The 3 Best Movies for How to Live as a Christian in Dark Days
There is a lot of angst in the world right now. Truth and Hope feel lost for almost everyone in the US, regardless of where you fall on the political divide. On both the right and left, there is sincere conviction and love for Christ. I know because my family, like many of your families, can be found on both sides (or neither side).
With all that is being written on facebook and twitter and blogs which stoke emotions and fears, sometimes it is helpful to just watch a movie and get lost in a good story. That’s exactly what I did this past week.
I watched Calvary last Wednesday, a movie which had been on my list of movies to watch for some time now. It brought me to tears and immediately became one of my all time favorite movies.
It, along with 2 other movies, reminded me how the kingdom of God spreads in the world — not in picking up a sword like Peter did, but in picking up our cross as Christ commanded (and which Peter later did).
There is no need of new heroes, no new grand victory to be won. No need to shout at people on Twitter and Facebook.
Our Hero has already won the grand victory. Our role is simply to do what we were doing yesterday.
We quietly suffer and forgive, quietly suffer and forgive, with joy, until the kingdom arrives in full.
1. Calvary
This movie sat unwatched in my list of movies to watch for a couple years. I felt like I had to be in the right mood to watch it. I thought it would be dark and heavy. The opening scene to the movie and what I saw in the trailer talked about somebody being sexually assaulted by a priest. Even though the movie came highly recommended to me, every time I scrolled past it, I thought, “I don’t have the stomach to watch this movie tonight.”
Well a week ago, I randomly saw a different review which explained that this movie was about a good priest who did not abuse anyone and who was faced with a terrible dilemma. The guy in the confession booth who was abused told the priest that he would die within the week, because he was a good priest, as a way for the abused man to have vengeance. Over the following week, the good priest went about life as normal expecting his death to come at any moment.
He was real and struggled with facing his own martyrdom or fleeing — in the end he chose to stay. Brendan Gleeson is incredible in this movie!
A theme and storyline that should be dark is actually filled with light by the beautiful example of this priest continuing to minister to a broken community and broken people who seemingly have no hope of redemption.
2. To End all Wars
This movie, starring Kiefer Sutherland, is a true story about 4 POWs who get captured by the Japanese in WWII and get thrown into a concentration camp. They are tortured and forced to build a bridge through the Burmese jungle. Ultimately the men find “true freedom” in forgiving their enemies.
This movie reminded me of an amazing series called “whistling in the dark” that I heard from Pastor Matt Heard at Woodman Valley Chapel when I was a cadet at the Air Force Academy.
3. A hidden life
This movie had great reviews and several friends recommended it to me. It was directed by Terrance Malik who also directed Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life. It’s a unique and sometimes hard to watch style of film, but stick it out. The story will always stay with you and will give you an example to follow when/if it’s ever your turn to do the same.
The story is about Franz Jagerstatter, an Austrian conscientious objector during WWII who chose not to fight for the Nazis and for Hitler. Franz and his wife and child are ostracized from their community for the stance that he took. His actions seemed cowardly and unpatriotic to his neighbors. “It must be easy for him to do ‘nothing’ while the rest of his countrymen are going off to war to defend HIS freedom,” I’m sure his neighbors thought.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Nothing is harder than the course that Franz took. I was reminded of CS Lewis’s quote “you find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down.”
These movies are imprinted in my mind and almost a way to mentally practice how I want to live when my time comes.
