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Adult Learning Archive - Theology Today Past Events - Faith on Film
Faith on Film 2005 - The inaugural year of this very successful Lenten series
Faith on Film 2006 - Questions of faith and the way it is lived by ordinary and extraordinary people
Faith on Film 2007 - Aspects of Christian Life and Faith
Faith on Film 2008 - The life of faith-informed conscience in a world where such a life leads to conflict, frustration and loss
Faith on Film 2009 - Hollywood's Golden Age: how did 'old Hollywood' combine romance and religion?
Faith on Film 2010 - Who is my neighbour? How am I a neighbour?
Faith on Film 2011 - A special tribute to Stephen Reynolds
In Lent 2005, Thursdays were film nights at Redeemer. Stephen Reynolds, Senior Associate Priest, introduced his successful Faith on Film series with the screening and discussion of these five five films:
A Man for All Seasons (1966), starring Paul Schofield, Wendy Hiller and Leo McKern.
The Diary of a Country Priest (1950), starring Claude Laydu, Jean Riveyre and Adrien Borel.
Winter Light (1962), starring Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand, Max von Sydow and Gunnel Lindblom.
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), starring William Defoe, Harvey Keitel and Barbara Hersey.
Babette's Feast (1987), starring Stephane Audran (Danish and French with English subtitles).
In 2006, Stephen Reynolds, Senior Associate Priest, led discussions of five films that deal centrally with questions of faith and the way it is lived by ordinary and extraordinary people.
Redeemer was licensed to show these films:
I Confess (1953 - Alfred Hitchcock), starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter - murder and the seal of the confessional, set in Quebec City.
Black Narcissus (1947 - Powell/Pressburger), starring Deborah Kerr - a melodrama of Anglican nuns in the Himalayas.
Jesus of Montreal (1989 - Denys Arcand) - a modern passion-play in modern Montreal.
"The Song of Bernadette" (1943), starring Jennifer Jones - the story of Bernadette Soubirous and the shrine of Lourdes.
Amadeus (1984 - Milos Forman), starring F. Murray Abraham and Tom Hulce - Mozart, Salieri, and God.
Back by popular demand for a third year, Stephen Reynolds, Senior Associate, screened and led discussion of five films, which explore aspects of Christian faith and life. 2007’s offerings: two Hollywood big-star vehicles, a French film by director Louis Malle, a French-German-British production, and a British film about C. S. Lewis.
The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958), starring Ingrid Bergman, Curt Jurgens, and Robert Donat. This film is based on the true story of Gladys Aylward, a Christian missionary in China who shepherded a flock of homeless children in the midst of the Japanese invasion of their country.
The Nun’s Story (1959), starring Audrey Hepburn, Peter Finch, and Edith Evans. A young nun (Hepburn) is sent to her order’s mission in the Belgian Congo, where she finds her vocation tested by a doctor’s love.
Joyeux Noel (2005), directed by Christian Carion, starring Diane Kruger, Benno Furmann, Guillaume Canet, and Garry Davis. On Christmas Eve 1914, in one small sector of the Western Front, a British and a French regiment, and the German regiment opposite them, call an ad hoc truce and celebrate the festival together in No Man’s Land. In French, German, and English, with English subtitles for the French and German dialogue.
Au Revoir les Enfants (“Goodbye, Children”) (1987), directed by Louis Malle, starring Gaspard Manesse and Raphael Fajto. A coming-of-age story set in occupied France, at a Catholic boarding school where the teacher-friars give refuge to a Jewish boy. The film shows how this situation affects everybody in the school’s enclave of privilege. It is about belonging and not belonging, about friendship, faithfulness, and deception. In French, with English subtitles.
Shadowlands (1985), starring Joss Ackland and Claire Bloom. C. S. Lewis was an Oxford don adamantly set in his ways, when he was surprised by Joy Davidman, a feisty (some said pushy) divorcée from New York, and fell in love with her. This is their story, more quietly – and more intimately – told than in the 1993 big-budget re-make starring Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger. In English.
Stephen Reynolds selected films from his personal collection for screening in Lent:
“This Lent, Faith on Film – now in its fourth year – will be showing five movies which seem to be all over the map of cinema, from British comedy to Technicolor epic to Biblical story to Monty Python satire. But these five films actually have a common theme: the life of faith-informed conscience in a world where such a life leads to conflict, frustration, and loss.”
Screenings were:
The Nativity Story (2006) – starring Keisha Caste-Hughes and Oscar Isaac. A film about the lives of Mary and Joseph and the birth of Jesus. It is faithful to the biblical stories, and done quietly, almost gently, without the hoopla or the stilted (and somewhat creepy) piousness of Hollywood.
Heavens Above! (1963) – starring Peter Sellers, Cecil Parker, Ian Carmichael. Thanks to muddle in an archdeacon’s office, an idealistic young priest (Sellers) is appointed Vicar of a small and struggling parish in rural England. He lands in lots of trouble with his parishioners, with his bishop and, especially, with the archdeacon (Parker) – and ends up being promoted to a very unique ministry.
Becket (1965) – starring Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole. Thomas Becket was chancellor (chief advisor) and intimate friend of England’s King Henry II. In 1162 Henry had Becket made archbishop of Canterbury as a safe and easy way to make the Church in England more malleable to the royal will. The two friends then had a truly royal falling-out, and the king’s frustrated anger at Becket led some knights of Henry’s retinue to murder the archbishop in 1170. This is the film-adaptation of Jean Anouilh’s play about their conflict. It is Hollywood in its most Technicolor-epic mode – and Burton and O’Toole in full, over-over-the-top star-modes.
Amazing Grace (2007) – starring Ioan Gruffudd, Ciaran Hinds, Albert Finney. The story of William Wilberforce (Gruffudd), whose conversion to “real Christianity” made him lead the twenty-year campaign to abolish the slave-trade throughout the British Empire. (Wilberforce is commemorated in our calendar of saints on July 31st; 2007 was the 200th anniversary of the Act of Parliament which marked “Wilber’s” victory).
The Life of Brian (1979) – starring the Monty Python troupe. Like all Monty Python productions, this is an outrageous satire. But the troupe is not satirising Jesus, or religion, or faith. They are satirising Hollywood’s “filmizations” of Jesus’ life.
For the fifth year, Stephen Reynolds selected films from his vast personal DVD collection and led Faith on Film during Lent.
Stephen said: "All of this year’s films are products of Hollywood’s 'golden age,' the Hollywood of the Studio-and-Star system. The five movies we’ll be viewing were produced as 'star-vehicles,' feature-films groomed to be show-cases for such Hollywood supernovas as Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and Bing Crosby."
The theme for this Lent’s series was: How did “old Hollywood” combine romance and religion? And at least four of the films might make you ask: How many angels dance on the head of a DVD?
Sergeant York (1940) – starring Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, and Joan Leslie
Based on the true story of Alvin York, a hard-livin’ Tennessee yokel who experienced conversion to Christ – and whose conversion made him a conscientious objector when the USA entered the first World War in 1917. His claim was denied, he was drafted – and he went on to become the most decorated American soldier of WWI. This movie came out at a time when Americans were deeply conflicted about the second World War; it had a role in helping American public opinion to embrace the idea of aiding, and then joining, Britain against Nazi Germany.
Going My Way (1944) – starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald
Fr O’Malley ( Crosby), a cool young priest, comes to a dying inner-city parish and gives it – and its irascible older priest (Fitzgerald) – a new lease on life. Bing, of course, sings (with a little help from a scratch boys’ choir and Risë Stevens, a soprano who did her best to make operatic arias “swing”). This movie won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Leo McCarey), Best Supporting Actor (Fitzgerald), and Best Song (“Swinging on a Star”) at the 1945 Academy Awards.
Angels in the Outfield (1951) – starring Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh
A baseball team with a brutish coach (Douglas) goes on a winning streak after a little boy intercedes for them. Guess how God answers the little boy’s prayers?
The Bishop’s Wife (1947) – starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven
The suave embodiment of an angel (Grant) comes to the aid of a hard-pressed bishop (Niven) and his wife (Young) at Christmas.
Cabin in the Sky (1943) – starring Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Rex Ingram, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and his Orchestra
This movie’s cast is entirely Afro-American, at a time when “The American Way of Life” took apartheid – racial segregation – for granted. For that reason, Cabin in the Sky should have been a “B-list” movie; but those who star in it – Lena Horne, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong – count today among the very greatest Stars in the firmament of American culture. And this movie – about the struggle of “de Lawd” (Ingram) for a hapless soul (Eddie “ Rochester” Anderson) – is one of the reasons why.
Lent 2010's Faith on Film series asked: "Who is my neighbour? And how am I a neighbour?" Stephen Reynolds, Senior Associate Priest and originator of this popular series now in its sixth year, introduced each film and led the discussion.
Films viewed were:
- The Mission (1986), starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons
- Don Camillo (1952), starring Fernandel (Italian with English subtitles)
- Wendy and Lucy (2008), starring Michelle Williams
- Doubt (2009), starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
- Babette's Feast (1989), starring Stephane Audran (Danish and French with English subtitles)
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