In light of all the talk today about the AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies list, I thought this was an interesting counterpoint:
In 1995, to commemorate 100 years of film-making, the Vatican made a list of what it called “Some Important Films.” The list was divided into three areas–Religion, Values and Art.
The list is below the fold…
Religion:
Andrei Rublev
Babette’s Feast
Ben-Hur (The Chuck Heston version, I presume, as opposed to the old silent, although I’ve actually seen both…) *
The Flowers of St. Francis
Francesco
The Gospel According to St. Matthew
La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ
A Man for All Seasons
The Mission
Monsieur Vincent
Nazarin
Ordet
The Passion of Joan of Arc *
The Sacrifice
Therese
Values:
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The Bicycle Thief *
The Burmese Harp
Chariots of Fire
Decalogue
Dersu Uzala
Gandhi
Intolerance
It’s a Wonderful Life *
On the Waterfront
Open City
Schindler’s List *
The Seventh Seal *
Tree of Wooden Clogs
Wild Strawberries
Art:
Citizen Kane *
8 1/2
Fantasia *
Grand Illusion
La Strada *
The Lavender Hill Mob *
The Leopard
Little Women (Which version? I saw the most recent one with Winona Ryder…)
Metropolis *
Modern Times *
Napoleon
Nosferatu (Presumably the silent version…) *
Stagecoach
2001: A Space Odyssey *
The Wizard of Oz *
As usual when I’m discussing these sorts of lists, I couldn’t resist bragging about my depth of cinematic experience, so I’ve marked the ones I’ve seen with an asterisk (*). Except in this case, I don’t have a lot to brag about. As you can see, I haven’t seen many of the Vatican’s faves, especially those in the “Religion” category. The biggest reason why I’ve seen so few has little to do with subject matter, however; the problem is that so many are foreign movies. Foreign movies are a regrettable hole in my movie-going background… aside from the few I had to watch in my History of Film cycle at the U of U, I just haven’t seen very many, and I rarely seek them out, either.
Chalk it up to typical American parochialism, I guess. Would it help if I mentioned that several of these are films I’ve long meant to see and just haven’t gotten around to? Even a little?
A very interesting list. The religion and values sections are not surprising (to the extent I recognize the titles), but the “art” films are pretty surprising. Killer broomsticks? Vampires? Computers Gone Wild? The Wizard of F@%!ing Oz? We’re talking more pagan motifs than the Bible!
This is why I love JP2. Under the white robe there’s still an underground theater hepcat. We will never see his like again.
Doesn’t seem likely, does it? Certainly not given the swing toward conservative fundamentalism that the whole damn planet seems to be taking these days.
I think the “art” section is really nothing more than a sampling of acknowledged classics; the same titles routinely show up on every serious film critic’s and film association’s “greatest” lists. Well, except for The Lavender Hill Mob. That’s a very charming movie (if you haven’t seen it, it’s one of Alec Guinness’ best), but it seems out of place alongside these other “big” movies.
the 1933 version of LITTLE WOMEN… By the way, I have shown all 45 films in the last parish where I worked: St. Thomas Aquinas in Baltimore, Maryland with study guides…
Thank you, Father, for clearing that up. I’m always surprised when an older blog entry like this one gets a comment. Nice to see that my archives attract some attention sometimes, and welcome to my little soap box.