Spiritual Cinema
"Movies containing spiritual, metaphysical, conscious or similar messages or themes".
Simon Keyes explains the idea behind Spiritual Cinema.
It is the extraordinary power of cinema, high or low, serious and exploitative, to move and disturb us that we should celebrate and embrace in all its diversity. Films can fertilise our inner lives and provide a counter-balance to that compartmentalisation of our "religious" selves that Thomas Merton dubbed our "personal holiness project". The feelings and shadows that films (well, perhaps not quite every movie) incarnate in us give us privileged access to the world beyond our immediate experience. The sights and sounds of cinema can resonate in the realms of the unconscious and the archetypal like no other medium, and there is much for us to learn about ourselves in this experience.
Below is a list of "the best of" this genre...
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ( Blu-ray ) (1982)
7.9/10
Director: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Dee Wallace, Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton
The winner of 4 Oscars and now a classic, about a 10 year old boy befriending a creature from another planet that's been stranded on Earth. A warm, in... Read more
Eat Pray Love (2010)
5.7/10
Director: Ryan Murphy
Starring: Billy Crudup, Javier Bardem, Julia Roberts, Richard Jenkins, James Franco, Viola...
Believing there's more to life than a husband, house and career, Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) finds herself with a new appetite for life in this inspir... Read more
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
7.9/10
Director: Tim Burton
Starring: Winona Ryder, Vincent Price, Johnny Depp, Dianne Wiest, Alan Arkin
He's got a sad, white face, a wild haircut, and shears at the ends of his arms. He's Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp), creation of a mad scientist, w... Read more
Enlightened Entertainment (2006)
Director: Betsy Chasse, Stephen Simon
A collection of three films exploring questions of faith, and offering alternatives to how we view the world and our place in it. This six-disc set i... Read more
Essential Bergman: The Faith Trilogy - Through A Glass Darkly / Winter Light / The Silence (1963)
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Harriet Andersson, Gunnar Bjornstrand, Gunnel Lindblom, Ingrid Thulin, Max von S...
This 3 disc box set contains three of Bergman's signature dramas, exploring themes of alienation and faith. In 'Through a Glass Darkly', he confronts... Read more
Evan Almighty (2007)
5.4/10
Director: Tom Shadyac
Starring: Steve Carell, Morgan Freeman, Lauren Graham, Wanda Sykes, John Goodman, John Mic...
A sequel to 2003's 'Bruce Almighty' with Steve Carell as TV anchorman-turned-congressman-turned-21st century Noah. After a visitation from God (Morga... Read more
Faust (1926)
8.1/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: Emil Jannings, Warner Fuetterer, Gosta Ekman
F.W. Murnau's last German film features astonishing photography, magnificent art direction, and special effects which retain the power to amaze. Freed... Read more
Fearless (1993)
7.1/10
Director: Peter Weir
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Isabella Rossellini, Rosie Perez, Tom Hulce, John Turturro, Benici...
An off-beat exploration of mankind's spiritual side, focusing on Jeff Bridges inability to resume his normal day-to-day life after surviving a plane c... Read more
Field of Dreams (1989)
7.5/10
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Starring: Kevin Costner, James Earl Jones, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffmann, Ray Liotta, Burt La...
A magical fantasy about farmer Kevin Costner who hears messages from an invisible voice, leading him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. 'If... Read more
Field of Dreams ( Blu-ray ) (1989)
7.5/10
Director: Phil Alden Robinson
Starring: Amy Madigan, Burt Lancaster, James Earl Jones, Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta
A magical fantasy about farmer Kevin Costner who hears messages from an invisible voice, leading him to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. 'If... Read more