Movies that inspire me

I have a list of movies that inspire me to listen to God.

Dances With Wolves
Of course this inspires me, why else would I have John Dunbar as my avatar.
A man who leaves all behind and becomes part of a different culture, and yet finds himself is what I think God asks us to do. We become a new person when we decide that God is better than what we thought was our way.

The Guardian (2006)
Another Kevin Costner movie. Made me want a younger body so I could go train with the USCG.
So much of the movie, I saw God showing how to save a life. The US Coast Guard rescue swimmer program could teach a few of us how to save lives. Being able to sacrifice yourself for another sure sounds like Jesus' story to me.

Here is the opening line of the movie:

There is a legend of a man who lives beneath the sea. He is a fisher of men, the last hope of all those who have been left behind. Many survivors claim to have felt his gripping hands beneath them; pushing them up to the surface; whispering strength until help could arrive. But this, of course, is only a legend.

I like this, I cried as I heard this.

The Star Wars Saga:
Goes without much to tell, that there is a Force that connects us all and depending on how we relate to that Force, we can do good or evil.

The Matrix Trilogy:
Most people can't get past the violence to see that Neo is the One to redeem both the machine and human world. I love in the last movie where Neo goes to the "enemy" and sacrifices himself for the greater good. He is even crucified by the machine as he re enters The Matrix. Cool!

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Every time I watch this movie, I thank God for letting me get "Out There". Like Quasimodo in the movie, I felt that if I could be out there among the people realizing how lucky they are to free. Yes, I did feel trapped by the religion of Christianity. I also cheer, with some regret, at the bad guy falling off the church and dying. But I think that is a good representation of how the IC is about to fall and the return of the Spirit will be there.

The Superman Trilogy:
Superman the Movie, Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut, and Superman Returns

This full out attempt to make Superman (Kal-El) into the Messiah is wonderful and inspires me to be a hero to my family. If you have not seen SII:TRDC, it changes the whole story. Ignor the lame III and badly edited IV. Jor-El as the God Father (yes, he is the God figure) appears in #2 instead of the mom recordings, the power of the Father resurrects the Son instead of just finding a crystal and regaining his super powers. Much more meaningful.
The saga ends in Superman Returns and finishes the story that began so many years ago, with Superman still helping us, but not ruling over us. WE become an equal partner to the one with the super powers.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Gary Cottongim on March 23, 2009 at 3:40am: "TO END ALL WARS" starring Robert Carlyle and Keifer Sutherland is a MUST SEE for every Christian. Trust me on this one: you won't be disappointed.

Peace; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven McDade on March 23, 2009 at 11:25am: Have had To End All Wars on my Netfilx cue. Will move it to the top. Thanks; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Davey on March 23, 2009 at 12:07pm: Yeah to End all wars is quite the film.Don't find many christians today who love there enemies,and do good to them who persecute them.There slogan is you need to fight for God and country.The only time evil succeds is when good men do nothing.NEVER MIND the AMONITION to HEAP COALS OF FIRE on there heads. peace davey; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by D. Scott Reichard on March 23, 2009 at 12:41pm: Star wars and Matrix along with the Bourne Trilogy are my favorite. Gladiator is likely my top movie of all time. Thanks for the post.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Gary Cottongim on March 23, 2009 at 10:16pm: Steven McDade said:
Have had To End All Wars on my Netfilx cue. Will move it to the top. Thanks

Please let us know what you think after you watch it...

And you are right, Cheza... it IS based on a true story.

I also loved the Matrix trilogy as well, with part one being far and away my favorite.

Here are some other all-time favorites of mine:

JFK
Life is Beautiful
Conspiracy Theory
Enemy of the State
The Shawshank Redemption

And on a lighter note:

Monty Python's Life of Brian

NOTE: Some may find parts of this flick offensive, but anyone who has seen it will agree that the comedy troupe does a splendid job poking fun at religion and religious hypocrisy... which is one reason I found it humorous. :-D

Peace; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Origen on March 23, 2009 at 10:49pm: Steven. What a fantastic thread!! Being that my day job is a film director, I find this thread particularly interesting.

Absolutely LOVE your list!! I'm a HUGE Superman fan, and a lot of it has to do with the amazing Christ-parallels in it. Your summary of the mythos and it's parallels are awesome!!!

Also love Disney's "Hunchback". IMHO, the most underrated Disney film.

I've got a huge list of favorite films so I couldn't begin to list them. But the films that really inspire me spirtually are:

1. Magnolia
The greatest film about "Grace" I've ever seen. This film completely illustrated to me the concept of God's beautiful Grace to even the lowest of us. Incredible.

2. The Last Temptation of Christ
Biblically accurate? NO WAY! But it's not supposed to be. It's a fictional elaboration on the story of Christ and an incredible and moving exploration of the duality of his divinity and his humanity. The Christ character in "Last Temptation" is, IMHO, the most relatable personification of our savior in modern literature.

3. Raymond Bernard's 5-hour epic "Les Misérables" (1934)
The story from "Les Misérables" is about as inspiring as it can possibly get, and this 5-hour french version from 1934 is by far the best adaptation of it ever filmed (There have been over a dozen). The movie is available from Criterion and is divided into 3 parts. If you get a chance (and can handle subtitles.....or speak french) get it for sure. Captivating from start to finish. And a story completely rife with the Restoration of All Things....which, I guess would make sense considering that Victor Hugo, the author of the book, was a Universalist.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven McDade on March 24, 2009 at 9:34am: Wanted to add something else here. My "church" for many years was a job as a projectionist for a movie theater. I prefer movies over most television shows, mostly because there are no ad breaks in the movies. So I learned about God in my college age years, didn't go but two terms, from the movies.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven McDade on March 24, 2009 at 9:43am: Another favorite inspirational movie:

The Abyss (Director's Cut)

Finding a life form different than us, nearly destroy us because of our actions, but because of the sacrifice of one man who finds a way to forgive his past, they don't destroy us.
Made during the tensions with USSR, a rescue mission (man, I'm drawn to rescue movies) to see if there are survivors of a submarine accident, one of the NAVY Seals starts to go crazy.

But the first person to encounter the underwater aliens sees their beauty, but the Seal sees differently.

To quote Lindsey Brigman: We all see what we want to see. Coffey looks and he sees Russians. He sees hate and fear. You have to look with better eyes than that.

Most people that read the Bible without learning that it's a map, a love story are like Coffey. You have to look with better eyes.

I also love that there is something not like us that sees our good deeds and was willing to forgive our bad things and not kill us even though they could.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Deb on March 24, 2009 at 10:54am: One of my favorite all time inspirational movies that I have seen this past year is AUGUST RUSH. If you haven't seen it.........please do! :-)

I can't wait for THE SHACK to come out as a movie! :-)

~Deb~; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Leah on April 1, 2009 at 1:40am: I love this thread.

The most inspiring and revelant movie to me is Narnia, and Narnia: Prince Caspian

Wonderful, timely and timeless

The song "The Call" says it all:
It started out as a feeling
Which then grew into a hope
Which then turned into a quiet thought
Which then turned into a quiet word

And then that word grew louder and louder
Til it was a battle cry

I'll come back
When you call me
No need to say goodbye

Just because everything's changing
Doesn't mean it's never
Been this way before

All you can do is try to know
Who your friends are
As you head off to the war

Pick a star on the dark horizon
And follow the light

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When it's over
No need to say good bye

Now we're back to the beginning
It's just a feeling and no one knows yet
But just because they can't feel it too
Doesn't mean that you have to forget

Let your memories grow stronger and stronger
Til they're before your eyes

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

You'll come back
When they call you
No need to say good bye

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kMeVT-13CU

I think that even though C.S. Lewis did not write The Chronicals of Narnia as a Christian allegory, the Lord had His way, hahahaha.

Leah; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven McDade on April 6, 2009 at 8:30pm: I have another one for you and it is about Jesus.

"The Miracle Maker"
An animated movie using Russian stop motion puppets and Welsh cell animation.
Much better, I think, than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ

Miracle Maker features the voice of Ralph Finnes as Jesus. Parables and inner thoughts of the people are done in cell animation while the "real" world is the stop motion. The story is not preachy and really makes me see Jesus and understand what it was like to live during that time in History.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steven McDade on May 25, 2009 at 10:07am: Ok, conversation is running dry, but I just wanted to say to those that suggested "To End All Wars"...

THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a great movie and shows what can happen when you really do what Jesus said to do.

I have a friend who is very much into WWII history and I know that he would enjoy the movie and hopefully will change his mind about what it takes to follow Jesus and not just pay Him lip service.; ▶ Reply to This