The list is made up of three categories, “Religion,” “Values,” and “Art,” with 15 films in each of the three categories. Some are well-known favorites (e.g., It’s a Wonderful Life; The Wizard of Oz). Others have extraordinary moral or spiritual significance (e.g., A Man for All Seasons; Schindler’s List). Still others are challenging “art films†that demand literate critical engagement (the austere mysticism of Tarkovsky’s Andrei Rublev and The Sacrifice; the exotic grotesquerie of Fellini’s La Strada and 8½).
The list includes comedy (The Lavender Hill Mob), horror (Nosferatu), science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey; Metropolis), animation (Fantasia), sports (Chariots of Fire), family melodrama (Little Women), a number of war movies, several silent films, even a Western (Stagecoach).
This openness to cinema in all its forms reflects the view articulated in the Holy Father’s address to the pontifical commission. “The Church’s overall judgment of this art form, as of all genuine art, is positive and hopeful,” John Paul II declared. “We have seen that masterpieces of the art of film making can be moving challenges to the human spirit, capable of dealing in depth with subjects of great meaning and importance from an ethical and spiritual point of view.”
(via SF Signal)
Comments
7 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.The Vatican. Who cares what movies they feel are “important”. Every time they announce something, I cringe.
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This list isn’t half bad actually….
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Ah, the Vatikan is trying to be P.C. I agree with Michelle: Who gives a fark?!? As a recovering katholik, I have no use nor any positive opinion of the Pope/Fuehrer’s choices, nor those of any of his dubious predecessors.
Personally, I want to see the Vatikan’s rumored collection of porn…
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Their list of banned works is much better…
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I wonder if any of the things the Vatican announces will even get into the next edition of the bible.
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“Their list of banned works is much better…”
roflmao
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I strongly recommend the Movie: “UNDER TEN FLAGS”
It is a good reminder.
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