M. Leary, co-editor of the excellent online publication Filmwell, has compiled a list of movies with religious themes that he believes would make great fodder for classroom discussion.
“When teaching courses on basic concepts in religious studies and comparative religion, I often find myself wondering what resources the history of cinema has to offer the classroom,” he begins. “I often wish I could . . . integrate more cinema into the learning experience.”
To that end, he has compiled a list of 43 suggestions, beginning with Andrei Rublev (Tarkovsky, 1966), saying “This challenging film tracks a Russian Orthodox iconographer through the turbulent history of Russia, suggesting some complicated things about religion and history along the way. It is a virtual treasury of thoughts on iconography, politics, and religion.”
Others on his list include The Apostle, Babette’s Feast, Ghandi, Lilies of the Field, The Passion of the Christ, and last year’s Coen Brothers film, A Serious Man.
Check out the list, and let us know what you’d add to it – or subtract from it – and why.
