Top "Reformed" Movies?
Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 05:22PM 
National Review Online just released their top 25 "conservative" movies. I've only seen a couple of them, which means I'm not very conservative, or I have different tastes than John J. Miller, or I don't see as many movies.
In any case, the top NRO film was "Lives of Others." Hmmm . . . Here's their list. Click here: The Best Conservative Movies on National Review / Digital
If NRO can have a top 25 of "conservative" movies, maybe we Reformed types (OK, we'll let our Lutheran and evangelical friends participate as well) can come up with our own list.
So, if you can think of any movie which you think every Reformed Christian ought to see, post them in the comments section below, and after some times goes by, I'll post the list.
As for me, here are a few I can think of (in no particular order) . . . I'm sure I'll add more later on (as I think of them).
Tombstone (1993) -- What can I say? This is my all-time favorite movie. I'll never forget seeing Mike Horton, Rod Rosenbladt, and R.C. Sproul watching this on pay-per-view in the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver (during CBA). That scene of male-bonding is permanently etched in my memory. I'm sure RC can still recite the dialogue from memory.
Cromwell (1993) -- As a historical drama, its so-so. But it is rather chilling to see soldiers advance to battle while singing Psalms and holding banners with Bible verses. The scene of the Arminian king Charles I's execution (Alec Guinness) is haunting. As the executioner pulls the king's head from the basket and holds it up, he declares, "Behold! Your king." Man, is that powerful.
The Lord of the Rings trilogy -- Easily the most beautifully-done films I've ever seen. Doesn't the Dark Lord Sauron and his army of Orcs remind us of the totalitarian/fascist state?
Lady Jane (1985) -- Lady Jane Gray was Queen of England for a mere nine days. The scene when she's grilled about the number of sacraments is very powerful. A bit of a "chick flick" but still quite good.
To End All Wars (2001) -- A very powerful film which wrestles with the question, "what does it mean to love our enemies?" especially when the scene is the brutality of war and forced labor in a prison camp.
Luther (2003) -- OK, its not as good as the old black and white film Martin Luther (1953), and we can quibble about some of the content, but it does a great job of giving us a sense of the times.
Babette's Feast (1989) -- Two Danish girls (daughters of a Lutheran pastor) prepare a glorious feast in a drab Danish village of drab Danish people. The drab folks prefer their drab existence to the glorious meal freely offered them. The Lutheran and sacramental imagery is obvious--but even we Reformed folk can appreciate the point.
Reader Comments (58)
is more Randian than anything else. As in Ayn Rand.
I totally agree with Lord of the Rings - awesome trilogy. My husband and I watched it again over the Christmas holidays. We watched 'Return of the King" on a Saturday night, and I was thinking about the REAL King we are waiting for - Jesus. The next morning one of the hymns at church was "Come Thou Almighty King". I love it when God does that.
"Babe" (the pig) - not just for children!
"Miss Potter" about Beatrix Potter (kind of a chick flick but my husband loved it too!)
Also, I can't believe no one has mentioned "Fireproof" - yes, some of the acting was amateurish, but the story was great and the gospel clearly presented. It was awesome to see that at the movies.
This is fun - thanks, everybody!
Love, Carol in Tulsa, OK
"Amazing Grace" with Ioan Gruffudd as Wiilberforce and Albert Finney as John Newton. Gruffudd was wonderful in the miniseries "Horatio Hornblower". I love the burials at sea when they read the scriptures about the resurrection.
But not so awesome to sit through the first of the canned sermons in the "Fireproof Campaign Kit"....
( http://www.christiansupply.com/productdetail.asp?p_key=DAFF9F400D7D49D88A98742BCC30D873 )
Being raised in the CRC, movies, cards and dancing were disallowed. So to this day I find I haven't been able to warm up to any of the three, including CoF, which was a little slow.
WAR MOVIES
The Great Raid (John Dahl, 2005). Starring Jeremy Brett. Based on a real event in WW II. Excellent script, solid performance, and lots of action scenes. About a raid by US Rangers on a Japanese prisoner of war camp to rescue US prisoners and boost morale back home. Great movie that applauds heroism, self-sacrifice, and other high ideals.
Saving Private Ryan (Steven Spielberg, 1998). No explanation needed.
Starship Troopers (Paul Verhoeven, 1997). The good guys (earthlings) fight the bad guys (bugs) on distant planets before the bugs invade earth. Sound familiar? Liberal critics uniformly loathed this movie and the reason they gave was clear: it was conservative, conservative, conservative. Yet it promoted valour under fire, self-sacrifice, and love of others. What's so bad about them apples?
The Jack Ryan series (Hunt for Red October, Patriot Game, Clear and Present Danger). Very good as a whole.
El Cid (Anthony Mann, 1961). As an epic it is unbeatable. Tells the story of the man, Rodrigo, who becomes El Cid, the valiant warrior who stems the tide of Islamic expansionism in Spain during the middle ages. Listen to the opening speech by Herbert Lom (the caliph who wished to conquer the world). This was said in 1961, forty plus years before 9/11. El Cid is a truly great hero who sacrifices everything--including time with a gorgeous wife--for the sake of national and religious freedom. Interestingly, some moderate Muslims side with El Cid against the extremists and explicitly give as the reason for their actions their rejection of Islamic extremism!
THRILLERS
Aliens (James Cameron, 1986). Before Cameron went off the deep end with Titanic he was arguably the best Hollywood action director of the last quarter of the 20th century. This movie gives family values a whole new twist as a human mother battles a world of ravenous insects ruled by the 'queen' mother insect. Again, self-sacrifice plays a significant role in the story-line. The 'last stand' by the marines against an an overwhelming force of insects is very stirring.
Dark City (Alex Proyas, 1998). Solid sci-fi story which the first Matrix borrowed HEAVILY from without credit. The imaginative work that went into this movie is evident in every scene. Darker, more pessimistic than the Matrix--plus, no martial arts!
The Big Lebowski (Ethan Bros, 1998). This spoof on film noire is better than a lot of real fim noire movies. The anti-hero who proves to be heroic despite every effort to resist being heroic. Very funny but extremely vulgar languages (which is the one thing that is not funny).
ISSUE MOVIES
As a rule, I hate 'Issue' movies because they are usually mindnumblingly pedantic and legalistic. But there are exceptions:
Trade (Marco Kreuzpaintner, 2007). A truly harrowing tale of a young Mexican girl kidnapped by some totally depraved men in order to sell her to the highest bidder on an illegal internet auction block. Some silly moments between the two male leads. But the overall story is remarkable--especially the scene where an enslaved woman dies and a modern verson of 'Agnus Dei' (Lamb of God) plays in the background. Powerful stuff. Also, (SPOILER ALERT) the bad guys get their come-uppance at the end.
Read the book it was morf-ed into unrecognizablity from, and you'll know.
Morf-ed? Could you translate?
Thanks
Robert
1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. 300
3. A beautiful Mind
4. Black Hawk Down
5. Braveheart
6. The Count of Monte Cristo
7. Gladiator
8. Glory
9. Monty Python Holy Grail
10. Luther 2003
11. Open Range
12. The Patriot
13. Qou Vadis
14. A Time To Kill
15. To End All Wars
16. Tombstone
17. Troy
18. The Alamo with John Wayne of course
19. We were Soldiers
Rather you agree or not, I would say that this is a dicent list.
Towards the end of the movie, a vampire says to the main character, "RC Sproul says, 'We're not sinners because we sin; we sin because we're sinners'. "
This 1995 movie is hard to find - I ordered mine on VHS from Amazon. It's not overtly reformed, but is heavily laced with philosophy and lots of vampire attacks. Plus, it has Christopher Walken.
What are your top 3 George C. Scott movies with reformed themes?