Best Catholic films?

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High folks:

While I don’t think a Roman Catholic Cinema movement has arisen as has an Evangelical Cinema and even an LDS Cinema–there have been some notable Catholic-themed films over the years. Can folks name some of the best of these? For the sake of this thread a ‘Catholic’ film will be one which:
  1. Has at least one major character who is notably Roman Catholic or based upon Roman Catholic interpretations of that person;
OR
  1. Is about the Roman Catholic Church, it’s history, or it’s members;
AND
  1. Is faith-affirming, intended to encourage persons who view it in their lives based upon orthodox Christian and Catholic teaching as it is generally understood.
Please, no Catholic-Church-bashing films, films intended to challenge the RCC on some controversial issue, or films designed to shock the sensibilities of devout Catholic or Christians–as in the current film ‘Religulous’.

Catholics, Non-Catholics and/or Catholic converts/reverts: you might consider how any films you might name or see posted affected your view of the Catholic Church and whether such films helped to attract you to the RCC.

Thanks!
 
“The Spitfire Grill” would be one that promotes the Catholic reverence for the person; it was, in fact, financed by the USCCB and is a lovely film.

“The Trouble with Angels” - It presents the Church - especially a Mother Superior of a religious community - in a very good light and is very amusing at the same time.
 
I always loved “The Scarlet and the Black” starring Gregory Peck (I think it was a made-for-TV movie).

“A Man for All Seasons” about St. Thomas More is a classic.
 
Aw, I was going to say A Man for all Seasons!

Ok…The Passion of the Christ
 
“Song of Bernadette” is one of them. Better yet read the novel by the same title from Franz Werfel which inspired the movie- this was the best read I’'ve done in years.
 
I know what you mean.

I just saw *Molokai *- about Blessed Damien. A wonderful movie, but it does, unnecessarily IMHO, paint some (though not all) of the Church hierarchy as being really hard hearted and deliberately and maliciously obstructive.

On the other hand … gimme Lilies of the Field any day - when that Mother Superior starts talking about how her nuns got sent from Europe to the middle of nowhere in the desert of America it is just awe-inspiring.
 
Two of my favorates are
Going My Way and
Bells of Saint Mary’s
👍 👍

Also there is Boys Town.

Peace
James
 
“Bella” written and directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde and starring Eduardo Verástegui. A very compelling film which has won major acclaim.

Blessings
 
There is a film, circa 1940’s, that features a girl who always prays to St. Anne and who has a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the Blessed Mother. It’s wonderful, but I can’t remember the name of it. St. Anne may, or may not be in the title. Does anyone know what movie I am talking about?

The Nun’s Story. It brought me back to the Church.
 
The Italians made, during their neorealist movement, some amazing films that have religious characters and/or a self-sacrificial theme:* [Rome, Open City (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_Open_City) by Roberto Rossellini (1945)
More recently:* Not of This World by Giuseppe Piccioni (1999; a nun finds an abandoned baby in a park.)
  • I’m Not Scared by Niccolò Ammaniti (2001; based on a true story and the biblical story of the miracle of Lazarus)
Non-Italian films:
  • Into Great Silence by Philip Gröning (2005; an absolutely amazing film about the Carthusian monks)
  • Bella by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde (2006; a film indirectly about abortion)
 
Some good ones:

Scarlet and the Black
The Shoes of the Fisherman
The Nun’s Story
Come to the Stable
The Straight Story
Passion of the Christ
Ben Hur
Quo Vadis
The Robe
Ten Commandments
Therese
Into Great Silence
The Sound of Music
Karol: A Man Who Became Pope
Karol: The Pope, The Man
 
Two of my favorates are
Going My Way and
Bells of Saint Mary’s
Click to expand...
Also there is Boys Town.
Click to expand...
Peace
James
Click to expand...
Agreed! 👍

Here are some more classics:

The Left Hand of God, starring Humphrey Bogart as a ne’er-do-well who impersonates a Catholic priest at a mission in the mountains of China during the communist uprising. Shows poignantly the devotion of the Chinese converts and the transforming effect of God’s grace on said ne’er-do-well. (Don’t worry, he never celebrates the sacraments).

and

I Confess, starring Montgomery Clift (as a priest), Anne Baxter and Karl Malden and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. A suspenseful exploration of the seal of the confessional in the context of a confessed murder.
 
PaulDupre said:
I Confess, starring Montgomery Clift (as a priest), Anne Baxter and Karl Malden and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. A suspenseful exploration of the seal of the confessional in the context of a confessed murder.
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‘The Rosary Murders’, starring Donald Sutherland, is similarly about a murderer who confesses to a priest.
 
The Mission

Greatest. Film Score. EVER.
Also, Jeremy Irons played a fantastic Jesuit Father and Robert DeNiro a great struggling reformed slaver and mercenary.
 
chris_molter said:
The Mission

Greatest. Film Score. EVER.
Also, Jeremy Irons played a fantastic Jesuit Father and Robert DeNiro a great struggling reformed slaver and mercenary.
Click to expand...
I was going to add that one. I can’t beleive that it took that long.

I own the DVD. I LOVE THIS MOVIE.

Actually, I love most of the ones on this list.
 
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