Theology/Philosophy/Ethics
by hedwig61 | created - 04 Jan 2012 | updated - 08 Apr 2012 | PublicFilms with religious/theological themes - Not an exhaustive list - nearly any film can be said to have religious or theological (and even more philosophical) implications - these are just the one's I want to explore - thinking about subdividing (films based on scripture, good v evil, messiah figures, clergy/the church, the experiences of believers, etc)
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1.
The West Wing (1999–2006)
Episode:
Isaac and Ishmael
(2001)
TV-14 | 41 min | Drama
The West Wing goes under lock down as a suspected terrorist is found to be working at the White House. Stuck with a group of high school students who were visiting the White House, the ... See full summary »
Director: Christopher Misiano | Stars: Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney
Votes: 1,325
2. Angels in America (2003)
TV-MA | 59 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Several disparate but connected individuals go through the AIDS crisis in the mid-1980s.
Stars: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker
Votes: 29,767
3. Gran Torino (2008)
R | 116 min | Drama
After a Hmong teenager tries to steal his prized 1972 Gran Torino, a disgruntled, prejudiced Korean War veteran seeks to redeem both the boy and himself.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Christopher Carley, Ahney Her
Votes: 814,611 | Gross: $148.10M
4. Tongues Untied (1989)
Not Rated | 55 min | Documentary
A documentary about the experiences of black homosexual men living in the United States of America.
Director: Marlon Riggs | Stars: Marlon Riggs, Michael Bell, Kerrigan Black, Blackberri
Votes: 1,848
5. The Believer (2001)
R | 98 min | Drama
A young Jewish man develops a fiercely anti-Semitic philosophy. Based on the factual story of a K.K.K. member in the 1960s who was revealed to be Jewish by a New York Times reporter.
Director: Henry Bean | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Summer Phoenix, Peter Meadows, Garret Dillahunt
Votes: 41,097 | Gross: $0.41M
6. Serenity (2005)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk
Votes: 305,569 | Gross: $25.51M
7. Dead Man Walking (1995)
R | 122 min | Crime, Drama
A nun, while comforting a convicted killer on death row, empathizes with both the killer and his victim's families.
Director: Tim Robbins | Stars: Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Robert Prosky, Raymond J. Barry
Votes: 101,731 | Gross: $39.39M
8. Invictus (2009)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
Nelson Mandela, in his first term as President of South Africa, initiates a unique venture to unite the Apartheid-torn land: enlist the national rugby team on a mission to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup.
Director: Clint Eastwood | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Matt Damon, Tony Kgoroge, Patrick Mofokeng
Votes: 167,819 | Gross: $37.49M
9. Amazing Grace (2006)
PG | 118 min | Biography, Drama, History
The idealist William Wilberforce maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.
Director: Michael Apted | Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Romola Garai
Votes: 25,689 | Gross: $21.21M
10. Dogma (1999)
R | 130 min | Adventure, Comedy, Drama
An abortion clinic worker with a special heritage is called upon to save the existence of humanity from being negated by two renegade angels trying to exploit a loop-hole and reenter Heaven.
Director: Kevin Smith | Stars: Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Linda Fiorentino, Bud Cort
Votes: 228,550 | Gross: $30.65M
11. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973)
G | 106 min | Drama, History, Musical
Film version of the musical stage play, presenting the last few weeks of Christ's life told in an anachronistic manner.
Director: Norman Jewison | Stars: Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen
Votes: 29,885 | Gross: $24.48M
12. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,051,471 | Gross: $171.48M
13. Se7en (1995)
R | 127 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
Two detectives, a rookie and a veteran, hunt a serial killer who uses the seven deadly sins as his motives.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey, Andrew Kevin Walker
Votes: 1,797,683 | Gross: $100.13M
14. Harold and Maude (1971)
PG | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Young, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Ruth Gordon, Bud Cort, Vivian Pickles, Cyril Cusack
Votes: 81,819
15. Doubt (I) (2008)
PG-13 | 104 min | Drama, Mystery
A Catholic school principal questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled young student.
Director: John Patrick Shanley | Stars: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Votes: 136,048 | Gross: $33.42M
16. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)
PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.
Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness
Votes: 1,448,768 | Gross: $322.74M
17. Kundun (1997)
PG-13 | 134 min | Biography, Drama, History
From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems.
Director: Martin Scorsese | Stars: Tenzin Thuthob Tsarong, Gyurme Tethong, Tulku Jamyang Kunga Tenzin, Tenzin Yeshi Paichang
Votes: 30,487 | Gross: $5.53M
18. Lars and the Real Girl (2007)
PG-13 | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A delusional young man strikes up an unconventional relationship with a doll he finds on the Internet.
Director: Craig Gillespie | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, R.D. Reid
Votes: 155,316 | Gross: $5.97M
19. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
PG-13 | 178 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.
Director: Peter Jackson | Stars: Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, Orlando Bloom, Sean Bean
Votes: 2,005,693 | Gross: $315.54M
20. Paradise Now (2005)
PG-13 | 91 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
Director: Hany Abu-Assad | Stars: Kais Nashif, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal, Hamza Abu-Aiaash
Votes: 24,068 | Gross: $1.45M
21. Powder (1995)
PG-13 | 111 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
An off-the-charts genius who is home schooled and shunned after his last relative dies shows the unconscious residents of his town about connection awareness and the generosity of the spirit.
Director: Victor Salva | Stars: Mary Steenburgen, Sean Patrick Flanery, Lance Henriksen, Jeff Goldblum
Votes: 32,587 | Gross: $30.86M
22. Yentl (1983)
PG | 133 min | Drama, Musical, Romance
A Jewish girl disguises herself as a boy to enter religious training.
Director: Barbra Streisand | Stars: Barbra Streisand, Amy Irving, Mandy Patinkin, Nehemiah Persoff
Votes: 15,835 | Gross: $40.22M
23. Malcolm X (1992)
PG-13 | 202 min | Biography, Drama, History
Biographical epic of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his eventual assassination.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Spike Lee
Votes: 101,983 | Gross: $48.17M
24. The Color Purple (1985)
PG-13 | 154 min | Drama
A tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African-American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Danny Glover, Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Margaret Avery
Votes: 97,257 | Gross: $98.47M
25. Death and the Maiden (1994)
R | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A political activist is convinced that her guest is a man who once tortured her for the government.
Director: Roman Polanski | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Stuart Wilson, Krystia Mova
Votes: 26,799 | Gross: $2.10M
26. Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple (2006)
86 min | Documentary, History
Featuring never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
Director: Stanley Nelson | Stars: Rebecca Moore, Janet Shular, Tim Carter, Stanley Clayton
Votes: 5,641
27. Saved! (2004)
PG-13 | 92 min | Comedy, Drama
When a girl attending a Christian high school becomes pregnant, all of her former friends turn on her and she is ostracized and demonized.
Director: Brian Dannelly | Stars: Jena Malone, Mandy Moore, Macaulay Culkin, Patrick Fugit
Votes: 48,966 | Gross: $8.94M
28. The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000)
PG-13 | 79 min | Documentary, Biography
Twelve years after the dramatic collapse of the Christian empire of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, this documentary tells for the first time what really happened when they lost control of the first and most successful TV ministry of its kind.
Directors: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato | Stars: RuPaul, Tammy Faye Bakker, Virginia Fairchild, Johnny Grover
Votes: 2,223 | Gross: $1.03M
29. Whale Rider (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Drama, Family
A contemporary story of love, rejection and triumph as a young Maori girl fights to fulfill a destiny her grandfather refuses to recognize.
Director: Niki Caro | Stars: Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Vicky Haughton, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 44,028 | Gross: $20.78M
30. Before Night Falls (2000)
R | 133 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
The life of Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas.
Director: Julian Schnabel | Stars: Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Olatz López Garmendia, Giovani Florido
Votes: 26,363 | Gross: $4.22M
31. Paper Clips (2004)
G | 82 min | Documentary, War
As a part of their study of the Holocaust, the children of the Whitwell, TN Middle School try to collect 6 million paper clips representing the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis, and grows to include millions of others killed.
Directors: Elliot Berlin, Joe Fab | Stars: Sandra Roberts, Dagmar Schroeder-Hildebrand, Tom Bosley, Casey Condra
Votes: 1,786 | Gross: $1.10M
32. Jarhead (2005)
R | 125 min | Biography, Drama, War
A psychological study of Marine's state of mind during the Gulf War. Told through the eyes of a U.S. Marine sniper who struggles to cope with boredom, a sense of isolation, and other issues back home.
Director: Sam Mendes | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx, Lucas Black, Scott MacDonald
Votes: 206,354 | Gross: $62.66M
33. Priest (1994)
R | 98 min | Drama, Romance
A homosexual Catholic priest finds out during confessional that a young girl is being sexually abused by her father, and has to decide how to deal with both that secret and his own.
Director: Antonia Bird | Stars: Linus Roache, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Carlyle, Cathy Tyson
Votes: 11,030 | Gross: $4.18M
34. Sarafina! (1992)
PG-13 | 117 min | Drama, Musical
South African teenagers fight against apartheid in the Soweto Uprising.
Director: Darrell Roodt | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Leleti Khumalo, Miriam Makeba, John Kani
Votes: 2,276 | Gross: $7.31M
35. The Exorcist (1973)
R | 122 min | Horror
When a young girl is possessed by a mysterious entity, her mother seeks the help of two Catholic priests to save her life.
Director: William Friedkin | Stars: Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Linda Blair, Lee J. Cobb
Votes: 454,659 | Gross: $232.91M
36. Children of Men (2006)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Votes: 529,147 | Gross: $35.55M
37.
The West Wing (1999–2006)
Episode:
Take This Sabbath Day
(2000)
TV-14 | 44 min | Drama
A drug dealer's appeal of the federal death penalty is rejected by the Supreme Court, which upholds the death sentence with execution scheduled for the following Monday. One of the defense ... See full summary »
Director: Thomas Schlamme | Stars: Rob Lowe, Moira Kelly, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney
Votes: 1,437
38. Batman Begins (2005)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Crime, Drama
After witnessing his parents' death, Bruce learns the art of fighting to confront injustice. When he returns to Gotham as Batman, he must stop a secret society that intends to destroy the city.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Ken Watanabe, Liam Neeson
Votes: 1,577,534 | Gross: $206.85M
39. Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006)
Not Rated | 144 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Munna Bhai embarks on a journey with Mahatma Gandhi in order to fight against a corrupt property dealer.
Director: Rajkumar Hirani | Stars: Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani
Votes: 49,961 | Gross: $2.22M
40. I Heart Huckabees (2004)
R | 107 min | Comedy
A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 66,268 | Gross: $12.78M
41. The Way (I) (2010)
PG-13 | 123 min | Comedy, Drama
A father heads overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the "El camino de Santiago," and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.
Director: Emilio Estevez | Stars: Martin Sheen, Emilio Estevez, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen
Votes: 35,323 | Gross: $4.43M
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