The 10 Most Redeeming Films of 2004Saviors were everywhere at the multiplex last year, with everything from superheroes to the Savior himself—all with a story of redemption to share with the world.By Mark Moring and Jeffrey Overstreet |
posted 1/25/2005
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Seems like there were saviors—and a Savior—all over the big screen in 2004. They came in all shapes and sizes—from a comic-book superhero to a kind-hearted music teacher, from a courageous soul trying to save over 1,000 of his fellow men to the King of Kings dying to save all of mankind.
The films depicting these characters were all stories of redemption. They certainly weren't all "feel-good" movies which left you bouncing out of the theater with a smile on your face (though a few of them certainly did just that). But they were all stories that communicated truth, love, grace and redemption—and they're the movies that make up our first annual list of The 10 Most Redeeming Films of the year.
This won't be our only Top Ten list gleaned from 2004's movies. Next week we'll post our Critics' Choices for the Top Ten Films of the Year—a list that very well might be a good predictor of how things might shake down at the upcoming Academy Awards.
But for now, we present—in alphabetical order—our list of 2004's most redeeming films. Note that some of these are still showing in theaters, so you've still got a chance to catch them on the big screen.
America's Heart & Soul
The glory of this film—a documentary that doesn't feel like one—is its simplicity and authenticity. Sure, cinematographic guru Louis Schwartzberg made it look beautiful, but it's the people—everyday Americans, doing everyday things, from the ordinary to the extraordinary—who make it feel beautiful. In 25 vignettes profiling all sorts of Americans, we meet everyone from Thomas "Roudy" Roudebush, a Colorado wrangler who found new life after kicking alcoholism; Appalachian rug weaver Minnie Yancey of Kentucky, whose simple love for the mountains is expressed with poetic grace; and Dick and Rick Hoyt, able-bodied father and wheelchair-bound son who race triathlons together—a story sure to make you smile and bring you to tears. The last couple of years—a controversial war in Iraq, an ugly presidential campaign—have yielded enough cynicism about America. But this film is a great ride through many of the things that remind of what's great about America.
Click here for CT Movies Review.
Finding Neverland
The great fantasy storytellers C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien had a theory—that fairy tales, unlike other kinds of stories, point to things that we know, but have not yet experienced. They give us a sort of elementary language for exploring the mysteries that God has not yet revealed to us—for example, life beyond death. Finding Neverland is a remarkably beautiful film about the author of Peter Pan—J. M. Barrie—and how his fiction brought comfort to the children of an ailing widow. It's a story about ordinary human beings finding their own expressions for those intuitions of glory that God wrote upon their hearts. Johnny Depp gives a marvelous, delicate, understated performance as Barrie, and Kate Winslet is lovely as Sylvia Llewelyn-Davies, the widow he befriends. They portray a beautiful relationship, one that stays true to history and remains platonic. In the end, children and grownups alike are given a glimpse of what lies beyond death for those who have faith. This film may not arrive at the particulars of salvation, but it's headed in the right direction.
Click here for CT Movies Review.
Hotel Rwanda
Some are praising this as the year's most "important" film, meaning that it shows Western moviegoers things they need to know, a piece of history that went past almost unnoticed—in this case, the genocidal slaughter of almost 1 million people a decade ago in Rwanda. We should see this film and meditate on the devastating death toll in the vicious civil war between the Hutu and the Tutsi tribes. We should consider how we could minister to the needs of nations in similar distress. Terry George has distilled this horror story into a fantastic narrative, and actor Don Cheadle brings it to life, portraying the amazing, true story of Paul Rusesabagina, who put his life on the line to save the residents of his hotel as his neighbors became motivated by murderous hatred and prejudice. Like Schindler's List, it's a sobering story. But it is also inspiring. It reminds us how evil rises incrementally, and how vigilant we must be in order to resist it. It stirs us to show courageous mercy, to err on the side of urgent love rather than hesitate and pay the price.
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