Related articles and links |  1 of 5

This just in: "Religious leaders" have declared Groundhog Day "the most spiritual film of all time."

Perhaps the question should be posed to a larger body of religious leaders. Do you have any better suggestions?

Speaking of "spiritual films," the Promontory Film Critics Circle has voted on the winning films for its Best of 2003 presentation. An association of more than twenty Christian print and online film critics, the PFCC chose the inspiring, heartbreaking documentary Stevie (now available on DVD) as this year's winner of the distinction 'Most Significant Exploration of Spiritual Issues.'

The runner-up for the award was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which won the honors for Best Narrative Film, while the crowd-pleasing favorite Spellbound (also available on DVD) took the Best Documentary prize. To view the rest of the winners in acting, writing, direction, and other categories, visit the PFCC's home page.

In other news, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ has inspired a campaign to counter its effect. Jews and Christians are setting up lectures and other activities in order to "mute" the film's influence.

Meanwhile, others are discussing whether or not the film should be rated NC-17. Lorenza Muñoz at the Los Angeles Times explains, "The body on the screen is beaten to a blood-drenched pulp—flesh ripped by a cat-o'-nine-tails and rising in welts at the force of the blows. Leather sandals splash and soak in puddles of blood. It is an orgy of pain and violence. A viewing last week of a still-unfinished version suggests it may raise concerns about the unremitting violence of its images."

Saved! —a satire set in a Christian high school

Mary (Jena Malone of Donnie Darko and Cold Mountain) is a senior at American Eagle Christian High School who finds herself stuck in a difficult circumstance. She believes passionately in Jesus. But now it seems her savior might have betrayed her.

Mary believes that she had a visitation from Jesus himself, and that he told her to "convert" her homosexual friend Dean (Chad Faust) into a heterosexual. The way she decides to do this is to seduce him and give up her virginity. Shockingly, this ploy fails. Mary gets pregnant, and Dean is shipped off to a camp where they will try to force the homosexuality out of him. Back in the corridors of the Christian high school, Mary now must face the persecution of her "righteous" classmates—a cruel, judgmental, and gay-hating crowd.

The worst of her persecutors, the prima donna of the school's popular crowd, is Hilary Faye, a ruthlessly manipulative senior played by A Walk to Remember's Mandy Moore. Hilary Faye is the lead singer of the school's popular pop group—the Christian Jewels—and now she has turned against Mary, who is one of her backup singers. Meanwhile, the pop-singing egomaniac's brother Roland (Macaulay Culkin of Home Alone and Party Monster), a cynic confined to a wheelchair, is taking a different path, pairing up with a disliked Jewish girl named Cassandra (Eva Amurri) and looking to rebel against his Christian community.

The situation is made worse by the fact that Mary's mother (Mary-Louise Parker of TV's The West Wing), reportedly the number one Christian interior decorator, has a crush on one of the teachers, Pastor Skip (Martin Donovan of Amateur). But Pastor Skip's son Patrick (Patrick Fugit of Almost Famous) has designs on winning Mary's heart.

Directed by Brian Dannelly from a script he wrote with Michael Urban, Saved! is certain to raise eyebrows and stoke the fires of moviegoer debate. The film reportedly ends up affirming the existence of a benevolent deity, but ends up suggesting that God wants Christians to give up any divisive convictions about sexual orientation and just become a more tolerant community that embraces everybody's differences.

next page... |  1 of 5

February (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48