Masterpieces of Christian Cinema (And Those That Are Merely Very Good, As Well)

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The foundation of this list is a combination of Brett McCracken’s list of 33 films that take Christianity seriously and the IMBD Best of Christian Film, plus a few of my own suggestions (marked *).

LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (57 Items)

The Life of Our Saviour; or, The Passion Play (Maurice Maître, France, 1914) – Silent

The Passion of Joan of Arc (Carl Dreyer, France, 1928) – Silent

Sergeant York (Howard Hawks, 1941, USA) *

Monsieur Vincent (Maurice Cloche, 1947) – French – Vincent de Paul

The Flowers of St. Francis (Roberto Rossellini, Italy, 1950) – Italian

Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, France, 1951) – French

Ordet (Carl Dreyer, Denmark, 1955) - Danish

Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, USA, 1955) *

The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956, USA)

A Man Escaped (Robert Bresson, France, 1956) – French

The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957) – Swedish

Ben-Hur (William Wyler, USA, 1959)

The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1960) – Swedish

Barabbas (Richard Fleischer, Italy/USA, 1961)

Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, USA, 1963) *

Becket (Peter Glenville, UK, 1964)

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1964) – Italian

The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, USA, 1965)

A Man for All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann, UK, 1966)

Au Hazard Balthazar (Robert Bresson, France, 1966) – French

Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Franco Zeffirelli, Italy, 1972) – St. Francis of Assisi

Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet Union, 1973) – Russian

Jesus of Nazareth (Franco Zeffirelli; Italy/UK; 1977), TV series, 5 episodes (382 min.)

Oh, God! (Carl Reiner, USA, 1977) *

Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, UK, 1981)

Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford, USA, 1983)

Amadeus (Milos Forman, USA, 1984)

The Mission (Roland Joffé, USA, 1986)

Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, Denmark, 1987) – Danish, Swedish, French

Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, West Germany/France, 1987) – 6 languages

Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand, Canada, 1989) – French

The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1989; 10 1hr films) – Polish

Romero (John Duigan, US/Mexico, 1989)

Shadowlands (Richard Attenborough, UK, 1993)

Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, USA, 1995)

The Seventh Room (Márta Mészáros, Italy/Hungary, 1996) – Hungarian; Saint Edith Stein

The Apostle (Robert Duvall, 1997)

Central Station (Walter Salles, Brazil, 1998) – Portuguese

The Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman et al; USA, 1998) – Animation

Land of Plenty (Wim Wenders, 2004)

The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, USA, 2004) *

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund, Germany, 2005) – German

Into Great Silence (Philip Gröning, France, 2006) – French; Documentary

Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea, 2007) – Korean

Amazing Grace (Michael Apted, UK/USA, 2007) – William Wilberforce

Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, USA, 2008) *

A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, USA, 2009)

Get Low (Aaron Schneider, USA, 2009)

Letters to Father Jacob (Klaus Härö, Finland, 2010) – Finnish

Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois, France, 2011) – French

The Way (Emilio Estevez, US/Spain, 2011)

The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011)

Selma (Ava DuVernay, USA, 2014) – Martin Luther King

Two Days and One Night (Dardenne Brothers, Belgium, 2014) – French *

Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016)

Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson, USA, 2016) *

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MAJOR AWARDS (from the same list)

Sergeant York (Howard Hawks, 1941, USA) – Academy Awards: Best Actor, Best Film Editing. The American Film Institute ranked the film 57th in the 100 most inspirational American movies.

Monsieur Vincent (Maurice Cloche, 1947) – French – Vincent de Paul – US Academy Award Best foreign film.

Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, France, 1951) – French – Grand prix du roman de l'Académie française; Grand Prize Venice International Film Festival; Prix Louis Delluc.

Ordet (Carl Dreyer, Denmark, 1955) – Danish – Golden Lion at the 16th Venice International Film Festival; In Sight and Sound magazine's 2012 poll on the greatest films of all time, it placed 19th in the directors' poll and 24th in the critics' poll.

The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille, 1956, USA) – nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, winning the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.

The Seventh Seal (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1957) – Swedish – considered a classic of world cinema, as well as one of the greatest movies of all time.

Ben-Hur (William Wyler, USA, 1959) - 11 Academy Awards.

The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden, 1960) – Swedish - Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Lilies of the Field (Ralph Nelson, USA, 1963) - selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

Becket (Peter Glenville, UK, 1964) - Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and was nominated for eleven other awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and twice for Best Actor.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, Italy, 1964) – Italian - Venice Film Festival Grand Jury Prize, and three Nastro d'Argento Awards including Best Director. It was also nominated for three Academy Awards. In 2015, the Vatican City newspaper L'Osservatore Romano called it the best film on Christ ever made.

The Sound of Music (Robert Wise, USA, 1965) - received five Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director.

A Man For All Seasons (Fred Zinnemann, UK, 1966) - Academy Award for Best Picture

Balthazar (Robert Bresson, France, 1966) – French - ranked sixteenth on the 2012 critics' poll of "the greatest films of all time" conducted by the film magazine Sight & Sound.

Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, Soviet Union, 1973) – Russian - regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

Chariots of Fire (Hugh Hudson, UK, 1981) - nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning four (including Best Picture).

Tender Mercies (Bruce Beresford, USA, 1983) - nominated for five Academy Awards Best Actor, Best Screenplay; nominated in 3 other categories.

Amadeus (Milos Forman, 1984, USA) - Considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time; nominated for 53 awards and received 40, including eight Academy Awards (including the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The Mission (Roland Joffé, 1986) - Nominated for 7 Academy Awards; won Best Cinematography

Babette’s Feast (Gabriel Axel, Denmark, 1987) – Danish, Swedish, French - Academy Award, Best Foreign Language Film.

Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders, West Germany/France, 1987) - 6 languages - Best Director at both the Cannes Film Festival and European Film Awards.

Jesus of Montreal (Denys Arcand, Canada, 1989) – French - won numerous awards, including the Genie Award for Best Picture and the Jury Prize at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also nominated for the 1989 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Critics in the Toronto International Film Festival have regarded the film as one of the Top 10 Canadian Films of All Time.

The Decalogue (Krzysztof Kieslowski, Poland, 1989; 10 1hr films) – Polish - was said in 2002 to be "the best dramatic work ever done specifically for television” and has won numerous international awards, though it was not widely released outside Europe until the late 1990s. It is one of fifteen films listed in the category "Values" on the Vatican film list. In 1991, filmmaker Stanley Kubrick wrote an admiring foreword to the published screenplay. According to him, Dekalog is the only masterpiece he could ever think of.

Shadowlands (Richard Attenborough, UK, 1993) - BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film. Nominated for 2 Academy Awards.

Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins, USA, 1995) - Academy Award for Best Actress, 3 other nominations.

The Apostle (Robert Duvall, 1997) - nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

Central Station (Walter Salles, Brazil, 1998) – Portuguese - nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress, while the film got a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film.

The Prince of Egypt (Brenda Chapman et al; USA, 1998) – Animation - Academy Award for Best Original Song, nominated for Best Original Musical or Comedy Score.

The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, USA, 2004) - 3 Academy Award nominations: Best Makeup, Best Cinematography, and Best Original Score.

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Marc Rothemund, Germany, 2005) – German - nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Into Great Silence (Philip Gröning, France, 2006) – French; Documentary - Many awards.

Secret Sunshine (Lee Chang-dong, South Korea, 2007) – Korean - Best Film at the Asian Film Awards and at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008) * - many awards; controversy over being ignored by Academy Awards.

A Serious Man (Joel and Ethan Coen, USA, 2009) - nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture

Letters to Father Jacob (Klaus Härö, Finland, 2010) – Finnish - Many awards; in 2022, the film was chosen as the "most touching Finnish film of the 21st century" in the Helsingin Sanomat readers' vote.

Of Gods and Men (Xavier Beauvois, France, 2011) – French - Cannes Film Festival Grand Prix; Lumières Award Best Film, César Award for Best Film.

The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011) - topped The Associated Press' list of the best films of the 2010s. The Tree of Life received three Oscar nominations: Best Picture, Best Director and Best Cinematography.

Hacksaw Ridge (Mel Gibson, USA, 2016) * - 6 Academy Award nominations, winning 2 in technical categories.

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ARTICLES

Andreas Babiolakis, “A Devoted Misconception: The Difference Between Religious And Faith Films,” Films Fatale, Apr. 19, 2019.

https://www.filmsfatale.com/blog/2019/4/19/a-devoted-misconception-the-difference-between-religious-and-faith-films

Tara Isabella Burton, “Great movies about faith are hard to come by. Enter Blue Velvet. David Lynch’s 1986 masterpiece treats sin and grace more seriously than most explicitly Christian films do.” Vox, Apr 5, 2018

https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/5/17177468/movies-about-faith-christian-blue-velvet-david-lynch-gods-not-dead

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