Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films

Arts and Faith is an online discussion about, well, arts and faith. Much of the discussion focuses on film. In 2004, the group developed a list of 100 Spiritually Significant Films, which it has recently revised. Any such list will inevitably lead to debates about what is or is not included, but I offer this list up, not as perfect, but as well rounded and certainly worthy of your consideration when you’re looking for something to watch.

The list has now been revised twice. (You can still see the 2004 version and last year’s version.) There have been changes worth noting each year. For example, in 2004, there were four Peter Weir films included (Fearless, The Truman Shows, Witness, and The Year of Living Dangerously). Weir is completely absent from the 2005 list, but reappears this year with Fearless and The Year of Living Dangerously. Each year a few films drop off and some films come on for the first time or reappear after dropping off in an earlier year. This probably reflects many things: the changing participants in Arts and Faith, discovery of new films (often people see films because they have made the list and we figure it’s worth watching), and changes in our understandings of spiritual issues.

The list has more foreign films than most people are used to seeing listed. Of the top ten films listed, only one (The Miracle Maker) is an English language film. Most people will have not only not seen most of these films, they likely haven’t heard of a good number of them. One of the reasons for the list is to encourage people of faith and people seeking spiritual enlightenment to see films that can aid in their spiritual journeys.

The group has intentionally left the definition of “spiritually significant� fairly ambiguous. Each person will have his or her own spiritual journey, but there are likely enough similarities in those journeys that well made films can speak to each of us. Some will be more important or “significant� to some than to others. Not all of the films listed strike me as especially spiritual, but because the list is so broad, there are many films here that I find very meaningful.

Here are a few of my thoughts on this year’s changes:

• I’m happy that Weir is back on the list, although I’m not sure Fearless and The Year of Living Dangerously would be my top picks from among his works. Still, these are both worthy films for the list.
• The two films I’m happiest to see be added the list are After Life, a Japanese film about a way station we stop at between death and the next plane of existence where we have to pick one memory from our life to take with us into eternity; and Places in the Heart, a story of perseverance and hope that builds to a great ending.
• I’m not sure how the list got by without having Fiddler on the Roof before, but it’s finally there.
• Films dropping off the list that I’ll miss the most: The Shawshank Redemption and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  

I hope the list inspires you to watch some of these excellent films and let them speak to you.