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...
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
The Lost Tomb of Jesus (2007)
5.9/10
Director: Simcha Jacobovici
This documentary from the makers of 'Exodus Decoded' puts forward a compelling theory that the so-called 'Tomb of the Ten Ossuaries', discovered in Is... 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
The Celestine Prophecy (2006)
4.9/10
Director: Armand Mastroianni
Starring: Matthew Settle, Thomas Kretschmann, Sarah Wayne Callies, Annabeth Gish, Hector E...
Based on the New Age best-seller from James Redfield following one disillusioned man's spriritual awakening. John Woodson follows a trail of synchroni... Read more
The Nativity Story (2006)
6.8/10
Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Starring: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Hiam Abbass, Shaun Toub, Ciaran Hinds, Shohre...
Director of 'Thirteen', Catherine Hardwicke, uses her empathy for pregnant teens to good effect in telling the story that ends with the birth of baby... Read more
Conversations With God (2006)
6.6/10
Director: Stephen Simon
Starring: Henry Czerny, Vilma Silva, Bruce Page, Abdul Salaam El-Razzac
Based on the extraordinarily popular books by Neale Donald Walsch, telling the true story of the unfortunate events in his life and the emotional jour... Read more
One: The Movie (2006)
7.5/10
Director: Ward Powers
Starring: Deepak Chopra, Ram Dass, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Robert Thurman, etc ...
A cinematic journey in search of the answer to life's ultimate question. Armed with only a mail-order video camera, a list of twenty questions and a d... Read more
Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut ( Blu-ray ) (2005)
7.2/10
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Marton C...
Ridley Scott directed this epic-scale historical drama inspired by the events of the 12th century Crusades. Balian (Orlando Bloom), a humble French bl... Read more
Karol II: The Pope, The Man (2005)
Director: Giacomo Battiato
Starring: Piotr Adamczyk, Alberto Cracco, Dariusz Kwasnik, Michele Placido, Adriana Asti
The story of Pope Jean Paul II from his election as Pope in 1978 til his death in 2005. A human portrait of an extraordinary man who courageously con... Read more
Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut (2005)
7.2/10
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Brendan Gleeson, David Thewlis, Edward Norton, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Marton...
Ridley Scott directed this epic-scale historical drama inspired by the events of the 12th century Crusades. Balian, (Orlando Bloom) a humble French bl... Read more