Finding God in the Movies: 33 Films of Reel Faith

by Catherine M. Barsotti, Robert K. Johnston

You love movies. Who doesn't?

In Finding God in the Movies Catherine Barsotti and Robert Johnston show you how to combine your love of movies with your desire for God. Introducing thirty-three films of faith--ranging from Tender Mercies to X-Men--the authors identify and explore key biblical themes like forgiveness, faith, and repentance. An enthusiastic guide for the individual movie lover or small group, this resource contains production notes and film synopses, relevant Scripture texts, theological reflection, recommended video clips, discussion questions, and more. It will deepen your fervor for film and for God.

Genres: Nonfiction, Film, Spirituality, Faith, Christianity, Christian Living, Christian

320 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2004

Reviews

[Patti Clement]

I was inspired to pray with movies/film in 2004 when I made my 30 day silent retreat praying the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius in their entirety. Since then, I was given the opportunity to serve on staff with Fr. Peter Callery, S.J. as a Spiritual Director when he gave a 3 day preached retreat using movies throughout to illustrate significant biblical themes. Then I began subbing in the Theology Department at our local all girls Catholic School and they have a Film and Faith semester long course for their seniors that really spoke to me. All of this led me to be attracted to this book title. When I saw this book, I knew I had to have it.

The book is intended to be used as a resource. It takes 33 movies and wonderfully helps us to bring our faith and everyday life together. I love the format...top right of each movie discussion has a list of themes for that movie, then a section on the production notes with a brief description of what the authors think may be unsuitable for certain groups. Then we have a summary of and theological reflection of the film which can really be useful for a facilitator/teacher if you are leading a group discussion about the film. Following that section is a non-exhaustive listing of scripture texts that speak to some of the same themes as the film. After the biblical texts, you will find two sets of discussion questions. The first are general in nature and the second set called, "Clip Conversations", has questions related to particular scenes in the movies with references to the scene by the counter on your player. The final section on each film is called "Bonus Material" which includes info about the making of the film and the reception of it, awards received, personal info about the cast or crew and how they were impacted by the making of the film.

I don't think you will be disappointed if you are looking for a resource guide to help facilitate a group faith discussion about movies, if you are a teacher and are looking for new movies to use, if you are a retreat director being led to share more about faith and film and/or a lay person wanting to have a family movie night with some in depth family discussion about the movie.

[David Natiuk]

It wasn't quite what I was expecting, more of a book on morality in film instead of covering films that have God (or lack thereof) as a central theme. Nothing wrong at all with this approach, but when you're covering topics like Racial Reconciliation in the "X-MEN" film... that's not exactly a film about Faith.

This was published in 2004, but the most recent movies are from 2002. Most are from the 1990's or 2000's, with a handful from earlier... so it's definitely not a recent update. To be fair, the movies that are picked for this book are covered in a number of ways, with a summary, supporting scriptures, discussion questions, and themes to explore.

The authors would certainly be considered "liberal" but they explain their position well at the beginning of the book - that this world is not whitewashed and neither are the movies that explore important themes and open the way for Christian discussion. While I tend to lean in that direction, there are certainly movies I will not watch for their violence or sexual explicitness. These themes can be covered adequately when implied, and without the graphic realism so often chosen by Hollywood.

Bottom-line is that I added a few movies to my queue with renewed interest, but wished for a more focused approach to the movie selections themselves. It's a good idea starter, however, and will continue to look for great movies that explore faith, God, religion and more.

[Karen]

Did you ever try leading one of those film discussion centered around a theological topic? Were you successful AND true to the intent and message of the film? If not, this book is a great resource. It not only included 33 film discussions that are already done for you and divided by topic (forgiveness, reconciliation, family, renewing our faith, etc.), but also teaches you how to create one based on the models. One thing though--the authors insist on being true to the film--in other words, it won't help you if you're trying to force a message on the film and that message isn't there. And a final note, if you're prone to moral agitation over rated "R" films, this book is not for you; the world is broken and sinful, so we can't just have films in the world like "The Sound of Music". You may appreciate though that the authors use both mainstream Hollywood and Indepedent films.

[Jeff]

This is a reference book about movies with speerchul themes. It's a good resource for choosing a flick and leading a group discussion on it, which I did. It's not particularly good to just sit and read, which I thought I would do, but didn't.

[Lindsey]

A great, informative read!

[Jim]

Bought for reference. A nice selection of movies, but pretty thin on the reviews.