Great Catholic Movies?

[beckycmarie]

I am looking for titles of good movies with Catholic themes. Here are some that I recommend; I’d love to hear some of your suggestions.

Bella (2006)

Mother Teresa (2003)

Into Great Silence (2005)

The Passion of the Christ (2004)

 

[HappyRevert]

My favorite is the Song of Bernadette

 

[AltarServer09]

ditto on The Song of Bernadette.

Also check out Karol: The Man Who Became Pope. It’s a surprisingly well-made TV movie about the early life of John Paul II. I suggest that everyone watches it.

 

[Simon_X]

Bing Crosby with Going My Way and Bells of St Mary

Cary Grant in The Bishops Wife (more Anglican than Catholic)

Exorcism of Emily Rose

The Robe

The Mission (haven’t seen in a while, so forgot if good or not)

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Boys Town (with Spencer Tracy).
Lillies of the Field (with Sidney Poitier).
A Man for All Seasons (Paul Scofield).
On the Waterfront (Brandon, Karl Malden)
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (directed by Franco Zeffirelli)
Au Revoir, Mes Enfants (Louis Mille)
Bachelor Mother (with Ginger Rogers in a nondancing role)
Joan of Arc (the silent film from the 1920s)
I always loved Ben Hur. . .but a film that I used to watch in my younger years on TV at Easter was “Barabbas” with Anthony Quinn. It was a good movie, not quite as terrific as the above but with some good ‘weepy’ bits.
They’ve never done a version of Ivanhoe that’s as good as the book – too bad. And The Silver Chalice as a book was much better than Paul Newman in the movie (one of his few bad performances, poor fellow!)

Of course everybody will watch The Ten Commandments even if some of it is cheesy. . .ditto with The Greatest Story Ever Told (Max Von Sidow is excellent though he riffed his performance later when he did “Hawaii”).

Sound of Music of course; Carousel is more ‘nonCatholic Christian’ but definitely features a theme of redemption for Billy Bigelow; Camelot of course had the noble King Arthur. . .Gigi ‘turned the tables’ and found the daughter and granddaughter of ‘ladies of the evening’ a true and loving innocent who captured the heart–and the hand–of a hardened ‘roue’. . .

And we’re only scratching the surface here!

 

[LilyM]

‘Quo Vadis’ - I wish there were more movies about early Christianity like this rather than the usual life-of-Christ ones

In recent years ‘The Nativity Story’

There’s a great movie from about 2005/6 called ‘Molokai’ about soon-to-be St Damien who worked with lepers (apparently released in two versions though, one of which was buchered - go for the director’s version).

Double votes for The Mission and Lillies of the Field (and can I add an AAAAAAAAAAAA-MEEEEEEEEEN! )

Other older movies - ‘The Nun’s Story’ (Audrey Hepburn), and ‘The Miracle at Fatima’ (I think that’s what it’s called), ‘The Shoes of the Fisherman’ and ‘The Scarlet and the Black’ (or is it ‘The Red and the Black’ - with Gregory Peck anyways).

 

[rudytoo72]

Mary Mother of God is an awesome movie. It frequently comes on the Hallmark channel, I believe. My kids made me record it and they watch it all the time. I personally thought it was even better than the Nativity Story.

 

[Simon_X]

Kind of hokey, and I should have remembered this one yesterday since I was at this chapel in Santa Fe NM last year. But another Hallmark movie called The Staircase. Was about the spiral staircase built by the mystery man for the Sisters of Loretto in 1873. Starred Barbara Hershey and a little know actor playing the carpenter by the name of William Peterson. You might know him now as TV’s Gil Grissom of CSI.

 

[YADA]

The Mission (haven’t seen in a while, so forgot if good or not)

I think “The Mission” is a great movie … illstrates and protrays the very best and very worst of the Church …

FYI: … “The Mission” made the Vatican’s list of the forty [40] best movies ever made … I think it was in 1995 [or 1996 - I can’t remember which year exactly] also in the Vatican’s list as “Babette’s Feast” … a very Eucharistic themed film …

Another film that I think is very good is “The Edges of the Lord” … not a happy tale - set in WWII Poland …

And though Macedonian set - themed with Moslem/Orthodox context - not catholic … the movie “Before the Rain” is very thought provoking and it includes a scene that references the English/Irish conflict … very thought provoking …

 

[Gertabelle]

Song of Bernadette has been one of my favorites since I first saw it while I was still out of the Church.

A Man For All Seasons is an incredible story of courage and faith.

Quo Vadis is excellent. We watched this (reel to reel) in high school over a couple of days and I remember being so moved!

**Choices of the Heart **was a made-for-television movie (1984?) about a missionary and several Catholic sisters who were murdered in El Salvador. I had to watch this in high school and my parents had to talk me out of my desire to be a missionary martyr afterwards.

There was a wonderful mini-series about St. Teresa of the Andes on EWTN, and I’ve seen clips of it on you tube, but I haven’t been able to find a copy of it anywhere. But it was also inspirational.

Dialogues of the Carmelites is an opera by Poulenc that I saw on PBS many, many years ago (presented by the Australian Opera) that revived my desire to be a martyr It’s about a community of Carmelite nuns that was beheaded during the French Revolution. There was a book about these nuns as well. You might be able to find a video copy of this somewhere.

I have to respectfully disagree with the poster who recommended Brother Sun, Sister Moon :nope: about the lives of St. Francis and St. Clare. They’re portrayed more as hippies than faithful Catholics who are in love with Christ. The true stories of these two saints are extraordinary enough in themselves without trying to change them to fit some political agenda. Clare was not “poor as a church mouse” – she was the daughter of a noble man. She did not receive the habit standing by a waterfall in the middle of the day, but in a chapel in the middle of the night (Palm Sunday!). And she did not “hang out” with the Little Brothers; she was sent by Francis to live in a Benedictine monastery until a monastery was ready for her and the sisters who joined her. All right, I’m done. [stepping off soapbox ]

Bells of St. Mary’s
Going My Way
(can’t go wrong with Father O’Malley )

Lillies of the Field – OK, this one cracks me up because of the story’s connection to the Benedictine community of nuns that used to be in Boulder, CO. The founding prioress of this community swore to her dying day that the movie was not about them, but everyone who knew her had their doubts! Of course, their community came to Boulder in the 1930’s, not the 1960’s but apparently the author of the story had some connection with the community and knew this first prioress, God rest her soul.