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{"id":1571,"date":"2009-03-02T05:00:57","date_gmt":"2009-03-02T10:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=1571"},"modified":"2009-03-02T05:00:57","modified_gmt":"2009-03-02T10:00:57","slug":"define-spiritual-pick-three-films","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2009\/03\/define-spiritual-pick-three-films\/","title":{"rendered":"Define “spiritual.” Pick three films"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The hero is stranded on a dying planet, lonely and yearning for companionship.<\/p>\n

Then a miracle occurs and his female counterpart \u2014 her name is EVE \u2014 arrives seeking a sprout of new life that says it\u2019s time to heal this world condemned by the sins of previous generations. Her mission is to take this green sign of hope back to the giant vessel that has sheltered humanity during this ecological storm.<\/p>\n

Recognize any names, symbols and themes from an old book?<\/p>\n

This is the story at the heart of Wall-E, the latest hit from Pixar. A panel of judges at Beliefnet.com selected this parable as the year\u2019s best \u201cspiritual film,\u201d<\/a> praising it as the story of a \u201clovable robot who miraculously rids our planet of pollution and causes a global spiritual transformation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course the robot Wall-E falls in love with is named EVE,\u201d said Dena Ross, entertainment editor for the interfaith website. \u201cSome people see this as another Noah\u2019s Ark story, too, and it ends with humanity coming home to start over with a new earth. \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there are obviously biblical elements here. These themes of stewardship and creation will resonate with Christians, but you\u2019ll find these same themes in many other religions, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics at Christianity Today reached a similar conclusion and selected Wall-E as the year\u2019s top \u201credeeming film,\u201d<\/a> noting that, \u201cExistential longing, awe and apocalyptic hope form the ambitious thematic terrain of this poetic, mesmerizing film.\u201d The biblical symbolism wasn\u2019t a shock, since director Andrew Stanton had previously discussed how his Christian faith influenced the film.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t take a giant leap of faith to pin the \u201cspiritual\u201d and \u201credemptive\u201d labels on Wall-E. But things get more complicated when applying these terms elsewhere.<\/p>\n

After all, the 2008 \u201cPeople\u2019s Choice\u201d award from Beliefnet.com went to Clint Eastwood\u2019s \u201cGran Torino,\u201d the story of a violent, racist, foul-mouthed Korean War veteran and his unlikely path to brotherly love, redemption and sacrifice. Laced together with Catholic threads, it ends with one of the most obvious visual references to a crucifix that moviegoers will ever see.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Beliefnet.com judges and readers skipped over the evangelical hit \u201cFireproof\u201d and \u201cThe Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,\u201d based on the novel by Christian apologist C.S. Lewis.<\/p>\n

What is a \u201cspiritual movie,\u201d as opposed to a \u201creligious movie\u201d? Beliefnet.com editors argued that \u201cspiritual\u201d movies \u201cshed light on, or make a serious attempt to grapple with, the big questions. Why are we here? What\u2019s the meaning of life? Is there a God? Why is there evil in the world? Of course, this will inevitably include movies with overtly religious themes \u2014 Christian or otherwise \u2014 such as redemption, forgiveness, keeping faith, life and death, good vs. evil, and more. But sometimes they\u2019re simply about the triumph of the human spirit over adversity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Christianity Today critics used this definition when listing their \u201credeeming\u201d films: \u201cWe mean movies that include stories of redemption \u2014 sometimes blatantly, sometimes less so. Several of them literally have a character that represents a redeemer; all of them have characters who experience redemption to some degree. \u2026 Some are \u2018feel-good\u2019 movies that leave a smile on your face; some are a bit more uncomfortable to watch. But the redemptive element is there in all of these films.\u201d<\/p>\n

The critics at Beliefnet.com, for example, struggled with \u201cSlumdog Millionaire,\u201d which was named Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The story of a boy\u2019s rise from the Mumbai slums wove together themes of destiny, compassion, love and justice. It was a feel-good movie, but was it \u201cspiritual\u201d?<\/p>\n

Over at Christianity Today, the same movie was described<\/a> as a \u201cDickensian chronicle\u201d that rises above its success story plot to become a tale \u201cabout providence and how all things are used for good by something greater than ourselves. As the film clearly says, all things happen \u2018because it was written.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that it\u2019s impossible to put these artistic and spiritual judgment calls into simple formulas, stressed Ross. But people who care about the mysterious role that faith plays in real life know a spiritual movie when they see one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are movies,\u201d she said, \u201cthat appeal to religious people and there are also movies that, in some strange way, appeal to all kinds of people by touching their souls. That\u2019s hard to describe, but that\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"