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Favorite Christian Historical Movies
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Dare I say......Hacksaw Ridge - amazing film, although pretty graphic.
...Faith Like Potatoes - pretty amazing testimony.
Or, are these to recent to be "historical"?
Chariots of Fire is also very good, though when I bought the film I realized I had only seen the "edited for TV" version.
Stan wrote: "Or, are these to recent to be 'historical'?"A common rule of thumb with written fiction is that a novel or story is historical fiction if it's set before the author's lifetime. Thus, a novel like Ivanhoe or The Scarlet Letter fits the definition. One like David Copperfield would not, though it deals with a time that's "historical" by our standards.
Movies, of course, are an art form that doesn't have an "author." (Screenplays do; but a movie itself has a lot more elements than its screenplay.) But maybe we could say, to keep the definitions somewhat parallel, that when the filmmakers are making a movie that's set roughly in their own time, it's not an "historical," but it is when they deliberately hark back to a setting that's noticeably earlier than their own? For example, by that standard, Little Women would be a historical movie (even though Alcott's book is not a historical novel), while It's a Wonderful Life would not be, though today most of us only know its time period as history.
Don't know if that thought is helpful to anybody, but hopefully it is! :-)
Then, by that definition, Hacksaw Ridge and Chariots of Fire would qualify as historical for many of us, while Faith Like Potatoes probably would not.
Stan wrote: "Then, by that definition, Hacksaw Ridge and Chariots of Fire would qualify as historical for many of us, while Faith Like Potatoes probably would not."Yes, based on the Goodreads description of the original book, Faith Like Potatoes: The Story of a Farmer Who Risked Everything for God (first published in 1998), and the IMDB description of the 2006 movie (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0850667/ ), it does sound like the filmmakers were working with events that were, and still are, more or less contemporary. Angus Buchan was born in 1947; I'd assume the events in his book must have happened no earlier than the 80s. I don't think anyone in the movie industry in 2006 thought of the 80s as "history" in anything but the most literal sense. (Literally, of course, even events that happened yesterday, or five minutes ago, are "history;" but that literal sense isn't useful for genre classifications.)
On the whole, I don't watch a lot of movies. But where Christian historical films are concerned, my personal favorite has to be Amazing Grace (2006, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454776/ ), a powerful dramatization of the life of William Wilberforce and his fight against slavery, starring Ioan Gruffudd. Though not necessarily made by a Christian company (I'm not familiar with Bristol Bay Productions), it treats Wilberforce's faith very positively --though you wouldn't get any hint of it from the IMDB description. :-(
Werner wrote: "On the whole, I don't watch a lot of movies. But where Christian historical films are concerned, my personal favorite has to be Amazing Grace (2006, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454776/ ), a power..."Good film! I enjoyed that one too. Just didn't think about previously.
Werner wrote: "On the whole, I don't watch a lot of movies. But where Christian historical films are concerned, my personal favorite has to be Amazing Grace (2006, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454776/ ), a power..."I have also seen this film, and liked it a lot.
Faith Like Potatoes is a big favorite but I did not concider it historical. Here are some of mine that are:1. Paul, Apostle of Christ
2. Daniel
3. The Legend of Silent Night
But my wife votes for The Ten Commandments, hands down.
Stan wrote: "Then, by that definition, Hacksaw Ridge and Chariots of Fire would qualify as historical for many of us, while Faith Like Potatoes probably would not."I liked Faith Like Potatoes, it was a good movie.
Luther, was one of my favorite Christian films: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0309820/...Alfred Molina plays Tetzel so well!
Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?
Nancy wrote: "Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?"The classic novel Quo Vadis (1896) by Polish Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewicz, which focuses on Nero's persecution of Rome's Christian community, was adapted as a movie in 1951: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043949/ . Also, Lloyd Douglas' 1942 novel The Robe, which climaxes with the martyrdom of Christian believers under Caligula, was adapted for film in 1953 (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046247/ ). I haven't seen either of these adaptations myself, so can't vouch for their quality; but they were generally well received at the time they were produced.
Werner wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?"The classic novel Quo Vadis (1896) by Polish Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewic..."
I saw "The Robe" several decades ago, so I don't remember it very well. My two all-time favorite historical Christian films are "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben Hur" with Charleton Heston.
Beverly wrote: "Werner wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?"The classic novel Quo Vadis (1896) by Polish Nobel laureate He..."
I have not seen the older version of Ben Hur, but I really enjoyed the newer version. The Inquiry (2006) is an Italian film about a tribune sent by the emperor to investigate claims of the divinity of Christ. It has been a while since I saw it, but I think I remember enjoying it.
Werner wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?"The classic novel Quo Vadis (1896) by Polish Nobel laureate Henryk Sienkiewic..."
Maybe I should watch them again. I watched The Robe, as a teenager, didn't get much out of it. Thanks.
Beverly wrote: "Werner wrote: "Nancy wrote: "Are there any good Christian movies about the Emperors of Rome who persecuted Christians?"The classic novel Quo Vadis (1896) by Polish Nobel laureate He..."
YES! The Ten Commandments was one of my favorites, of all time. It's still very good. I do need to look into Quo Vadis.
On historical films with a more recent setting, I too loved 'Amazing Grace' on Wilberforce, but I also recently re-watched the 1993 film 'Shadowlands', with a young Anthony Hopkins playing C S Lewis, on the BBC and found it moving. A powerful film about reconciliation, not explicitly Christian, is 'The Railway Man' (2013, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2058107/), with Colin Firth.
I agree that Shadowlands (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108101/ ) is genuinely moving, and I'd rank it right up there artistically. My only criticism is that it isn't very explicit about Lewis' insight near the end and its implications, so that the meaning of Lewis' spiritual struggle over his wife's death is rather blurred unless you already know his life story. That's probably related to the fact that this is another film where the filmmakers weren't necessarily Christians themselves.
I'm sure you are right, Werner.It does mean, though, that the film was accessible to a wider audience, some of whom might have gone on to read Lewis's books.
Peter wrote: "I'm sure you are right, Werner.It does mean, though, that the film was accessible to a wider audience, some of whom might have gone on to read Lewis's books."
Yes, anything that publicizes Lewis' work is a plus!
Christian Goodreaders
Books mentioned in this topic
The Robe (other topics)Quo Vadis (other topics)
Faith Like Potatoes: The Story of a Farmer Who Risked Everything for God (other topics)
1) Friendly Persuasion - This one will make you laugh.
2) Sergeant York - This is a true biography of a WWI hero with a great testimony.
3) The Angel and the Badman - This is an old John Wayne movie with a plot twist on the usual gunslinger hero.