Surprisingly, the list is an excellent and representative assortment of ourstanding films, regardless of one's religious inclinations. It doesn't skew to recent years as many lists do, but includes older classics such as the silent film La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc) by Carl Theodor Dreyer, which was chosen as the number one film. Many are foreign films -- in fact, they boast of an increase since last year's list which had fewer than one-quarter of the selections in English. They've included documentaries such as Born into Brothels and animated films such as Miyazaki's Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away).
But there are also many titles that one might think were completely unsuited for the faithful. It included the Romanian abortion story 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days). Some seem to have no discernible spiritual themes, while others are have an outright anti-religious tone such as There Will Be Blood.
On the other hand, the list excludes some titles that you might think would be an obvious fit for a Christian audience. Films such as The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Passion of the Christ, The Blind Side or any Kirk Cameron movies such as Left Behind are nowhere to be seen.
It would seem that the forum has done an excellent job of creating a list that highlights quality films that have spiritual depth, rather than just choosing films that advocate a specific belief. I would have no problems recommending this viewing list to anyone, religious or not.
Indeed, many of the titles are carried by the high-end label Criterion. The list includes works by great auteurs such as Ingmar Bergman, Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Andrey Tarkovskiy, Satyajit Ray, the Dardenne brothers, Edward Yang, Krzysztof Kieslowski, and even Apichatpong Weerasethakul.
For this, they are to be commended.
---
The Arts & Faith Top 100 Films (2011)
1 La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
2 Andrey Rublyov (Andrei Rublev)
3 Ordet
4 Dekalog (The Decalogue)
5 Au Hasard Balthazar
6 Make Way For Tomorrow
7 Il vangelo secondo Matteo (The Gospel According to Matthew)
8 Le Fils (The Son)
9 Ikiru (Living)
10 Babettes gæstebud (Babette's Feast)
11 Zerkalo (The Mirror)
12 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
13 Det sjunde inseglet (The Seventh Seal)
14 Trois couleurs (Three Colors Trilogy)
15 Stalker
16 Magnolia
17 Nattvardsgästerna (Winter Light)
18 The Searchers
19 Tôkyô monogatari (Tokyo Story)
20 La Promesse
21 Tender Mercies
22 The Apostle
23 Le Journal D'un Cure De Campagne (The Diary of a Country Priest)
24 Ladri di biciclette (Bicycle Thieves)
25 A Man For All Seasons
26 The Miracle Maker
27 Paths of Glory
28 Grave of the Fireflies
29 Smultronstallet (Wild Strawberries)
30 Die Grosse Stille (Into Great Silence)
31 Munyurangabo
32 Apu Trilogy - Pather Panchali, Aparajito, Apu Sansar
33 Francesco, Guillare de Dio (The Flowers of St. Francis)
34 Le notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria)
35 The Night of the Hunter
36 2001: A Space Odyssey
37 Chariots of Fire
38 The Straight Story
39 Touch of Evil
40 It's a Wonderful Life
41 4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile (4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days)
42 Apocalypse Now
43 Code inconnu: Récit incomplet de divers voyages (Code Unknown: Incomplete Tales of Several Journeys)
44 Black Narcissus
45 Vredens dag (Day of Wrath)
46 L'Enfant (The Child)
47 Nema-ye Nazdik (Close-Up)
48 Yi Yi (Yi Yi: A One and a Two)
49 Ponette
50 Biruma no tategoto (The Burmese Harp)
51 Stroszek
52 Places in the Heart
53 The New World
54 Sanxia haoren (Still Life)
55 Jésus de Montréal (Jesus Of Montreal)
56 Moartea domnului Lazarescu (The Death of Mr. Lazarescu)
57 Yûrika (Eureka)
58 Le question humaine (Heartbeat Detector)
59 L'heure d'été (Summer Hours)
60 Playtime
61 Ran
62 Rashômon
63 La double vie de Véronique (The Double Life of Veronique)
64 Ma nuit chez Maud (My Night at Maud's)
65 Becket
66 Stellet Licht (Silent Light)
67 Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire)
68 Un condamne a mort s'est eschappe ou Le vent soufflé ou il veut (A Man Escaped)
69 Faust
70 Lawrence of Arabia
71 Koyaanisqatsi
72 Paris, Texas
73 Vivre sa vie: Film en douze tableaux (My Life To Live)
74 How Green Was My Valley
75 Vozvrashchenie (The Return)
76 M
77 Ostrov (The Island)
78 Days of Heaven
79 Crimes and Misdemeanors
80 Papurika (Paprika)
81 Ukigusa (Floating Weeds)
82 Born Into Brothels
83 Vertigo
84 Sang sattawat (Syndromes and a Century)
85 Wandâfuru raifu (After Life)
86 Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away)
87 The Trial
88 La règle du jeu (The Rules of the Game)
89 Sullivan's Travels
90 Schindler's List
91 Dogville
92 There Will Be Blood
93 El espíritu de la colmena (The Spirit of the Beehive)
94 Bakushû (Early Summer)
95 Amadeus
96 Fiddler on the Roof
97 Sophie Scholl: die letzten Tag (Sophie Scholl: The Final Days)
98 Ratcatcher
99 The Iron Giant
100 The Story of the Weeping Camel
---
The Arts & Faith Top 25 Horror Films
1 The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
2 Vampyr (1932)
3 The Exorcist (1973)
4 Nosferatu, a Symphony of Horror (1922)
5 Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
6 Let Me In (2010) / Let the Right One In (2008)
7 Psycho (1960)
8 Night of the Living Dead (1968)
9 The Fly (1986)
10 Frankenstein (1931)
11 Peeping Tom (1960)
12 The Shining (1980)
13 Repulsion (1965)
14 The Thing (1982)
15 I Walked With a Zombie (1943)
16 The Haunting (1963)
17 Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
18 Freaks (1932)
19 Alien (1979)
20 Eraserhead (1976)
21 Don't Look Now (1974)
22 Dracula (1931)
23 The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
24 Curse of the Demon (1957)
25 Onibaba (1964)
No comments:
Post a Comment