What's your favorite faith-based screenplay?

[maintenance man]

I've watched a lot of faith-based movies and I still have not found one that honestly has an exceptional screenplay. My favorite to date would be "Risen" where a Roman Tribune in Judea is tasked to find the missing body of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. I thought it was a great new approach to the telling of a Biblical story. I also liked, "The Case for Christ" although the screenplay had a few flaws - for the most part it was a great job adapting a book that was not easy to turn into a movie.

I'm very interested in hearing what your favorite faith-based screenplays are.

 

[mukk_in]

Kinda old, but here are my favorites: (1) The Greatest story ever told (2) The Passion of Christ (Mel Gibson's). The 1979 "Jesus" movie was pretty good, too. Peace in Christ .

 

[FireDragon76]

Silence (2016) or The Mission (1986).

 

[maintenance man]

Kinda old, but here are my favorites: (1) The Greatest story ever told (2) The Passion of Christ (Mel Gibson's). The 1979 "Jesus" movie was pretty good, too. Peace in Christ .

The Passion of Christ is a fantastic film but hard to watch - very emotional - it's so real! I never saw the Jesus film. The Greatest Story Ever Told is from 1965 - that is old! I can't remember if I've seen it or not.

 

[maintenance man]

Silence (2016) or The Mission (1986).

I forgot about The Mission - I saw that in the theater when it came out. I'll need to take another look. Silence is one I passed on because it looked too dark and depressing. Maybe I should give it a try.

 

[FireDragon76]

I forgot about The Mission - I saw that in the theater when it came out. I'll need to take another look. Silence is one I passed on because it looked too dark and depressing. Maybe I should give it a try.

It is a dark film but I appreciate its depth and realism. What's depressing is that many Christians in the US understood it on only the most superficial level and dismissed it as a result.

 

[maintenance man]

What's depressing is that many Christians in the US understood it on only the most superficial level and dismissed it as a result.

I'm plan to take a look. What is the deeper message others are missing?

 

[FireDragon76]

I'm plan to take a look. What is the deeper message others are missing?

They didn't understand that the protagonist was never meant to be a hero. This film is not a hagiography, and it's sort of the opposite of "prosperity theology". It's a meditation on God's presence in a horrible situation.

As a Lutheran it really resonates with me, and people from the Lutheran or Reformed tradition probably stand the best chance of getting what this film is really about. It also appealed to me because just like Shusaku Endo, the author of the novel it was based on, I am a bit of an uneasy convert that in many ways is more like a spiritual orphan, and this film is really exploring who Christ is for people who are "on the margins".

 

[maintenance man]

They didn't understand that the protagonist was never meant to be a hero. This film is not a hagiography, and it's sort of the opposite of "prosperity theology". It's a meditation on God's presence in a horrible situation.

As a Lutheran it really resonates with me, and people from the Lutheran or Reformed tradition probably stand the best chance of getting what this film is really about. It also appealed to me because just like Shusaku Endo, the author of the novel it was based on, I am a bit of an uneasy convert that in many ways is more like a spiritual orphan, and this film is really exploring what Christ means to people who are marginalized.

That's a very interesting perspective! Thanks for sharing that. Now I can't wait to see the film.

 

[icxn]

The Island. It's a story about a Saintly Fool for Christ.

 

[FireDragon76]

It's ironic because Scorsese's first Christian film, Last Temptation of Christ, was almost Pelagian in its focus, since Nikos Kazantaki's work was criticized for humanizing Christ in order to inspire Christ as a kind of exemplar of overcoming the flesh. Whereas in Silence, the Christology is unquestionably orthodox. And this film is anti-Pelagian, almost Augustinian, in its emphasis (obedience to religion ultimately exposes human pride and weakness), unlike Last Temptation.

 

[maintenance man]

It's ironic because Scorsese's first Christian film, Last Temptation of Christ, was almost Pelagian in its focus, since Nikos Kazantaki's work was criticized for humanizing Christ in order to inspire Christ as a kind of exemplar of overcoming the flesh. Whereas in Silence, the Christology is unquestionably orthodox. And this film is anti-Pelagian in its emphasis (obedience to religion ultimately exposes human pride and weakness), unlike Last Temptation.

Yes, I think Last Temptation is probably a big reason why I did not go see Silence.

 

[maintenance man]

The Island. It's a story about a Saintly Fool for Christ.

That looks interesting. I have a hard time with subtitles though.

"After the filming, one of the movie crew staff decided to stay on the island and live there as a hermit."

That line makes me even more interested.

 

[Bob Crowley]

I haven't watched it for a long time, but "The Scarlet and the Black" is a good movie.

The Scarlet and the Black - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[FireDragon76]

I haven't watched it for a long time, but "The Scarlet and the Black" is a good movie.

The Scarlet and the Black - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I haven't seen that one. I'll have to look it up.