100 Most Spiritually Significant Films

Thanks to my friend Stanley, I learned about this Top 100 list. "Arts and Faith" recently published a list of "Top 100 Spiritually Significant Films." There are listed and ranked in order below. I have seen some of them during my student days at Regent-College. I vividly remember Ordet, Babette's Feast, Jesus of Montreal, Shadowlands, The Big Kahuna, Wit, Luther, Gospel of John etc. The ones that I especially enjoy is Babette's Feast and Wit. Both drives home a certain message gently and powerfully. In an age where best-selling movies tend to be those of the sex and violence genre, the list below shows movies with an intelligent message.  Some of the films selected are rather weird like Dogville. I am not sure how Millions ever made the grade. Perhaps, the list of movies tend to reflect the view of the creator of the list. Agree or not, this list does offer us some food for thought. Maybe, one day I'll manage to watch at list half of them. Perhaps, you have a movie that ought to be on the list. I have two: "I Am Sam," a story of near perfect love by an imperfect man, and "Cinderella Man," a tear-jerker that describes a rags-to-riches-to-rags-to-hope Great Depression story.

Rank Title
1 Ordet aka The Word
2 Le Fils aka The Son.
3 The Miracle Maker
4 The Gospel According to Matthew
5 The Diary of a Country Priest
6 The Passion of Joan of Arc
7 The Decalogue
8 Babette's Feast
9 A Man Escaped
10 Andrei Rublev
11 Au Hasard Balthazar
12 The Seventh Seal
13 Ikiru aka To Live.
14 Winter Light
15 The Mission
16 The Apostle
17 Three Colors Trilogy
18 Jesus of Nazareth
19 Jesus of Montreal
20 The Flowers of St. Francis
21 Dead Man Walking
22 Stalker
23 Magnolia
24 La Promesse
25 Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
26 Tender Mercies
27 A Man for All Seasons
28 Wings of Desire
29 Day of Wrath
30 Yi Yi: A One and a Two
31 The Hiding Place
32 Wild Strawberries
33 Rosetta
34 After Life
35 The Sacrifice
36 To End All Wars
37 Chariots of Fire
38 Shadowlands
39 The Big Kahuna
40 Not of This World
41 Schindler's List
42 Millions
43 The Straight Story
44 A Taste of Cherry
45 The Passion Of The Christ
46 Becket
47 Wit
48 Open City
49 Nazarin
50 Secrets & Lies
51 Romero
52 Places in the Heart
53 It's A Wonderful Life
54 Ponette
55 Les Miserables
56 Luther
57 Tokyo Story
58 Hell House
59 Breaking The Waves
60 Crimes And Misdemeanors
61 To Kill a Mockingbird
62 The Mirror
63 The Last Temptation Of Christ
64 The Gospel of John
65 Hotel Rwanda
66 Fearless
67 Solaris
68 The Night Of The Hunter
69 Cries and Whispers
70 Stromboli
71 Stevie
72 Dogville
73 My Night at Maud's
74 Black Robe
75 Close-Up
76 The Apu Trilogy
77 Werckmeister Harmonies
78 Waking Life
79 Koyaanisqats aka Life Out of Balance.
80 Peter and Paul
81 13 Conversations About One Thing
82 The Sweet Hereafter
83 Dersu Uzala
84 Trial of Joan of Arc
85 Summer / The Green Ray
86 Fiddler on the Roof
87 The Bicycle Thief
88 The Year Of Living Dangerously
89 L'Argent aka Money.
90 The Elephant Man
91 Faust
92 Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
93 A Moment of Innocence
94 Jean de Florette / Manon of the Spring
95 Sansho the Bailiff
96 Lilies of the Field
97 The Wind Will Carry Us
98 The Addiction
99 The Song of Bernadette
100 Tales of Ugetsu