Jesus at the Movies
Mondays, 7-8 pm (EST)
October 6, 13, 20, 27
Via Zoom
Fr. Kerry Walters, Facilitator
Throughout the history of Christianity, Jesus has been a popular subject in the visual arts and literature. The advent of cinema brought him to the big screen. The earliest movie, La Passion, an 11-minute silent film, appeared in 1897. Since then, there have been scores of Christian-themed movies. Some are quite good; many—the Left Behind franchise, for example, or the God’s Not Dead series—are quite awful.
In this minicourse, we’ll focus on four of the very best that invite us to explore the Christ mystery, the fragility and strength of faith, the human condition, suffering, and redemption. None of these films offer canned piety or easy conclusions. But they expand the mind and, I believe, enrich our spiritual journeys.
Course participants will be asked to view the four films on their own; all are available either on YouTube or Amazon Prime). We’ll gather via Zoom to discuss them in four 60 minute sessions. Additionally, I’ll send short (10 minute) videos before each of our Zoom gatherings that put the films in context and pose some questions that can guide our discussions.
October 6: Jesus of Montreal, 1989 (Dir: Denys Arcand; 118 minutes; YouTube)
October 13: Winter Light, 1963 (Dir: Ingmar Bergman; 121 minutes; YouTube)
October 20: Priest, 1995 (Dir: Antonia Bird; 144 minutes; Amazon Prime)
October 27: Last Days in the Desert, 2015 (Dir: Rodrigo García; 139 minutes; Amazon Prime)
