A Cinematic Journey Of Faith

I was wondering it there are any substantially religious animated movies. Haibane Renmei is obviously religious but its a series.

Miracle Maker is a pretty basic retelling of Jesus' life with some impressive stop motion animation. It's the best Christian animated movie I can think of.

Nice review of a good movie

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Health is the greatest gift, contentment the greatest wealth, faithfulness the best relationship.
Buddha

Wings of Desire_ Wim Wenders
An angel tires of being a mere observer and decides to become a participant in life.

I meant religions not only in portraying religious figures but in being characterized by a strong spiritual atmosphere. Heavy metal music can be considered very religious in that sense even though most of it does not talk about religion.

Genocyber is quite a religious animation because it is kinda of a depiction of apocalypse together with its strong spiritual atmosphere. Well, some of Miyazaki's work is religious in the sense that it advocates for environmentalism and features strong Jesus like characters (Nausicaa is pretty much a Christ like figure, but cuter, specially if you read the manga).

I know it's already been mentioned, but just watched Lillies of the Field (1963) again. What a great movie!

I apologize for not remembering who recommended this one. I saw a couple of reviews that called this a darker Dances With Wolves, so immediately that got my hopes very high. It fell way short of those expectations. The big problem between this and a film like Dances is the characterizations. There really is very little in the way of that here and because of that the journey that the characters go on has very little weight. They redeem that at the end. In fact I would say the last minutes of the film totally redeem it from a story telling standpoint. Unfortunately, because of the hour leading up to it there was very little emotional punch for me.

Another thing this film did well was the costuming and villages of the Indian tribe. I have no way of knowing, but everything looked very authentic. Some of the Indians were very frightening, as I think they were meant to be to our western eye. Overall the cinematography was pretty good considering this was a small independent film. A little more money into the script and score would have been welcome though.

Religion is certainly a major theme of the film but I think it does very little in challenging the way the viewer thinks about faith. I think if you are a believer you will find the Jesuits mission admirable and necessary, if you are not you will find it futile, probably even dangerous. The film itself doesn't make any judgments one way or the other, which I very much appreciate in a film. Despite not enjoying this very much it is the type of film I am glad was recommended for my journey, because I would not have seen it otherwise.

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It was Mark who mentioned Black Robe. Based on your photos and review the film looks interesting to me. I love anything about native American culture, especially if it's done from a realistic stand point. So that's another of your films that go on my watch list

Saw Black Robe so long ago - don't remember much about it, but I do remember it being somewhat traumatizing. Some very brutal scenes - situations from which there was no escape that you couldn't imagine a human being going through.

I recommended it. It may be modest but I find it deeply spiritual, especially what's conveyed in the innocence of the interracial couple and the gradual understanding of the priest (I'm a big fan of Lothaire Bluteau), the gorgeous nature depicted in the cinematography and Georges Delerue's divine music.

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I appreciate the rec as always Mark.

One of the movies meant to add levity to my journey, and it certainly did that. I feel familiar with Monty Python, but I'm really not, since this is the first film I have watched beginning to end. I was definitely familiar enough to know what I was getting into because it was just what I thought it would be. Some of the humor didn't work for me but the vast majority did. Every time The People's Front Of Judea was on screen, I was rolling. I love John Cleese. The way he is so self-assured and then everyone starts to challenge him or poke holes in what he is saying. His shtick is hilarious to me. I would have loved an hour and a half of just this group.

They are not the only thing that works though. Pilate is a very good character, as well as Cleese again as the Roman soldier. Brian's mother has her moments, although she grated on me at times as well. The last thing I want to mention is the stoning scene. I was practically crying through that whole bit. Comedies are hard to write about because it simply becomes a list of things you find funny. Glad I saw this, it will hopefully get me to the other Monty Python films quicker.

I love Life of Brian! Glad to see it worked for you, because Monty Python humor either creates cult followings or hordes of annoyed people.

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Words can't convey how boring and bone dry this story and film were to me. I read two or three reviews after watching, and even watched a fifteen minute interview with a critic who is in love with this film and Bresson in general. Nothing they had to say about the film making in any way changed my mind about how absolutely dull this film was for me.

The first thing I read and then heard is how Bresson gets naturalistic performances out of his actors by making them do take after take until the actions just become muscle memory. It certainly explained a lot to me. It explained why all the life was drained from the actors in this film. No exaggeration, this might be the most across the board wooden acting in any movie I have watched. I sure could have used a little of someone hamming it up a little bit, give me a reason to perk up and pay attention.

I don't think I care for the directing here at all to be frank. One scene there are five boys who pull off to the side of the road on their bike. As a car drives towards them and past, all of their eyes stay on the car the entire way. As it passes them it eventually skids off of the road. The car was driving perfectly normal, yet they followed it the whole way. Knowing what the end result would be. It was the worst scene in a movie that had many, but at least I remembered it.

There were other things mentioned in the reviews that simply ended up being insignificant to me. How Bresson chooses to follow feet with his camera instead of whole bodies. He zooms in on hands, when most directors would be following eyes. All those thing may be true and may make Bresson an amazing visual director. It shows me how important the writing and characterizations are to me in film. If you don't have that, most of the time all the camera work in the world can't draw me in. Unfortunately, this was a very uninspired watch.

I didn't get much more out of that than you did. I watched it not long ago and I remember practically nothing.

There was a donkey, and a bad boy.

Hey Cricket, I am looking to maybe sneak a couple more film in this month because I am done already. Do you have a good place to watch that one you recommended? I can't find it, and I have a feeling that is why it didn't make my regular schedule.

I'll get back to you.

There's an option at the top of the screen for the subtitles.

Or it may be on the bottom of the screen depending on what you watch it on.

I'm glad to see some appreciation for Life of Brian. Normally you talk a bit about the spirituality of the film (or lack of it). Did you have any thoughts in that regard?