Parish Movie Collection

HISTORICAL MOVIES

A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS:

with Robert Shaw and Paul Scofield about the life of St Thomas Moore and the Church under Henry VIII.

BECKET:  

with Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole about the life of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, and his martyrdom under Henry II.

BLACK ROBE: 

about the early 17^th century Jesuit missions to New France (Quebec).

BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON: 

Franco Zeffirelli’s strange but beautiful classic about the life of Saint Francis of Assisi.

DEAD MAN WALKING:

with Susan Sarandon portraying Sister Helen Prejean and her relationship with a prisoner on death row and her fight against the death penalty in the US.

ELIZABETH: 

with Cate Blanchett about Elizabeth I and the early years of Anglicanism.

EMPIRE OF THE SUN:

about a boy in a Japanese internment camp during WWII.

ENTERTAINING ANGELS: 

about the life of Dorothy Day and the founding of the Catholic workers movement during the great depression.

GANDHI:  

the nine academy award winning story of the life of Gandhi with Ben Kingsley.

KUNDUN: 

Martin Scorsese’s film biography of the life of the Dalai Lama up until the time of his flight and exile from Tibet

MOLOKAI:  

about the life of Fr Damien and his work on the Hawaiian Leper Island in the 19^th century.

ROMERO: 

the beautiful portrayal of the witness and martyrdom in 1980 of Oscar Romero the Archbishop of El Salvador.

SHADOWLANDS:  

with Sir Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, based on the play about the marriage of C.S. Lewis.

THE KILLING FIELDS: 

the haunting examination of the Cambodian tragedy under the Khmer Rouge.

THE LONG WALK HOME:  

with Sissy Spacek and Whoopi Goldberg about the 1955 Montgomery Alabama bus strike and the beginning of the civil rights movement.

THE MISSION: 

about the Jesuit mission in South America in the 18^th century.

THE SCARLET AND THE BLACK:  

with Gregory Peck about the Nazi occupation of Rome and Monsignor Hugh O ‘Flaherty’s quest to protect the Jewish population of the city.

DOCUMENTARIES

CHRISTIANITY THE FIRST 1000 YEARS: the four part A& E series.

CHRISTIANITY THE SECOND 1000 YEARS: the four part A& E series.

CIVILISATION: Lord Kenneth Clarke’s history of Western Art and Thought. Considered by many as the best BBC documentary ever done.

FROM A FAR COUNTRY: the life of Pope John Paul II. DVD.

PLANET EARTH: the award winning BBC series about the state of our planet and the life that inhabits it.

SPELLBOUND: documentary about the US National Spelling Bee which transcends its topic.

THE HIDDEN LIFE: the story of the Sisters of Saint Mary, the oldest Anglican religious Order in North America.

THE LIFE AND WORK OF JOHN HENRY NEWMAN.

THE POWER OF MYTH: the famous interviews with Professor Joseph Campbell, the world’s foremost mythologist, on the nature of religion.

THE SEA OF FAITH: the Rev’d Dr Don Cupitt’s famous series about modern religion and existentialism.

THE SHAKERS: part of Ken Burn’s America Collection from PBS.

THE UNKNOWN JESUS: the two part documentary about the historical Jesus of Nazareth.

CHURCH RELATED FILMS

AGNES OF GOD: with Jane Fonda and Anne Bancroft about the nature of faith and set in a convent in rural Quebec.

BLACK NARCISSUS: the famous movie about a group of Anglican nuns isolated high in the Himalayas during the British Raj.

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY: with James Earle Jones as an Anglican priest in South Africa and based on the book.

DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST: the Criterion Collection film based on the famous French novel about a hard working, persecuted young priest and the hardships of French clerical life in the early twentieth century. DVD.

JESUS OF MONTREAL: about the production of a modern day passion play in Montreal.

LILLIES OF THE FIELD: the delightful film with Sidney Poitier as a drifter and his relationship with a group of German nuns.

MONSIGNOR QUIXOTE: the movie of the novel by Graham Greene starring Sir Alec Guiness and Leo McKern.

PRIEST:  a hard-hitting and difficult to watch British film about the modern state of the Roman Catholic Church and its wrestle with clerical celibacy, homosexuality, the seal of the confessional, the hypocrisy of hierarchical control, and child abuse.

SAVED: a popular and humerous exploration of religious fundamentalism and Jesus’s parable about the real community of God.

THE APOSTLE: with Robert Duval is a modern day redemption story about an evangelical preacher in the American south.

THE CARDINAL: a woodenly acted but interesting film covering the life journey of one Cardinal and the moral issues that faced the church over the decades of the twentieth century.

THE KEYS OF THE KINGDOM: with Gregory Peck about an early twentieth century Scottish missionary to China.

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST: the controversial film about the events of Holy Week. DVD.

THE SHOES OF THE FISHERMAN: with Anthony Quinn based on Morris West’s novel about the modern church and its place in society.

THE WICKER MAN: Anthony Shaffer’s famous play about modern day paganism and Christian Martyrdom.

GOOD DISCUSSION FILMS

BABETT’S FEAST: set in a Calvinist community in Denmark and based on the story by Isak Dinesen about redemption in a small isolated community

BILLY ELIOT: another story about hope and dreams but set in a coal mining village in the North of England. Very different story from October Sky.

DEAD POETS SOCIETY: with Robin Williams about the courage to live to make a difference and the consequences it can bring.

ELEPHANT: a very disturbing and haunting film about teenage violence and based on the Columbine High School shootings. Deeply troubling and difficult to watch but important material to wrestle with. DVD.

GOOD WILL HUNTING: with Robin Williams and Matt Damon about the importance of mentors and hope.

IGBY GOES DOWN: a modern day Catcher in the Rye about lost youth.

OCTOBER SKY: a story about hope and dreams set in a coal mining community of West Virginia in the 1950s.

REMAINS OF THE DAY: a Merchant Ivory production with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson about genuiness and identity.

SIMON BIRCH: based on the novel by John Irving and set in an Anglican Church community.

THE BROWNING VERSION: the Criterion Collection film based on the book about resurrection in midlife. DVD.

THE EXORCIST: the famous movie based on the book. Written by a seminarian the movie is a theological test to see how you interpret the ending and the reality of evil.

THE GAME: with Michael Douglas about how we lose meaning in our lives and how hard it can be to find resurrection. Great film dealing with the cross and the resurrection. Fast paced.

THE OTHERS:  with Nichole Kidman a spooky film about letting go and the paralysis of fear. A classic ghost story.

THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE: with Maggie Smith as an Edinburgh school teacher. DVD.

THE WICKER MAN: unclassifiable film with Christopher Lee about modern day paganism and Christian Martyrdom. DVD

WIT: with Emma Thompson about a University Professor dying of cancer. DVD.

MEDITATION

BARAKA: a meditation on nature, religion and the imbalance of modern human life. It has no words but says more than any other film ever has. Truly a picture speaks a thousand words and this film was made in 24 different countries. The best film I have ever seen. DVD & VHS.

CHRONOS, KOYAANISQATSI, POWAQQATSI, NAQOYQATSI: similar meditation films. DVDs.

INTO GREAT SILENCE: a meditation about the silence and life of the Carthusian Order founded by St Bruno.

A BIT OF FUN

BLESS ME FATHER: twelve classic episodes about parish ministry set in 1950s Britain based on the famous books. Very funny.

FATHER TED: an offbeat surrealistic comedy series about three misfit Irish priests living on an isolated island.

HEAVENS ABOVE: with Peter Sellers an early sixties comedy about an Anglican socialist priest sent to a rich parish by mistake. DVD.

LIFE OF BRIAN: the film recently voted by the British as the funniest movie ever made. This Monty Python film about the life of Christ is a delight for Monthy Python fans and a complete puzzlement to those who do not get this kind of humour.

LOCAL HERO: about an American doing research for an oil company on the remote West coat of Scotland. A classic dry comedy.

THE BARCHESTER CHRONICLES: the BBC dramatization of the famous books by Anthony Trollope. The Rev’d Obadiah Slope (the first major role of Alan Rickman) oozes treachery as he tries to unseat the saintly Warden, the Rev’d Harding played by Donald Pleasance while the Archdeacon, played by Nigel Hawthorne, muddles things up. DVD.

THE BELLS OF ST. MARY: the classic film that needs no introduction with Bing Crosby as Fr O’Malley and Ingrid Bergman as Sister Benedict.

THE DETECTIVE: with Alec Guinness as the great detective, created by G.K. Chesterton, Fr Brown.

THE SMALL MIRACLE: a sweet Italian film about an orphan street boy and his donkey in Assisi. When his donkey gets sick he goes all the way the Rome to get permission from the Pope to allow him to take the animal into the tomb of Saint Francis.

THE VICAR OF DIBLEY: a delightful series by the BBC about a female Anglican Priest in a small village. Not very realistic about ministry (as she never seems to do anything but sit on a couch eating chocolate) but very funny