homeschoolers, I may get Little House on the Prairie for my kids to watch. We also enjoy the Ann of Green Gables series.
My daughter loves Spirited Away. That's a great movie for all kids, but especially for girls, because she matures over the course of the movie, learning her way and gaining valuable confidence. Also, and I'm not sure why Miyakazi is obsessed with creatures hopping around on one leg, but I do love that hopping light.
I am amazed, Sam and Seeker agree on something! Have to get a screenshot.
I dunno, maybe Spirited Away was demonic and I missed it ;)