Dear Friends,
My parish, Annunciation in Homer Glen Il, has started having teen movie nights. We watch a movie and then analyze it trying to see God or Theology or the Body in it. So far we have watched Spanglish and Tears of the Sun. Does anyone have any ideas for movies we can watch. I was thinking about the Matrix. Any ideas are welcome.

-Katie g

Hello Katie, my sister in our Lord Jesus Christ,

If indeed any idea is welcome, then here it is an idea from your far brother in Christ.

Because the parish started this, trying to see from a theological view point, or some like this, please, take in consideration the movie "Andrei Rublev" of Andrew Tarkovski, the well-known movie director. Movies like Matrix are interesting, maybe, but a movie like "Andrei Rublev" is more...It makes someone to really think.
As you know, Saint Andrei Rublev is the painter of the well-known Icon of Saint Trinity.

I hope you may rent this on a DVD or something like this.

I hope this idea is welcome.

May our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, keep you in good, healthy and with faith in true love for all.

In Christ, brotherly, Marian

I don't know about the teens but I'd like to see this film.

Carson Daniel Lauffer, who is a teen at heart but no longer of body.

Marian we caught that movie once on TV, have no idea of what channel it was on. Now that I think of it, a long time ago when we had a satelite dish it was on a foreign channel. Anyway it was really good.

Pani Rose

The Passion of The Christ.

I know some pretty dedicated Star Wars fans who could go on for hours about Theology and Star Wars. The Star Wars movies do offer a lot of good content for Christian theological and moral discussion: good vs. evil, the struggle for good amidst evil, repentance, self-sacrifice, redemption, and spirtual guidance, just to name some.

I also just saw "Fantastic 4" last night, and I really enjoyed it. I thought that it too had good themes, like the victory of good over evil (at least for the moment), and learning to accept gifts that have been received (strength, flexibility, invisibility, fire) and how to use them for good. Another plus was that, while there was sexual suggestion (I mean, there was a naked Invisible Girl running around! ) and violence, there were no sex scenes, blood-baths, foul language, or other such things.

And the special effects rocked.

Dave

The following have been used with success with our various church teen groups. You can check ratings and reviews by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops at:
http://www.nccbuscc.org/movies

The Count of The Monte Cristo
Wide Awake
Pay it Forward
The Chronicles of Narnia
The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
The Robe
The Bells of St. Mary's
Boystown
The Nun's Story
The Song of Bernadette

Don't forget Anthony Quinn in "The Shoes of the Fishermen" as the first Eastern Catholic Pope Kuril Lakota. It was made a few years after Major-Archbishop Josef Slipjy was released from Soviet gulag so it was a timely subject matter back in 1968.

Ungcsertezs

Katie,

An older but excellent movie in which one can discuss several themes...would be To Kill a Mockingbird. for which Gregory Peck won an oscar. Another of that era was The Miracle Worker which was based on the play about the early life of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan: This excellent film starred the late, great Anne Bancroft as Annie and Patty Duke as Helen.

A recent movie which a teen group might find deeply inspiring is: Therese It is in French with English subtitles. This is a faithful account of The Story of a Soul which is the autobiography of St. Therese of Leseuix (aka St. Therese of the Child Jesus or the "Little Flower.") It moves quite slowly but there is a lot of good material regarding the call to the contemplative life and prayer in this one.

In Christ and the Theotokos,

Mary Jo...

A movie that I've always enjoyed was "Saving Grace" with Tom Conti. It's out of print - and not on DVD - however, if you find a video store with an OLD inventory of VHS, you may find this title.

... check out the imdb.com entry for it.

I first watched it when I was in high school (some 15 or more years ago), and memories of it are vivid today.

...also "Lilies of the Field" with Sidney Poitier - always a good film.

Adding "Spanglish" to the list IF you have access to an edited version from a video store like Family Flicks (there's one intimate scene between husband and wife) AND it's shown to older teens. Lovely movie about values, diversity and respect.

We actually just watched that, and yeah, the scene was in there. And while the scene wasn't totally necessary it did drive the point of the wife's selfishness home in a completely new light.

And that's coming from a male, thank you very much.

Where God Walked on Earth-the Monastery of St. Katherine at Mt. Sinai.
King of Kings
The Ten Commandments
Romero
Legacy of Faith
Miracles...of Lourdes, Fatima, Guadalup, and Kncok
The Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra Monastery
Mt. Athos-A Thousand Years are as One Day
Assisi-The Spiritual City
Patmost Echoes of the Apocalypse
A Triumph of Faith

Voices from the Mountain-Sacred Music
Called to Serve-A Journey of Faith
Hail Mary, Full of Grace, National Shrine of Our Lady of Lebanon, all three on DVD

The last three DVD's are about the Maronite Eastern Rite Catholics, they are well produced and an excellent introduction to the Maronites and I hope one day my family and I can make a pilgrimage to the National Shrine.

Also if you logon to: http://www.visionvideo.com they have thousands on VHS/DVD of every topic one can come up with, they also will send a catalog at no cost.

I hope this helps you out!

HUH ?????

Dear Friends,
Christ is among us!
May I suggest "The Phantom of the Opera" I know that some may wonder how this could lead to a good theological discussion, but our Youth Group had a marvelous discussion of the DVD movie version.
May the Love of God consume us,
Fr. Vladimir

Fr. Vladimir,

This is an excellent idea! I am a fan of this old classic (have a copy of the Lon Chaney silent film) and of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber. It is highly symbolic and reflects much in it's various contrasts. On another forum I have seen teens and young adults get into lively discussions about the recent version of "Phantom" and the various nuances involved. If I was a youth group facilitator I wouldn't hesitate to show it on movie night.

In Christ,

Porter.

mistake.

Taras Bulba. An all-time classic.

"Stand aside, Mykola!"

Katie,

Though this is suppose to be in the Church, maybe you would want to take a night out and go to the movies. For the older teens, it seems that The Exocism of Emily Rose would be a good for all to see. Here are the links from discussion in Town Hall
http://www.byzcath.org/cgibin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=002536
http://www.byzcath.org/bboard/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=002547;p=1#000000

This may sound like a crazy choice, but tonight I watched "DIARY OF A MAD BLACK WOMAN" with my daughter. We both found this movie very good. It had some destructive seens in it, and one lady toted a gun. But, overall I felt it had really good quailties.

I just read a parental guide for it, and they were not favorable on it. Yet felt it dealt with life without God and with. With making choices, at one point she falls asleep on the couch, fully dressed, asleep with this man who in some ways is a knight in shining armor. When she awakes, both dressed and I can't remember how she said it, but she wrote in her diary that 'he gave her intimacy'. To me it was a good picture of trust and respect. Of perseverence and overcoming. Dealing with anger and hurt and what happens when we forgive.

Anyway, my daughter - now 22 - is a good judge of movies and she really got a lot out of it. The Gospel music is really good in it. So I would definately reccomend this for older teens.

This may sound odd but would Casablanca be dumb. I mean in the end everyone does the right thing.

-katie g