What are some really good spiritual movies about tests of faith?
April 20, 2023 12:53 PM Subscribe
Prefacing with - looking for NON-Christian movies. What are some excellent and spiritual movies that take the viewer on a journey with the main character, through their trials, sufferings, hopelessness, only to find faith in a higher power and from that gains insight, hope and forgiveness?
Thank you!
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring would work, with the caveats that some versions feature unsimulated animal cruelty and it was directed by an accused sexual predator.
posted by cakelite at 1:09 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by cakelite at 1:09 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
Joe vs the Volcano
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:19 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:19 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
You might be interested in some of the films of Andrei Tarkovsky. He was an Eastern Orthodox Christian, living in the USSR -- an officially atheistic state -- but still managed to get multiple films produced by the government's film studio.
But most of his movies, even the ones that include some God talk, are not specifically or heavy-handedly Christian. Their spirituality is broad, mystical, and poetic.
Maybe the one that most resembles what you're looking for is "Andrei Rublev". It's also arguably the most "Christian", in the sense that it's a biopic about a medieval Russian monk and artist who was one of the greatest Byzantine icon painters who ever lived.
But the Christianity is mostly there as historical context. The movie chronicles (imagines, mostly) Rublev's existential struggles as an artist living in a cruel and unjust world that isn't truly interested in spirituality or imagination.
It includes a sympathetic depiction of animist pagan traditions. And it ends with a segment in which Rublev acts as a mentor to a younger man burdened with the seemingly impossible task of making a huge bell for a cathedral. It's an amazing ode to art and spirituality, and it's all about suffering and redemption.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:26 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
But most of his movies, even the ones that include some God talk, are not specifically or heavy-handedly Christian. Their spirituality is broad, mystical, and poetic.
Maybe the one that most resembles what you're looking for is "Andrei Rublev". It's also arguably the most "Christian", in the sense that it's a biopic about a medieval Russian monk and artist who was one of the greatest Byzantine icon painters who ever lived.
But the Christianity is mostly there as historical context. The movie chronicles (imagines, mostly) Rublev's existential struggles as an artist living in a cruel and unjust world that isn't truly interested in spirituality or imagination.
It includes a sympathetic depiction of animist pagan traditions. And it ends with a segment in which Rublev acts as a mentor to a younger man burdened with the seemingly impossible task of making a huge bell for a cathedral. It's an amazing ode to art and spirituality, and it's all about suffering and redemption.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 1:26 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Run Lola Run
posted by pjenks at 1:36 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by pjenks at 1:36 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Possibly an off-base suggestion, but you might find Penda's Fen interesting.
Also (this suggestion is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and is almost certainly not the kind of thing you're looking for but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read your question), May Day's coming up and the original 1973 Wicker Man could be said to fit what you've asked for, in a funhouse mirror sort of way. It has some interesting things to say about a variety of kinds of faith.
posted by darchildre at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2023
Also (this suggestion is somewhat tongue-in-cheek and is almost certainly not the kind of thing you're looking for but it was the first thing that came to mind when I read your question), May Day's coming up and the original 1973 Wicker Man could be said to fit what you've asked for, in a funhouse mirror sort of way. It has some interesting things to say about a variety of kinds of faith.
posted by darchildre at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2023
In a similar, but different vein. Fearless (1993) starring Jeff Bridges where a man's personality is dramatically changed after surviving a major airline crash. Trailer.
posted by Mr. Papagiorgio at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr. Papagiorgio at 1:39 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
2015's Bajrangi Bhaijaan might fit the bill. It's a Hindi-language film, co-written by Directed by V. Vijayendra Prasad (RRR). The film tells the story of Pawan Kumar Chaturvedi, a devotee of the Hindu deity Hanuman, who embarks on a journey to take a mute six-year-old Pakistani Muslim girl Shahida, separated in India from her mother, back to her hometown. It's a phenomenal movie, nakedly earnest and heartfelt in a way US movies never seem to do anymore.
It's hilarious and a musical. It's been compared to Forrest Gump, but it's not really about dumb luck or goodness being better than intelligence. It's about how the humblest person's faith can help them do seemingly impossible things.
I only have two hesitations in recommending this. The first is that it's not so much about a person's faith being tested, so much as a person's faith being heroically unwavering in the face of situations that seem to demand he back down. The second is that it's not readily streaming right now.
That said, if this sounds like something you want to see, let me know and I'll put it onto the Internet Archive.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:46 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
It's hilarious and a musical. It's been compared to Forrest Gump, but it's not really about dumb luck or goodness being better than intelligence. It's about how the humblest person's faith can help them do seemingly impossible things.
I only have two hesitations in recommending this. The first is that it's not so much about a person's faith being tested, so much as a person's faith being heroically unwavering in the face of situations that seem to demand he back down. The second is that it's not readily streaming right now.
That said, if this sounds like something you want to see, let me know and I'll put it onto the Internet Archive.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:46 PM on April 20, 2023 [2 favorites]
Sita Sings The Blues, perhaps.
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:56 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by tchemgrrl at 1:56 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Groundhog Day. It's been commented that it's one of the best Buddhist movies out there.
posted by spinifex23 at 2:06 PM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by spinifex23 at 2:06 PM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
It's more of a horror movie, but at it's core A Dark Song is about faith, trials and forgiveness.
There is some Christian-like imagery in it, but I wouldn't say the movie necessarily tethers itself to a specific system.
The closing moments of this movie have sat with me ever since I saw it.
It may not be exactly what you're looking for but it has a lot to say about many of the things you mentioned themes-wise.
posted by d_hill at 2:06 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
There is some Christian-like imagery in it, but I wouldn't say the movie necessarily tethers itself to a specific system.
The closing moments of this movie have sat with me ever since I saw it.
It may not be exactly what you're looking for but it has a lot to say about many of the things you mentioned themes-wise.
posted by d_hill at 2:06 PM on April 20, 2023 [4 favorites]
nthing A Dark Song so hard!
posted by cakelite at 2:07 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by cakelite at 2:07 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
I also came here to mention The Razor’s Edge.
posted by Winnie the Proust at 2:11 PM on April 20, 2023
posted by Winnie the Proust at 2:11 PM on April 20, 2023
Yeah, A Dark Song is a challenging horror movie that still hits all requested marks. Good call.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:33 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:33 PM on April 20, 2023 [1 favorite]
Jodi foster / Contact.
More like she finds her self via transformative experience during her scientific research but ya. Amazing.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:02 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
More like she finds her self via transformative experience during her scientific research but ya. Amazing.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 5:02 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]
It's a Wonderful Life is a movie that many Christians have tried to make a case is a Christian movie. But IMO it's a Christmas movie, but really about losing one's faith in one's community over a long period and rediscovering it when a crisis reveals the power of individual acts of charity, kindness, and mutual aid.
One can imagine why Christians would want to claim the film as their own. But there's really no argument to be made that Christians have a monopoly on the values espoused in the movie, and while there's a "God" concept in the movie as well as an "angel", there's nothing explicitly tying those elements to any particular faith except the nomenclature.
posted by potrzebie at 5:31 PM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
One can imagine why Christians would want to claim the film as their own. But there's really no argument to be made that Christians have a monopoly on the values espoused in the movie, and while there's a "God" concept in the movie as well as an "angel", there's nothing explicitly tying those elements to any particular faith except the nomenclature.
posted by potrzebie at 5:31 PM on April 20, 2023 [5 favorites]
Twilight Samurai, 2002, here listed in Screen Rant's 15 best Samurai films. There is in this film some spectacular and bloody duelling, no religion, various notions of honour and a protagonist arriving at bravely fought for self-realisation
posted by glasseyes at 4:11 AM on April 21, 2023
posted by glasseyes at 4:11 AM on April 21, 2023
Au Hasard Balthazar an allegory about the nature of faith, of suffering, and of how to live in the world, is haunting and genuinely beautiful. I think it is one of the great spiritual works. There is Xian overtones, but also a deep abiding humanism that i think works without knowing htem, Also, donkeys
posted by PinkMoose at 8:56 AM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by PinkMoose at 8:56 AM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
I was racking by brain about this and although it's not a film, Evangelion is an interesting look at this. Certainly it takes the protagonist through something of a gauntlet of despair and while even the final seconds of the film that ends the series make it questionable, it's arguable that the ultimate conclusion to the spiritual "hedgehog's dilemma" Shinji faces is to embrace love and connection. But that's after a lot of death and giant robot stuff. At any rate it's up this alley in a crooked way and in my opinion is one of the more important works of fiction of the last 50 years.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 5:28 PM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 5:28 PM on April 21, 2023 [2 favorites]
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Or, sort of, I guess, maybe Little Big Man.
posted by mygothlaundry at 12:59 PM on April 20, 2023 [3 favorites]