Five Oscar Hits and Misses Worth Talking About

Not Family Friendly, but Faith Creeps In at the Seams

For folks who like great movies but don’t like to worry about a lot of problematic content, This Oscars season wasn’t for them. Six of the nine best picture nominees were rated R, and some were rather hard R’s at that.

But while this year’s nominees weren’t exactly family friendly, many of them had some interesting things to say about faith.

Lady Bird’s the real standout here—a story that, in some ways, is actually predicated on the subversive power of faith. When Lady Bird talks with an atheist near the end of the movie, she muses on how strange it is, that “People go by the names their parents give them, but they don’t believe in God.”

Roman J. Israel, Esq. doesn’t offer a lot of explicit nods to religion, but some say that a Christian allegory is hidden in the folds. And you can find plenty of (admittedly twisted) Sunday School lessons in the nominees: The Post is, at its core, an affirmation of the Commandment “thou shalt not lie.” You could read Get Out not just as a racial parable, but a fable on the evils of covetousness. Want an illustration on how corrosive the sin of wrath is? Look no farther than Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

This year’s Oscar class has some hits, some misses and a little something for most of us. I’ll be interested to see who actually wins March 4.