Related articles and links |  1 of 2

First, I must define my parameters. I live in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it is quite common for worthy films to be released here months after they were given a limited release in the major American markets; I am therefore counting films, including foreign and independent films, which may have technically qualified for the American top-ten lists of 1998 but did not come to my attention until later. Second, this is a list of personal favorites; this is not a list of the ten "best" films, as if such things could ever be objectively decided, nor is it a list of the "most Christian" films, because I have no idea what such a label would mean—the most family-friendly? the most explicitly theological? the most compassionate? the most holy? I will say, however, that being a Christian means that the films which excite me most tend to be those which touch on some aspect of my faith. Finally, C.S. Lewis once said that no book was any good to him until he had read it at least twice, and that's how I often feel about films. I have seen a few of these films more than once; with others, I am running on distant memories of first impressions, bolstered by whatever thoughts I may have jotted down at the time. But if I saw any of these again in a day, or a week, or a month, this list could be very different.

1. The Dreamlife of Angels (dir. Erick Zonca; R). Life is anything but beautiful for two young women as they look for work and companionship in the south of France. Isa (Elodie Bouchez), we discover, is a generous soul who is able to look beyond the bleak realities surrounding her with hope and love; but her roommate Marie (Natacha Regnier) is caught in a downward spiral of shame and self-loathing. Zonca articulates the differences between the other-centered life and the self-centered life, between compassion and pride, with uncompromising strength.

2. The Sixth Sense (dir. M. Night Shyamalan; PG-13). This extremely well-crafted film requires a second viewing to be fully appreciated. In a year full of overhyped ghost stories, this one is unique in that it pays proper attention to character; Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment, as a child psychologist and his latest patient, strike up an engaging and perfectly believable rapport. Some Christians objected to the film because it supposedly promoted the occult, but they missed the point: among other things, it affirms the biblical idea that perfect love casts out fear.

3. The Matrix (dir. Andy & Larry Wachowski; R). The climax revels in nihilism, and the cybergnostic heroes are dangerously elitist—anybody who doesn't share their secret knowledge may as well die—but this film taps into so many urgent cultural, religious, and meta-technological issues, it's hard to know where to start dissecting it. The key thing, for me, is that the film ultimately casts its lot with reality, however bleak, over and against fantasy, however pleasurable. Prophecies come true even in the "real" world—and thus the film points to an even higher reality.

4. The Insider (dir. Michael Mann; R). Flawless performances all around and an unexpectedly exotic soundtrack help this film to transcend the real-life events on which it is based. Mann's film is a fascinating morality tale that emphasizes, with conviction, the value of such virtues as integrity, courage, and being true to one's word.

5. Run Lola Run (dir. Tom Tykwer; R). German existentialism on amphetamines, chaos theory set to a driving techno beat. Tykwer charts three possible outcomes when Lola makes a split-second decision to rescue her boyfriend; each time, we get flash-forward glimpses of the effect her mad dash down the street has on the lives of those she bumps into. Not particularly deep, but fun and thought-provoking just the same.

next page... |  1 of 2

share this page

January (Web-only) 2000, Vol. 44