As you might have noticed, I haven’t even tried to keep up with the latest crop of Christian films, the most recent being God’s Not Dead 2. (Alas, if you were waiting with bated breath for my review of that one, y’all are on your own.) But it has gotten me to thinking: If I were to create a list of five films every Christian should see, what would it look like? Apparently, Summit Ministries was interested to know what it would look like as well, and you can read what I came up with here. The list I finally narrowed it down to was
It’s a Wonderful Life
Fiddler On the Roof
A Man For All Seasons
On the Waterfront
Chariots of Fire
This wasn’t planned, but I noticed that there’s a nice balance of film eras represented here. Each movie on the list represents a different decade. Also, all of them either won or were nominated for Oscars, including Best Picture: proof positive that there are natural, artistically excellent ways to meld faith and film-making.
Naturally, there are many other films I could have put on the shortlist that would also be well worthwhile for the Christian viewer. However, I wanted to keep it restricted to films that I knew would not pose any kind of problem for viewers with tight standards for language, violence and the like. (Hence the “every” in “every Christian.”) This includes films like Schindler’s List, which are certainly powerful but difficult for some people to watch. Far it be from me to guilt-trip anyone for not forcing themselves to see something they feel a check about. However, I can confidently say that all five of the films that did make the cut will reward the patience and interest of any Christian viewer. I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts on them over at Summit. So, what would your list look like?
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