Comments on: Essential Films for Theologians: The “Director’s Cut”? (Best of Codex) http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/ My musings on Biblical Studies, Biblical Hebrew, Dead Sea Scrolls, Septuagint, Popular Culture, Religion, Software, and pretty much anything else that interests me! Wed, 17 Apr 2013 10:50:24 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 By: Tyler F. Williams http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-291965 Tyler F. Williams Sun, 06 Mar 2011 04:41:37 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-291965 Great list Eric, though I couldn’t get away with that list in the context I teach… especially something like Antichrist! (I have shown Frailty as part of a faith and film club).

Are you following a particular theme through your course?

Perhaps something like Dogma would add some levity to your list! :-)

]]> By: Eric Robert Wilkinson http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-291920 Eric Robert Wilkinson Sat, 05 Mar 2011 19:19:55 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-291920 Well, I’m teaching a course called FAITH & CINEMA as part of Portland State University’s Chiron Studies program (Student-taught courses) in Spring 2011 and this is my syllabus:
1. WISE BLOOD (John Huston, 1979)
2. CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS (Woody Allen, 1989)
3. BAD LIEUTENANT (Abel Ferrara, 1992)
4. HOUSEHOLD SAINTS (Nancy Savoca, 1993)
5. DEAD MAN WALKING (Tim Robbins, 1995)
6. THE APOSTLE (Robert Duvall, 1997)
7. FRAILTY (Bill Paxton, 2002)
8. Tbd
9. THE RAPTURE (Michael Tolkin, 1991)
10. ANTICHRIST (Lars von Trier, 2009)
11. SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (Charlie Kaufman, 2008)

I had a plan for Week 8 but I’m altering it and still haven’t figured out what to replace it with…

]]> By: Tyler F. Williams http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-291588 Tyler F. Williams Wed, 02 Mar 2011 02:56:11 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-291588 Hey Sean,

I agree Bad Lieutenant is a great film about forgiveness and redemption; Keitel is fantastic (and the Cage remake is horrible!). The Addiction I haven’t seen; I’ll have to put it on my list.

Hey Tyler, I thought long and hard about putting a Bergman on the list, but wanted to make it more accessible (if I did add one, it would have been The Seventh Seal). I would seriously consider the Jobian A Serious Man — I love the Coen brothers. I haven’t seen some of the others… Cannibal Holocaust sounds intriguing, though I’m not sure it would make my list even if I managed to get through it…

]]> By: Tyler Hamilton http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-291371 Tyler Hamilton Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:52:13 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-291371 Hello Prof. Williams,

Now I am not a Theologian(yet heh heh)but here is a few which fits. I am surprised no Bergman on this list.
-The Seventh Seal
-Wild Strawberries
-The Virgin Spring
And for others:
-Ikiru
-Interiors
-Crimes and Misdemeanors
-September(Most of Woody Allen’s films)
-Cannibal Holocaust (If you can stomach it)
-Men Behind the Sun
-A Serious Man
-The Adventures of Mark Twain
-The Bird with the Crystal Plummage

Since you mentioned Unforgiven
-The Great Silence (Cult Spaghetti Western, rare but with an unconventional thoughtful ending you will not forget.)
-Keoma (another great one)
I could go on but yeah there are some to explore if your interested. I second Abel Ferrara’s work.
-Tyler Hamilton

]]> By: sean gallagher http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-291191 sean gallagher Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:19:18 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-291191 Hey Tyler,
I’ve long trumpeted Abel Ferrara’s work as having some profound theological grappling. Two films from the 90′s,in particular: Bad Lieutenant and The Addiction (if anyone wants to view his entire corpus there was a porn film early on, and he lost me after x-mas in this decade).
Bad Lieutenant has to be seen in its NC-17 version, a blockbuster-version was cut but shouldn’t have been. A cop in the midst of a downward spiral of addiction, gambling debt, abuse and corruption lands on the case of a nun’s brutal rape. She refuses to name her attacker, but talks of forgiveness and redemption, and the very bad catholic cop struggles with the strangeness & offense of what forgiveness means.

The Addiction is a vampire film. A NYU philosophy grad student who is working on evil ends up getting bitten. But in this world, vampires are not monsters broken away from humanity, but are in continuity with us. They ask their victims to say no, but no one does. It is not because of their charisma, but because of utter affinity. There is a disturbing kind of possession scene at the end that is kind of amazing.

I showed The Addiction to a graduate IVCF group, and some were pretty disturbed. The Bad Lieutenant is truly disgusting, in really essential ways. I recommend them both.

]]> By: Daniel Wingfoot http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/2011/02/22/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/comment-page-1/#comment-36253 Daniel Wingfoot Sun, 19 Nov 2006 14:23:44 +0000 http://biblical-studies.ca/blog/wp/2006/11/19/essential-films-for-theologians-the-%e2%80%9cdirector%e2%80%99s-cut%e2%80%9d/#comment-36253 Every person’s list will vary of course, depending on his or her understanding of theology. I tend to think we are in an “end-of-days” time period, so I look to see how movies are shaping thoughts and perceptions and what messages are being projected subliminally. Thus, some of my most important movies for theologians in the past few dacades are such films as Close Encounters of the Third Kind with its obvious allusion to the Second Coming or Exodus with its focus on the recall of Israel to the Holy Land. Perhaps it’s simply my overactive imagination (and hope for the coming Kingdom), but I see a world being prepared for Biblical things. God seems to be shouting to get our attention in many ways, not just in church.

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