Lutheran movies

[FireDragon76]

Does anybody know of any movies that have any significant Lutheran characters or have a Lutheran theme?

Years ago I saw Lars and the Real Girl. It's a bit of a low budget art-house film, sometimes touching, often gently humorous, but always quirky and wierd. And it's one of my family's favorite films, and we watch it every so often.

It's about an awkward, quiet, almost autistic, unmarried man named Lars, in the upper midwest, who lives with his brother and sister-in-law in their garage outside their house. He lives in a small, predominantly Lutheran town and goes to church regularly. He gets curious questions from people, including asking if he's gay. So he finally decides, on the unintentional suggestion of a co-worker engaged in some lewd internet browsing, to buy a realistic sex doll and he gets the delusion that she is real. He tells his family that the doll is a missionary from Russia and very religious, and that they plan to sleep in separate bedrooms.

His brother flips out, and his sister-in-law is stunned. The sister-in-law starts gossiping with her friends, and soon the church council gets word of this, it leads to a scene with a debate, and finally at the pastors suggestion ("What would Jesus do?"), they decide just to humor him and pretend that the doll is real, too. So Lars starts taking his doll girlfriend to church in a wheelchair. His family also encourages him to go to the local doctor to have Lars examined, as the town is so small there are no psychiatrists, and his recovery from his delusion and loneliness is the central story of the film.

I actually think the film is a positive and somewhat realistic portrayal of a mainline Lutheran church. At the time I first saw it, I was estranged from the Orthodox church, so I had no actual experiences of a Lutheran community. But my current Lutheran church does resemble the community in the film to some extent (without so much snow, of course). Some sensitive consciences but generally people are nonjudgmental and warm-hearted, especially with a bit of encouragement from the pastor to give them a different perspective. There is a sense of the importance of community cohesion and care in this film, maybe it is a meditation on community love, that I think reflects on real-world Lutheranism positively, as well.

 

[Resha Caner]

There are the obvious Luther movies. I haven't seen the one you mentioned so l'll check it out.

I love to write and recently I've been pondering what thematic elements would make a story "Lutheran." I've made some progress. It would be cool if CPH initiated something like what the Kendrick or Burns families have done for the evangelical worldviews, but I'm not sure there is an audience for it.

 

[MarkRohfrietsch]

Not what you have in mind, but the movie Drop Dead Gorgeous featured the "Lutheran Girls Gun Club".

 

[FireDragon76]

I love to write and recently I've been pondering what thematic elements would make a story "Lutheran."

Aside from having Lutheran characters, I think an emphasis on Lutheran doctrines, history, or practices that are unique to Lutheranism might be something that would set out a story as "Lutheran".

Even though the film is about Jesuits in Japan, I actually think the film of Martin Scorsese's Silence resonates more with Lutheranism than conventional Roman Catholicism, particularly our Theology of the Cross. Among Catholic critics in the US, it had a mixed reception, but some with more intellectual curiosity could appreciate the moral complexity of the protagonist's situation. I actually found this film caused me to reflect a lot on the Lutheran approach to being Christian, and what makes it different, and realize there is a message here that could resonate with a lot of people in a post-Christian world.

My pastor today recommended a film he had to watch in seminary called Babette's Feast. It's a Danish arthouse film about 19th century pietists living in Jutland, and their austere religion. I'll probably look that one up.

I've made some progress. It would be cool if CPH initiated something like what the Kendrick or Burns families have done for the evangelical worldviews, but I'm not sure there is an audience for it.

Some of those films are just bad, though, artistically. I've seen a few, regrettably those are a few hours of my life I can't get back. American evangelicals are really grappling with aesthetics, or lack thereof. They know it's important as part of culture but they can't pull it off.

A few months ago I saw an old LCA film about Christian colleges called The Difference, it was a short pedagogic sort of drama, on Youtube, set at a 1950's religious college. Sort of like Davey and Goliath for adults. It honestly had more artistic merit than alot of those productions you mentioned.

 

[Resha Caner]

Even though the film is about Jesuits in Japan, I actually think the film of Martin Scorsese's Silence resonates more with Lutheranism than conventional Roman Catholicism, particularly our Theology of the Cross.

I saw your earlier comments on Silence. Your perspective isn't something I would have considered, so it was interesting to think about, and an aspect I can weave into my own ideas, but I doubt I'll see that film. First, because of the "R" rating - a personal choice I've made. Second because it's a difficult line to walk. Symbols are not the thing, and yet symbols are not nothing. Trampling on the symbol could have significant repercussions to one's witness that need to be considered.

My pastor today recommended a film he had to watch in seminary called Babette's Feast. It's a Danish arthouse film about 19th century pietists living in Jutland, and their austere religion. I'll probably look that one up.

I've heard of it, but never looked into it. Now I'll have to add that to my list as well.

Some of those films are just bad, though, artistically. I've seen a few, regrettably those are a few hours of my life I can't get back. American evangelicals are really grappling with aesthetics, or lack thereof. They know it's important as part of culture but they can't pull it off.

Tut, tut. I lived through the development of contemporary Christian music through the 60s, 70s, and 80s. It was pretty bad at the start as well. It didn't really find its footing (IMO) until Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith in the 80s. The Christian film industry is much younger, and film requires pulling together a lot more talent, so you need to support it and give it some time.

I look at it from a different angle. If you watch the progression of the Kendrick's from Flywheel through Facing the Giants to Fireproof you can see definite improvements. The same goes for the Burns' from Pendragon to Beyond the Mask. You could even put Veggie Tales in there for children's movies, but unfortunately their ship ran aground and is no longer sailing.

They are each developing their own genre in addition to their message. The Kendrick's are developing a "family life" message. I like that, but find The Burns' more interesting. In Beyond the Mask I saw a fascinating steampunk style starting to develop that was centered in an alternative history framework that could be a real alternative to fantasy. The danger with the Kendrick's is that it could become too pietistic, and the danger with the Burns' is that it was tying Christianity into nationalism (first British and then American). That's why I'd love to get in there and steer them away from such things.

Aside from having Lutheran characters, I think an emphasis on Lutheran doctrines, history, or practices that are unique to Lutheranism might be something that would set out a story as "Lutheran".

Sure, but it's harder than you think. With respect to the overt style of C.S. Lewis (in his fiction) and the subtle style of Tolkien, I much prefer Tolkien. My wife is never happy. I worked on a story structure that she laughed at for being too obviously a repeat of Luther's story. I started over, and now she's criticizing me for being too subtle such that no one would ever recognize the story as Christian (something she criticizes Tolkien for as well). However, I balk at the idea of there being a "Christian literature" and prefer to encourage "Christian writers".

 

[FireDragon76]

I saw your earlier comments on Silence. Your perspective isn't something I would have considered, so it was interesting to think about, and an aspect I can weave into my own ideas, but I doubt I'll see that film. First, because of the "R" rating - a personal choice I've made. Second because it's a difficult line to walk. Symbols are not the thing, and yet symbols are not nothing. Trampling on the symbol could have significant repercussions to one's witness that need to be considered.

I don't disagree with that at all. A lot of Lutherans at my church bow at the passing of the Cross every sunday, many of us cross ourselves, we are not iconclastic. If Lutherans were, I would honestly not be a Lutheran. So, my point about the film isn't that I think his act is without significance. In fact it is only the significance of the icon that makes the story truly meaningful (probably one reason American evangelicals will tend to not understand this film either). It's an homage to the suffering of all the martyrs and hidden Christians in Japan, and more importantly, to their faith that endured despite their repeated denials.

Sure, but it's harder than you think. With respect to the overt style of C.S. Lewis (in his fiction) and the subtle style of Tolkien, I much prefer Tolkien. My wife is never happy. I worked on a story structure that she laughed at for being too obviously a repeat of Luther's story. I started over, and now she's criticizing me for being too subtle such that no one would ever recognize the story as Christian (something she criticizes Tolkien for as well). However, I balk at the idea of there being a "Christian literature" and prefer to encourage "Christian writers".

The idea of a special way of writing literature that would separate it just from good literature wouldn't be very Lutheran. That doesn't mean a Lutheran couldn't write a story with religious themes, of course.

 

[Resha Caner]

The idea of a special way of writing literature that would separate it just from good literature wouldn't be very Lutheran. That doesn't mean a Lutheran couldn't write a story with religious themes, of course.

Yes, we seem to basically agree. Yet when it comes to foundational philosophical principles, I've found it difficult to get my point across. I've had similar troubles with my engineering colleagues about science as I've had with my writing colleagues. Many are of the opinion that they have no philosophy of literature (or science). What that means is that they are unknowingly adopting the philosophy of others. When you talk to the greats, they definitely thought about such things.

Let's take "Amish" fiction as an example ... publishers use that as a subgenre of Christian fiction. So what typifies Amish fiction? It usually represents a clash between the "simple" girl (i.e. morally pure living a pastoral country life) and the "worldly" man in a romantic framework. The story usually reaches its resolution when (sarcasm alert) the undeniable value of this simple girl produces true love in the man such that he is transformed and willingly sacrifices his worldly ways while managing to retain his material wealth so that he can make the girl happy forever after. It is presented as "Christian" because of the moral message and the sacrifice of the man. But is it?

We can put the pastoral fantasy aside. After all, hobbits are fantasy also, but that doesn't make The Hobbit bad literature. The big problems are morality as the end goal, fulfillment in some sort of "happiness" that is dependent on material things, and the portrayal of romantic love. In a romance novel, romance is held up as the ideal archetype of love. IMO that is the spiritual desire that draws people (primarily women) to romance. It is a desire for love, but that love is not represented in a Biblical/Christian/Lutheran fashion in most romance novels. There's nothing wrong with romance, but how should romance be written? I don't think Amish fiction is it.

I had a tag line for a story idea that went, "A story about love, but not a love story." However, I wasn't satisfied with the result, so I'm not claiming to have the answer. I just don't think Amish fiction is it.

 

[Kalevalatar]

Films of Ingmar Bergman, a son of a Lutheran pastor, and those of Bille August tend to explore the good, bad and even ugly undertones of strict Lutheran orthodoxy, if you will. Bergman, of course, is a master film artists:

• The Seventh Seal (1957)
• The Virgin Spring (1960)
  
• Fanny and Alexander (1982)
  
• Private Confessions (1996), directed by Liv Ullman and written by Bergman
  
• The Best Intentions (1992), directed by August and written by Bergman
• Pelle the Conqueror (1987)
  
• Jerusalem (1996), based on Selma Lagerlöf's novel

Klaus Härö's films. Härö has been awarded by the Lutheran Cultural Foundation "for his gospel of grace, forgiveness and faith":

• Elina: As If I Wasn't There (2002)
  
• Mother of Mine (2005)
• The New Man (2007)
  
• Letters to Father Jacob (2009)
• The Fencer (2015)

Olli Saarela's Ambush (1999) has beautiful Christian symbolism throughout
Aku Louhimies's Man Exposed (2006), a comedy about a pastor who finds himself running for a bishop
Kay Pollak's As It Is in heaven (2004)
Nils Gaup's The Kautokeino Rebellion (2008), Laestadianism

 

[Resha Caner]

Films of Bille August:

• Jerusalem (1996), based on Selma Lagerlöf's novel

Klaus Härö's films:

• Letters to Father Jacob (2009)

This is so cool! Thanks. All of these films are new to me. Maybe I should hang my head in shame, but I've never seen an Ingmar Bergman film. To be honest, they seem more about him working out the trauma of his childhood (with a severe asceticism masked by a thin Lutheran veneer in the background). So, I don't know that I'd be interested. Also, many of these films seem to be woven in with various strains of nationalism and pre-Christian Nordic culture. That could be interesting, but I may not have the background to understand them. I think American Christians have similar struggles, but they are revealed through different cultural archetypes.

So, with that said, the two films on the list that looked interesting enough to me that I think I'll give them a try are Jerusalem and Letters to Father Jacob.

 

[Kalevalatar]

This is so cool! Thanks. All of these films are new to me. Maybe I should hang my head in shame, but I've never seen an Ingmar Bergman film. To be honest, they seem more about him working out the trauma of his childhood (with a severe asceticism masked by a thin Lutheran veneer in the background). So, I don't know that I'd be interested. Also, many of these films seem to be woven in with various strains of nationalism and pre-Christian Nordic culture. That could be interesting, but I may not have the background to understand them. I think American Christians have similar struggles, but they are revealed through different cultural archetypes.

So, with that said, the two films on the list that looked interesting enough to me that I think I'll give them a try are Jerusalem and Letters to Father Jacob.

I'm a great fan of Härö and I can wholeheartedly recommend Letters to Father Jacob, which has won like 20 awards from all over the world. It's a deeply moving study of faith made by a deeply Lutheran director. You won't be disappointed.

 

[Tangible]

My pastor today recommended a film he had to watch in seminary called Babette's Feast. It's a Danish arthouse film about 19th century pietists living in Jutland, and their austere religion. I'll probably look that one up.

Excellent movie! It's a wonderful allegory on how the Old Man thinks he must be worthy of God's wonderfully gracious gifts.

 

[FireDragon76]

Excellent movie! It's a wonderful allegory on how the Old Man thinks he must be worthy of God's wonderfully gracious gifts.

I'm curious to see this film now.

In certain circles it seems like "pietism" is a dirty word used polemically. But it does sound like there are real Lutheran pietists out there, and I wasn't aware their religion was so severe. I guess Kierkegaard makes more sense now, being that one of his parents was a pietist marked by religious anxiety.

 

[FireDragon76]

I saw Babette's Feast today. The story reminds me of Dostoyevsky's novels. It obviously has Christian themes but there's nothing superficial about it, it's heavy stuff.

It's amusing the pietist conventicle were praying holding hands alot. That's what folks do at my church. Bow their heads, hold hands standing in a circle. The Orthodox in me doesn't get it. We kiss icons, chalices, and priests hands, touch our foreheads to the floor, but standing in a circle bowing our heads and holding hands is not the kind of gestures we usually pray with (usually its simply standing, or occasionally raising the hands in orans). Now I know where the holding hands thing comes from, though.

 

[FireDragon76]

Apparently Babette's Feast is one of Pope Francis favorite films, and it was the first movie to be quoted in a papal encyclical, Amoris laetitia

The mysterious thing I found out about this story, it was written by a Unitarian who struggled with drug addiction. That's not what I was expecting.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Even though the film is about Jesuits in Japan, I actually think the film of Martin Scorsese's Silence resonates more with Lutheranism than conventional Roman Catholicism, particularly our Theology of the Cross. Among Catholic critics in the US, it had a mixed reception, but some with more intellectual curiosity could appreciate the moral complexity of the protagonist's situation. I actually found this film caused me to reflect a lot on the Lutheran approach to being Christian, and what makes it different, and realize there is a message here that could resonate with a lot of people in a post-Christian world.

I may be derailing, but hopefully not. I don't have cable television and anything I watch on the internet doesn't have ads because I have browser plugins that stop ads from playing. That in addition to a lackluster social life means I virtually never know what's out in the movies unless I hear something through the grapevine. As someone who learned about Endo's novel about a decade ago, but then after buying it managed to lose the book before reading it, have loved the story as much as I can know about it. It was also responsible for my interest in learning about the Tokugawa persecutions against Christians in Japan and how I learned about Paul Miki and the 26 Martyrs of Nagasaki, and also the use of the fumie.

It was precisely this trampling, and the way it was portrayed by Endo, that spoke to me at a significant point in my theological development. It is a resonant aspect of Endo's theology which, as I recall, was deeply influenced by the work of Kazo Kitamori, the Theology of the Pain of God--itself an influence on the work of Jürgen Moltmann and his theology of hope. I didn't read about it as much as I had wanted, and this thread will probably be an impetus to going back to it; but it was a significant step nonetheless in my becoming Lutheran with its Theology of the Cross.

The God of the cross is the God who offers Himself over in being trampled, betrayed, and rejected. So when the holy image on the fumie says (paraphrasing and likely spoiling), "Trample! For it was this reason I came into the world" it is a profound declaration of the Cross and all it signifies in its brutal, ugly beauty.

Long story short, I'm going to have to watch the movie, especially since I never had a chance to read Silence all those years ago.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[FireDragon76]

One thing that struck me about Babette's Feast is how the pietists are more like Ned Flanders types, scrupulous about sin ("Reverend, you gotta help me I think I'm lusting after my wife!") but not altogether unpleasant, than the sort of severe, puritanical religion that came out of English-speaking countries.. One thing I noticed about the people is that they seemed to have a great deal of hospitality towards someone who was admittedly an alien and practicing a different way to be a Christian (Catholic). You would have been unlikely to have found that in England or in America at the time among similarly minded Reformed Christians, where catholics were treated as second class citizens (one of the reasons I see someone like John Henry Cardinal Newman as being quite brave during the Victorian era to take the stance he did). So, I am not left with the impression that the pietist's religion is altogether without merit, even if at times it is given to needless enthusiasm.

It is indeed a great film. It's going to have to go on my "watch every year" list, along with "Lars and the Real Girl"

Consequently, I'm doing a bit of reading on Pietism during Lent, starting with Johann Arndt's True Christianity.