Okay, I can tell from the plethora of responses to my question that you are deeply intrigued. Here’s the question: What Christian themes do you look for in a movie whereby you would call it “good”? (Some of you say, “Hey, I don’t really care. I just want to be entertained. I don’t put that much thought into it.” Fair but I would say that’s lazy response. That’s another conversation.)

1. Redemption: Let me encourage you to look for the theme of redemption. Is everything that is wrong made right? Take for example the movie Babel that was nominated for Best Picture. The writer/director said this was a movie about suffering and that we’re all connected by our sufferings. So the Japanese teenager is connected with the Hispanic nanny on the other side of the globe because they both share the same pain and anguish. Furthermore, our actions are only a few “degrees” removed from another. Thus, my kind gesture today may result in someone else’s suffering tomorrow.

So what’s the problem? The problem is that’s where the director ends. He never gives a glimmer of hope that any good can come from suffering. Pain and adversity is just what happens. Furthermore, when there is no message of hope in the midst of suffering, you’re not left cheering for a hero. For example, Susan, the American tourist played by Cate Blanchett, is shot while on a tour bus in the desert of Romania. The rest of the movie shows her struggle to survive in the midst of a desert village without the conveniences of modern medicine and the difficulty of language barriers. But I’m not left cheering for neither her survival nor her death because I’m connected to her in her pain not hope. The only way we learn of her survival is in a ten second scene where she’s seen on TV being pushed out of the hospital. Nothing celebratory about it in the least. The tension that had built up was released with no climax.

2. Accurate Portrayal of the Human Condition: We are sinful humans that have rebelled against God and his word, and we are capable of unspeakable evils. Sin is shot through us. We have black hearts, and we will never turn to God on our own volition. But that doesn’t mean we are incapable of doing noble, good acts. We can love, though never perfectly. We can perform selfless deeds. But showing this in film can be a fine line. I don’t need to see the most atrocious cruelties and immoralities humans are capable of just to say look how sinful humans are. My sinful imagination can be play isn’t own grotesque scenarios. Let me offer one movie I highly recommend that is a good portrayal – Sophia Scholl – Die Letzten Tage (“The Final Days”).

These are just a couple of themes I think are noteworthy. I could mention others, but one more thing though. I’m very cautious of Christian films that portray figures of Christ. I realize this is debated, so I would defer to Knowing God by J.I. Packer. But since we are talking about a theology of film I will state that I don’t make a habit of watching such films. Thus, I haven’t seen The Passion of Christ or The Nativity Story.

(Okay, I’m done with film unless others want to chime in.)

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