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...
Soylent Green (1973)
7.1/10
Director: Richard Fleischer
Starring: Brock Peters, Charlton Heston, Chuck Connors, Edward G Robinson, Joseph Cotten,...
This frighteningly prescient sci-fi tale about the dangers of the "greenhouse effect" was made long before the term became a popular buzzword. Charlto... Read more
Malcolm X (1992)
7.7/10
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall
Spike Lee's three-hour epic tale of the life and times of the small-time crook from Harlem turned revolutionary civil rights activist has Denzel Washi... Read more
Groundhog Day (1993)
8/10
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott
Pittsburgh weatherman Bill Murray finds that his worst nightmare has become a reality when he joins producer Andie McDowell and cameraman Chris Elliot... Read more
Luther (2003)
6.6/10
Director: Eric Till
Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Alfred Molina, Jonathan Firth, Claire Cox, Peter Ustinov, Bruno...
Joseph Fiennes delivers a fine performance in the title role of this affecting religious biodrama. When the Pope orders his priests to sell absolution... Read more
Forbidden Planet (1956)
7.6/10
Director: Fred M Wilcox
Starring: Robby the Robot, Warren Stevens, Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis
'The best of the science fiction interstellar productions of the fifties', according to Pauline Kael. The action takes place in the year 2257 on the p... Read more
Sunrise (1927)
8.2/10
Director: F W Murnau
Starring: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
Aka "Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans". This exquisite silent film is just as powerful today as when it was made, telling the simple story of a farmer wh... Read more
The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
7/10
Director: Josef Rusnak
Starring: Craig Bierko, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Gretchen Mol
This thought-provoking dark thriller, in keeping with "The Matrix" and "Dark City", is set in a computer-generated parallel world like 1930s L.A. with... Read more
City of Angels (1998)
6.7/10
Director: Brad Silberling
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, Dennis Franz, Andre Braugher
This Americanization of Wim Wenders' haunting 'Wings of Desire' stars Nicolas Cage as an angel who strives to become human after falling in love with... Read more
The Prince of Egypt (1998)
7/10
Director: Brenda Chapman, Simon Wells, Steve Hickner
Starring: Val Kilmer, Sandra Bullock, Ralph Fiennes, Jeff Goldblum, Danny Glover, Steve Ma...
A spectacular animated retelling of the story of Moses. The biggest star-studded voice cast ever assembled for an animated film includes Val Kilmer, R... Read more
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
7.9/10
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Chang Chen, Zhang Ziyi
A pair of martial arts masters and would-be lovers, an independent young woman with a dark secret, and the search for a stolen mystical sword all come... Read more