Critics speak: The 25 best movies about religion of all time – WNCT

GREENVILLE, N.C. (Stacker.com) Religion is a delicate subject. You definitely dont discuss it at the dinner table. So where do you discuss it? In films, of course. Some of the greatest films to ever be created center on the subject of religion, diving deepinto philosophical conversations, centuries-old questions, and modern-day interpretations.

Religious films do not necessarily have to be overt. Often, the religious themes are subtly woven in, sometimes showing up as a battle between good and evil, struggles of virtue, and the desire to find a place to belong. In other examples, the religious overtones are more faith-based and overt. No matter the angle, what they all have in common is introspective stories centering onmorals, lessons, and teachingsrooted in religion.

Stackercompiled data on the top 1,000 films of all time, according toMetacritic, and narrowed the scope to films that deal explicitly with religion, regardless of which religion or which angle the film takes on the religion. To qualify, the film had to have at least seven critic reviews.

Read on to discover the 25 best movies about religion, according to critics. How many have you seen on this list?

1 / 25Cottonwood Pictures

Director: Terrence Malick Metascore: 85 Runtime: 139 minutes

Set in Texas in the 1950s, this film follows the story of a man who wrestles with loss of innocence, a tumultuous relationship with his father, and his faith. Critics noted that the religious components in the film shone through the balance between good and evil, and, as the Chicago Tribune put it,between nature and grace.

2 / 25The Archers

Directors: Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger Metascore: 86 Runtime: 101 minutes

Based on the 1939 eponymous novel, Black Narcissus is the story of a small convent of nuns who are working to build a school and hospital in a palace in the isolated Himalayan mountains. The tension lies in the struggle between the nuns piety and the sexual attraction toward the owner of the palace. The film is beautifully shot and won the Academy Awards forBest Cinematography and Art Direction.

3 / 25Detailfilm

Director: Nuri Bilge Ceylan Metascore: 86 Runtime: 188 minutes

A burgeoning writer comes home to find sponsors for his book, but upon his return, he is faced with his fathers crippling gambling addiction. Religion is woven into the story when the main character looks for comfort by engaging in conversations about religion and its place in modern society. According to IMDb, the film is inspired by thereal-life storyof the relationship between the co-writer and his own father.

4 / 25Annapurna Pictures

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Metascore: 86 Runtime: 138 minutes

Navy veteran Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) returns home and tries to assimilate back into civilian life. He meets a leaderof a religious movement (Philip Seymour Hoffman), known as The Cause, and finds purpose with the group. The film also stars Amy Adams as the leaders wife. The movie was nominated for three Academy Awards, and director Paul Thomas Anderson made itclear to the BBC that it ishis favorite film hes ever directed.

5 / 25Sundance Institute

Director: Gabriel Mascaro Metascore: 86 Runtime: 101 minutes

This Brazilian drama follows the story of a devout registry office clerk who uses her position to try to dissuade couples from getting divorced. The film was highly regarded among critics, gorgeously shot, and contained a compelling storyline.The director was only 35 when he shot the film.

6 / 25Rialto Pictures

Director: Robin Hardy Metascore: 87 Runtime: 88 minutes

The Wicker Man can only be described as a horror musicalsongs play an important part in the storytelling. The story revolves around a deeply religious police sergeant who explores an isolated island in search of a missing girl. On the island, he discovers the locals have traded in Christianity for Celtic paganism. According to IMDb,Christopher Lee took on his role in the film for free.

7 / 25New Line Cinema

Director: Joshua Marston Metascore: 87 Runtime: 101 minutes

A Colombian teen finds herself in dire need of money to help her family, so she makes the decision to become a drug mule for the cartel. The leading actress, Catalina Sandino Moreno, became the first actress to ever receive a nomination for Best Actress at the Academy Awards fora role that was done entirely in Spanish.

8 / 25Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Director: Ingmar Bergman Metascore: 88 Runtime: 96 minutes

The scene: Sweden during the days of the Bubonic Plague. A knight is on the hunt for answers about the existence of God, life, and death, as he is entrenched in a chess match with the Grim Reaper. The title of the film refers to a passage from the Book of Revelation. According to IMDb, Ingmar Bergman created the film to help him with hisparalyzing fear of death.

9 / 25Svensk Filmindustri (SF)

Director: Ingmar Bergman Metascore: 88 Runtime: 91 minutes

Another Bergman film that deals with the question of existence, Wild Strawberries follows an aging professor who sets out on a car ride with his pregnant daughter-in-law. Along the way, he meets a cast of characters that help him in his internal pursuit. The film followed shortly after The Seventh Seal, and The New York Times described it as evenmore mystifying than its predecessor.

10 / 25Plan B

Director: Lee Isaac Chung Metascore: 89 Runtime: 115 minutes

In this somewhat autobiographical film about director Lee Isaac Chungs childhood, this story follows a Korean family that tries to make their way as farmers in Arkansas during the 1980s. According to Angel Us News,the movie isnt overtly religious, but more focuses on the invisible workings of God and the struggles with failure.

11 / 25Sever Studio

Director: Alexei German Metascore: 90 Runtime: 177 minutes

A Russian science-fiction art film, Hard to Be a God follows a group of scientists who leave Earth to a mirror-image planet that is centuries behind in culture and technology. According to Roger Ebert,it is one of the most visually disgusting films ever made, and yet, one of the most masterful, having taken director Alexei German nearly 40 years to plan and 12 to execute.

12 / 25Music Box Films

Director: Pawe Pawlikowski Metascore: 91 Runtime: 82 minutes

In Ida,a woman lives in a convent in the Polish countryside. Just about to take her vows as a nun, she uncovers an old family secret that reveals Jewish ancestry and traces back to the German occupation of Poland. Its a story ofinnocence, reflection, lost power, strength, and surrender, according to the Calgary Herald. Its also beautifully shot in black and white in an old-fashioned 4:3 ratio.

13 / 25Laokoon Filmgroup

Director: Lszl Nemes Metascore: 91 Runtime: 107 minutes

Son of Saul follows a Jewish-Hungarian prisoner of a concentration camp as he looks to bury a child that he thinks is his son. According to The New Yorker, the heartbreaking character of Saul is the personification and fusion ofJewish violence and Jewish virtue.

14 / 25Isuma Igloolik Productions

Director: Zacharias Kunuk Metascore: 91 Runtime: 172 minutes

An adaptation of an Inuit legend, this movie follows the story of an evil spirit that wreaks havoc on a community and how one warrior perseveres in the face of its destruction. According to Variety, this was thefirst-ever screenplay to be written in Inuktitut, the Inuit language.

15 / 25Ousmane Sembne

Director: Ousmane Sembene Metascore: 91 Runtime: 124 minutes

A woman protects a group of girls from undergoing genital mutilation in an African villagea decision that ultimately tears her community apart. The story is at its core a human rights story, but moolaad is also the term thatrefers to the purification ritual to preserve virginity.

16 / 25Caviar

Director: Chlo Zhao Metascore: 92 Runtime: 104 minutes

The Rider tells the story of a young cowboy who struggles to find a new identity after suffering a head injury that nearly kills him. According to The Christian Review, it is a film that asks us toexamine values and integrity, to count our blessings, if you will, in the face of desperate times and misfortune.

17 / 25Arte France Cinma

Director: Abderrahmane Sissako Metascore: 92 Runtime: 96 minutes

A cattle herder and his family lead a quiet life together. But all is suddenly turned on its head when Jihadists take over and completely disrupt and destroy their way of living. The religious storyline is blatant and, according to the New Statesman,harrowing in its detailing of everyday persecution.

18 / 25Open Road Films

Director: Tom McCarthy Metascore: 93 Runtime: 129 minutes

Spotlight is the true story of how The Boston Globe exposed the child molestation cover-up within the local Catholic churcha story that had the Catholic Church reeling all over the world. According to The New Yorker, it paints a portrait of institutional secrecy and forces us to askwho we listen to and who we protect.

19 / 25Nina Paley

Director: Nina Paley Metascore: 93 Runtime: 82 minutes

This animated movie tells the legend of Sita, a Hindu goddess who joins her husband, Rama, to live in exile. She is abducted by a demon king,but she never waivers in her devotion to her husband. It is a story that is known to practically every Hindu person in India, according to Roger Ebert.

20 / 25Paramount Vantage

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Metascore: 93 Runtime: 158 minutes

There Will Be Blood is a classic story about the fight between good and evil. The Oscar-winning film is based on Upton Sinclairs novel Oil!and follows the rise and fall of oil tycoon Daniel Plainview. According to Philosophy Now,there are parallels between Plainview and Nietzsche,who thought that philosophy and religion were merely expressions of self-interest.

21 / 25IAC Films

Director: Greta Gerwig Metascore: 94 Runtime: 94 minutes

According to Religion and Politics, Lady Bird is a different kind of Catholic film. The religious aspects are subtle and woven in. It follows the story of a young woman, Lady Bird, during her senior yearand briefly post-graduation from her Catholic high school. Its astory about coming of ageand how doing so can often cause hurt and pain.

22 / 25United Artists

Director: Francis Ford Coppola Metascore: 94 Runtime: 147 minutes

A U.S. Army officer is stationed in Vietnam and is given the mission to assassinate a Special Forces Colonel who has gone off the rails, likening himself to God. War movies often highlight the struggles between man and religion. It is widely considered one of the greatest war films ever made. According to The New York Times, it is about the dualism of human nature, a theme that keeps recurring throughout the movie.

23 / 25Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment

Director: Steven Spielberg Metascore: 94 Runtime: 195 minutes

Schindlers List stars Liam Neeson as Oskar Schindler, an industrialist living in German-occupied Poland, who begins to rescue the Jews from Nazi persecution. According to Religion News, the film has reached canonical status among the Jewish population,with deeper lessons about evil inclinations and our inherent inclination to do good.

24 / 25Twentieth Century Fox

Director: John Ford Metascore: 96 Runtime: 129 minutes

Based on the iconic novel by John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath follows the story of a poor Midwestern family that is forced off their land during the Great Depression. The story is an Exodus-type metaphor, as a family leaves a situation of hardship behind in search of new opportunity. The New York Timesfawned over the film, writing, If it were any better, we just wouldnt believe our eyes.

25 / 25Regency Enterprises

Director: Steve McQueen Metascore: 96 Runtime: 134 minutes

This true story adaptation tells the tale of Solomon Northup, a free Black man from upstate New York who is enslaved in the United States prior to the Civil War. Religion is peppered all throughout the film through biblical quotes and the use of the word righteous. The real message, according to Religion News, is that people seem to pick and choose the biblical verses they live by.

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Critics speak: The 25 best movies about religion of all time - WNCT