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...
Francis of Assisi (1961)
6.5/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Bradford Dillman, Dolores Hart, Stuart Whitman, Cecil Kellaway
Michael Curtiz brings the life of St Francis to the screen in this colourful religious epic. Dolores Hart co-stars as the noblewoman who forsakes her... Read more
Mother Joan of the Angels (1961)
7.7/10
Director: Jerzy Kawalerowicz
Starring: Lucynna Winnika
A brilliantly filmed and at times unsettling exploration of faith and repression, the film is based on the documented story of the possession of a gro... Read more
Cape Fear (Blu-ray) (1961)
7.3/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen
Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum star in Hollywood's classic tale of revenge and murder. Robert Mitchum is unforgettable as Max Cady, an ex-con determi... Read more
King Of Kings (1961)
7.1/10
Director: Nicholas Ray
Starring: Jeffrey Hunter, Siobhan McKenna, Hurd Hatfield
The life of Christ sensitively told and beautifully filmed in this powerful drama starring Jeffrey Hunter and an all star supporting cast Read more
Cape Fear (1961)
7.3/10
Director: J Lee Thompson
Starring: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen
Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum star in Hollywood's classic tale of revenge and murder. Robert Mitchum is unforgettable as Max Cady, an ex-con determi... Read more
The Story of Ruth (1960)
6.9/10
Director: Henry Koster
Starring: Stuart Whitman, Elana Eden, Tom Tryon, Peggy Wood, Viveca Lindfors, Jeff Morrow,...
Telling the biblical story of Ruth the Moabite who, after the death of her husband, accompanies her mother-in-law when she returns to her homeland of... Read more
Ben-Hur ( Blu-ray ) (1959)
8.1/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Charlton Heston, Hugh Griffith, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd, Haya Harareet
Winner of eleven Oscars including Charlton Heston as Best Actor, an epic spectacle concerning a prince of Judea who incurs the wrath of the Roman Empi... Read more
The World Of Apu ( Apu Trilogy Part 3 ) (1959)
8.3/10
Director: Satyajit Ray
Starring: Soumitra Chatterjee, Sharmila Tagore
The third of the famous 'Apu trilogy' although 'World of Apu' stands on its own as a brilliant, artistically meaningful film. Told in a straight forwa... Read more
Ben-Hur (1959)
8.1/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd
Winner of eleven Oscars including Charlton Heston as Best Actor, an epic spectacle concerning a prince of Judea who incurs the wrath of the Roman Empi... Read more
Wild Strawberries (1957)
8.2/10
Director: Ingmar Bergman
Starring: Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Victor Sjostrom, Gunnar Bjornstrand
The film that catapulted Bergman to the forefront of world cinema is the directors richest, most humane movie. Traveling to receive an honorary degre... Read more