Films with Religious or Spiritual Themes or Refs

Now this is a really wide-open topic, and this list is merely the tip of the iceberg since I'm open to anything with religious or spiritual themes, could be occult, pagan, any religion or any religious reference. Basically this is the rateyourmusic of films, as so much goes. The list is merely a starting point, and these are just the first I thought of. The Bothersome Man is not really about religion, for instance, but it has a concept of the after life, so I wanted to include it (love the Japanese film I paired it with). There are various ones that one might question.

So choose any off the list, or list your own. I have gone outside my favourites (say, with The Ten Commandments).
Multiple choice enabled.

EDIT: Have added in some others. Multiple choice enabled. And the "or" can mean "and" for my purposes.

Edited by Logan - July 31 2018 at 10:42

Any Monty Python movie, or The Exorcist. Either way, it's all silly. You could have added A Man for all Seasons because it's so damn well acted.

Greg, yes, it’s a very wide net, but they all have things in common. I questioned including films such as the Exorcist, but The Life of Brian was a must because of what it has to say and because of the reaction from certain religious people to it.

Most of these have Christian symbolism or allusions, and I would have liked to cover more belief systems from around the world.

Jean, very good call, and religious symbolism is what I’m most looking for.

Some others that I wish I had included include The Little Prince and the Narnia ones. There are many ones full of symbolism that would have been good for this list.

Holy Mountain is a great film, and I wish I'd included it. That's the kind of film that this poll should have been all about I think.

One more vote for Aguirre - love that one to bits. Not too crazy about the danish choice here. Never been much of a Gabriel Axel fan even if both my grandfather and father have worked together with him via movies but mostly the theatre.

"Quo Vadis" has to be given a nod due to the extraordinary performance of Peter Ustinov.

SteveG wrote: Though I love the Wicker Man (I wish that Comus did the s/t music), I have to emphasize Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ which is not listed. The movie, like the novel, works on so some many levels, that its mind blowing. When St. Paul tells Defoe's Christ that he would have invented Christ's death and resurrection in order to make believers happy, I cannot help feeling echoes of the truth in that statement. An amazing film that should really be on your list.

Comus and The Wicker I often compare (they really remind me of each other), but I really love the Wicker Man soundtrack. I only have about six albums on my new phone, one is First Utterance and another is The Wicker Man soundtrack. As for The Last Temptation of Christ, I did list it (may be hard to spot tucked between Quo Vadis and The Apostle). I like the film a great deal, and, rather like with Life of Brian, I thought the level of controversy and reaction surrounding it quite ridiculous even if not quite as ridiculous as, say, the reaction to the Muhammad cartoons.

Edited by Logan - July 31 2018 at 07:30

As:

Logan wrote: Good call on Haxan, and that's one I should thought of being such a big Art Zoyd fan. By the way, like my other recent polls, this one is multiple choice, so you don't have to choose any one over the others (vote for as many as you like).

Oh right. I'll start my votes then. Saw Haxan accompanied by something of a electronic/experimental live performance a couple of years ago - which was fantastic. 

I think I'm going to edit in suggestions to the list plus some more of my own. I especially think I should of thought of Holy Mountain and Haxan. And I'm adding "De vierde Man" as The Fourth Man.

Despite TheDarkElf's apparent sarcastic tone (genuinely love his acerbic and often dry sense of humour) about A Man For All Seasons, a film about Thomas More, does fit, so I'm adding it.

And I will add The Little Prince and Narnia films

There's one in particular I thought about adding called Tree of Life when I made the poll which has a definite connection to religion beyond just the title (which comes from the Bible). I'm adding it too.

I'm tempted to add Conan The Barbarian, but I won't (at least not now). ;)

Oh, and I did think about adding Melancholia, a film I love, but opted not to (or more accurately, I was thinking about it, moved on, and then forgot about it, which happens to me a lot these days), will add, but I'll add it to the Breaking the Waves option. Lots of von Trier could fit methinks.

EDIT: Done those additions, think I got them all (not necessarily paired well, but...)

Edited by Logan - July 31 2018 at 10:46