The Mill and the Cross (2011)

I was engrossed with every shot. Stunning special effects and cinematography.

~Chris Campbell [indieWIRE]

From official site:
Pieter Bruegel’s epic masterpiece The way to Calvary depicts the story of Christ’s Passion set in Flanders under brutal Spanish occupation in the year 1564, the very year Bruegel created his painting. From among the more than five hundred figures that fill Bruegel’s remarkable canvas, The mill & the cross focuses on a dozen characters whose life stories unfold and intertwine in a panoramic landscape populated by villagers and red-caped horsemen. Among them are Bruegel himself (played by Rutger Hauer), his friend and art collector Nicholas Jonghelinck (Michael York), and the Virgin Mary (Charlotte Rampling).

The mill & the cross invites the viewer to reconstruct from Bruegel’s preparatory drawings the deeper meaning of scenes. Following the painter’s hints sketched on paper, the viewer pieces together an epic story of courage, defiance and sacrifice, and, like a detective on a path of clues, succeeds in reading the hidden language of symbols.

Bruegel was, and still is, the wisest philosopher among the painters. In most of his works he took pains to hide the obvious by planting distractions somewhere else. The hidden should be palpable -that was his stratagem for showing the quintessence of suffering. Namely, that nobody cares about it. The sufferer is left alone, abandoned, forgotten... The others have to live their lives and somehow make the most out of it.

There are other themes in The mill & the cross as well: That only an artist can stop time, capture the moment and immortalize it. Or that the elements that build a single image hanging in a museum can be plentiful... But nothing is more important than that the hidden is the essence of Truth.

One of today’s most adventurous and inspired artists and filmmakers, Lech Majewski, translates The way to Calvary into cinema, inviting the viewer to live inside the aesthetic universe of the painting as we watch it being created. As various lives evolve within the film frame, we witness Bruegel capturing shards of their desperate stories on his canvas-in-the-making. Confronting the Spanish inquisition bloodily repressing the rise of Protestant reform in the Low Countries, the film offers a vibrant meditation on art and religion as ongoing, layered processes of collective storytelling and reinterpretation. The mill & the cross is also a feast of stunning visual effects, a provocative allegory and a cinematic tour de force on religious freedom and human rights.

Cast: Rutger Hauer, Charlotte Rampling, Michael York, Joanna Litwin
Director: Lech Majewski

Painting "Way to Calvary" by Pieter Bruegel

THE MILL AND THE CROSS - Official Website

The Grace Card (2011)

When Mac McDonald (Michael Joiner) loses his son in an accident, the ensuing 17 years of bitterness and pain erodes his love for his family and leaves him angry with almost everyone, including God. Mac's rage damages his career in the police department, and his household is as frightening as anything he encounters on the streets of Memphis. Money is tight, arguments with his wife are common, and his surviving son Blake is hanging with the wrong crowd and in danger of failing school.

Things become heated when Mac is partnered with Sam Wright (Mike Higgenbottom), a rising star on the force who happens to be a part-time pastor and a family man. Sam never expected to be a police officer. He feels called to a minister like his grandfather. In addition to leading a small, start-up church, Sam works as a police officer to provide for his family. When he gets promoted to Sergeant, however, Sam starts questioning if his true calling might be police work.

Can Sam and Mac somehow join forces or is it nearly impossible for either of them to look past their differences, especially their race?

Released on February 25, 2011

Official Site

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

What If (2010)

"What If" tells the story of Ben Walker (Kevin Sorbo), who fifteen years ago left his college sweetheart Wendy (Kristy Swanson), and his calling to be a preacher, in order to pursue a business opportunity. Now with a high-paying executive gig, a trophy fiancé, and a new Mercedes, he hasnt considered a family nor felt the need to set foot in a church in fifteen years.

But God has other plans. While on a thrill ride outside the city, his new car mysteriously breaks down, and hes visited by a tow truck driver named Mike (John Ratzenberger) who claims to be an angel sent to show Ben what his life would look like had he followed his true calling. Suddenly Ben wakes up in the middle of domestic chaos as his wife Wendy and daughters (including Disney Channels Debby Ryan) are getting ready for church, where Ben is the new pastor.

Before he can get back to his old life, Ben must first embrace this reality and discover the value of faith and family, and perhaps restore his love for those who were heartbroken fifteen years ago: Wendy and God. In the tradition of Its a Wonderful Life and The Family Man, What If is a story of finding your true purpose in life.

Official Site - Available on DVD

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

The Mighty Macs (2011)

Set in 1972, “Our Lady of Victory” tells the inspiring true story of Cathy Rush, a sassy 23 year old former tomboy whose young life has been filled with a series of setbacks. On the brink of giving up and moving on to her child rearing years, she takes one final shot at her dream and becomes the head basketball coach at tiny Immaculata College. With help from the nuns, she finds the courage and faith to lead her team along the improbable journey of winning the first national championship in women’s basketball.

Starring:
Carla Gugino … Cathy Rush
David Boreanaz … Ed Rush
Marley Shelton … Sister Sunday
Ellen Burstyn … Mother St. John
Phyllis Somerville … Sister Sister

Release date: October 21, 2011

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

Soul Surfer (2011)

Release date: April 8, 2011

Plot Summary: "Soul Surfer" is the inspiring true story of teen surfer Bethany Hamilton, who lost her arm in a shark attack and courageously overcame all odds to become a champion again, through her sheer determination and unwavering faith.

In the wake of this life-changing event that took her arm and nearly her life, Bethany's feisty determination and steadfast beliefs spur her toward an adventurous comeback that gives her the grit to turn her loss into a gift for others.

Bethany (Anna Sophia Robb) was born to surf. A natural talent who took to the waves at a young age, she was leading an idyllic, sun-drenched, surfer girl’s life on the Kauai Coast, competing in national competitions with her best friend Alana (Lorraine Nicholson), when everything changed in a heartbeat. On Halloween morning, Bethany was on a typical ocean outing when a 14-foot tiger shark came out of nowhere and seemed to shatter all her dreams.

"Soul Surfer" reveals the moving aftermath of this headline-making story, as Bethany fights to recover and grapples with the future. Strengthened by the love of her parents, Tom (Dennis Quaid) and Cheri (Helen Hunt), she refuses to give in or give up, and begins a bold return to the water. Still, the questions keep hammering her: Why did this happen? Why did she have to lose everything? Will she ever feel the joy and power of riding the waves again? And if she can't be a surfer, then who is she?

The devastating 2004 tsunami in the Pacific Ocean unexpectedly gives Bethany a new perspective. Traveling to Phuket, Thailand with her youth-group leader Sara Hill (Carrie Underwood), she witnesses life beyond her own shoreline and discovers her greater purpose—she can make a difference in the lives of others. Filled with a new sense of hope and direction, she returns home with a renewed resolve to conquer her own limitations and set an encouraging example for people facing adversity.

At the National Championships, Bethany bravely faces off with her fiercest rival, Malia Birch (Sonya Balmores), and takes her astonishing one-armed surfing technique to the limit. But as the horn blows, and the suspenseful competition kicks off, Bethany is no longer thinking about the challenges of her body. Now, her surfing, her biggest dreams and her life have become about pushing her own physical limits to touch the souls of others.

Official Site

Dennis Quaid, AnnaSophia Robb, Helen Hunt

Robb and Carrie Underwood

View trailer

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

One Night with the King (2006)

Based on the novel Hadassah: One Night with the King by Tommy Tenney and Mark Andrew Olsen

Plot: An epic motion picture set in an imaginative world of adventure, intrigue and romance, "One Night with the King" follows a young girl who rises from peasant to princess by going against the culture and seeking the King's heart rather than the riches of the kingdom.

By 'chance' she is born with exceeding beauty to a people who have been carried away as slaves to the most powerful kingdom in the world. By 'chance' her parents are killed while she is young leaving her to be taken in by her uncle, a man who has found favor as a royal scribe. By 'chance' the Queen is executed by the unknowing King, spurned on by the ruthless plotting of palace princes hungry for power. By 'chance' the King is left feeling alone, pushed and prodded, desperate to live up to and avenge the battles of his father. By 'chance' Esther is carted off to the palace to become part of the Kingís harem at the same time a vengeful young prime minister with the Kingís ear is rising to prominence with a plan for orchestrating the genocide of her people.

So begins the story of Esther, "One Night with the King," a story that reveals that all of life is under God's command. Power, position and prominence are one thing, but when Esther must choose between all she's ever dreamed of and the fate of her people, will she be able to find the courage to step forward and embrace her destiny?

Official Website

Thanks to Priceless for the photos!

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

Like Dandelion Dust (2010)

Jack and Molly Campbell (Cole Hauser, Kate Levering) are right where they want to be, enjoying an idyllic life with their six-year-old son Joey (Maxwell Perry Cotton), and the close family and friends who live in their small hometown just outside of West Palm Beach, Florida. Then the phone call comes from the social worker the Campbells never expected to hear from again. Three states away in Ohio, Joey’s biological father (Barry Pepper) has just been released from prison. He is ready to start life over with his wife Wendy (Mira Sorvino) but not without their son.

A judge’s quick decision deals a devastating blow to the Campbell family: Joey must be returned to his biological parents.

In the days that follow the ruling, Jack & Molly Campbell have a desperate and dangerous thought. What if they can devise a way out? They could take Joey and simply disappear… LIKE DANDELION DUST.

Based on a Karen Kingsbury novel.

The movie was released in September 2010 and has won multiple awards.

Official Site (DVD now available)

Wikipedia

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

INSPIRATIONAL FILMS - an Index

Here is a list of films (mainly period dramas but not necessarily)

which are inspirational or faith-based. (Most are Christian films.)

Amazing Grace
Amish Grace (2010)
A Walk in my Shoes (2010)
A Walk to Remember
Barchester Chronicles
Brother Sun, Sister Moon (1972)
Butterfly Circus (2009)
Change of Plans (2010)
Chariots of Fire
Christy (1994-95)
Chronicles of Narnia
Courageous (2011)
Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler
Creation (2009)
Facing the Giants (2006)
Fireproof (2008)
Jesus of Nazareth
Joshua (2002)
Katherine of Alexandria (2011)
Like Dandelion Dust (2010)
Love Comes Softly
Love's Abiding Joy (2006)
Love's Enduring Promise (2004)
Love's Long Journey (2005)
Love's Unending Legacy (2007)
Loving Leah
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999)
Magic of Ordinary Days
No Greater Love (2009)
Of Gods and Men (2010)
One Night with the King
Pay It Forward
Road to Avonlea
Romero
Seraphine (2008)
Simon Birch
Soul Surfer (2011)
The Book of Ruth: A Journey of Faith
The Christmas Cottage
The Gospel of John
The Grace Card (2011)
The Greatest Story Ever Told
The Lion of Judah
The Mighty Macs (2011)
The Mission
The Nativity (2010)
The Nativity Story
The Passion of the Christ
The Scarlett and the Black (1983)
The Second Chance
The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968)
The Song of Bernadette
The Shunning (2011)
The Sound of Music (1965)
The Ten Commandments
The Vow (2012)
The Waltons (1972-1981)
The Way (2010)
There Be Dragons (2011)
Though None Go With Me
Tree of Life (2011)
What If (2010)

Links of Interest

CHRISTIAN FILM DATABASE
ChristianCinema.com
The Arts & Faith Top 100 Films
Watch Christian Movies Online

Amish Grace (2010)

When a group of Amish schoolgirls are taken hostage and killed in their classroom, their parents and the Amish community of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, stun the outside world by immediately forgiving the killer. Ida Graber (Kimberly Williams-Paisley), mother of one of the murdered children, has a tougher time than the others accepting the tragedy, but in her anguish and pain, she begins a personal journey of renewed faith, ultimately accepting the heart-wrenching tragedy of losing a child; reconnecting with her husband (Matt Letscher), family, and community; offering forgiveness to the killer; and even showing kindness and compassion to the killer’s widow (Tammy Blanchard) and children – all in the form of Amish Grace

(Previously aired on Lifetime channel)

Website for book: Amish Grace: how Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy By Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher

Watch it online

Index of INSPIRATIONAL FILMS

The Shunning (2011)

April 16, 2011 on The Hallmark Channel

Based on the best-selling book by Beverly Lewis. (First novel in The Heritage of Lancaster County series: The Shunning, The Confession & The Reckoning)

Directed by Michael Landon, Jr. (Love Comes Softly series)

About the film: A young Amish girl (Danielle Panabaker) struggles with her identity as she prepares for an arranged marriage with the town's bishop. Then, she is stunned to find out she was adopted and her birth mother wants to be reunited with her. As she wonders what could have been and starts separating herself from her community's strict religious customs, the town turns their backs on her just when she needs them the most.

The film was shot on locations in Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and after airing on Hallmark, will be distributed on DVD by Sony Home Entertainment through Affirm Films.

Danielle Panabaker ... Katie Lapp
Sandra Van Natta ... Rebecca Lapp
Bill Oberst ... Samuel Lapp
Sherry Stringfield ... Laura Mayfield-Bennett
Burgess Jenkins ... Bishop John Beiler
Nancy Saunders ... Ella Mae Zook
Jason Loughlin ... Benjamin Lapp

Hallmark: Interview with Beverly Lewis
Hallmark: Interview with Michael Landon Jr.

Photos: Hallmark

The Way - a film by Emilio Estevez

"Martin Sheen plays Tom, an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago, also known as The Way of Saint James. Driven by his profound sadness and desire to understand his son better, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage, leaving his "California bubble life" behind.

Armed with his son's backpack and guidebook, Tom navigates the 800 km pilgrimage from the French Pyrenees, to Santiago de Compostela in the north west of Spain, but soon discovers that he will not be alone on this journey.

While walking The Camino, Tom meets other pilgrims from around the world, all broken and looking for greater meaning in their lives: a Dutchman (Yorick van Wageningen) a Canadian (Deborah Kara Unger) and an Irish writer (James Nesbitt) who is suffering from a bout of "writer's block."

From the hardship experienced along "The Way" this unlikely quartet of misfits create an everlasting bond and Tom begins to learn what it means to be a citizen of the world again, and discovers the difference between "The life we live and the life we choose". THE WAY was filmed entirely in Spain and France along the actual Camino de Santiago."

OFFICIAL SELECTION:
Toronto International Film Festival

Starring: Emilio Estevez, Martin Sheen, Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick Van Wageningen, James Nesbitt
Directed by: Emilio Estevez

Release: May 13 - UK and Ireland
September 30 - USA

Official site
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Film review

Of Gods and Men (2010) - update

When Father Christian de Chergé, the French prior of an Algerian monastery, wrote his testament, he didn't expect to inspire a film that would be France's top-grossing movie in 2010, the Grand Prix winner at Cannes and Best Film at France’s César Awards.

Director and cast at 2010 Cannes Film Festival

I went to the cinema yesterday to see Of Gods and Men (Des hommes et des dieux) and it's still resonating with me. It's a quiet little film with a powerful message and strong, compelling performances by veteran actor Lambert Wilson (shown on right) and all the cast including Michael Lonsdale who won the César for Best Supporting Actor.

There's a compelling scene where the brothers share a meal together while listening to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake that is still etched in my mind. The film takes a look at the emotional roller coaster they faced as they stood fast in their faith, despite the looming possibility of death at the hands of radical Islamists who were terrorizing their community in Tibhirine, Algeria.

Jacques Herlin was one of my favourites as Amédée, Michael Lonsdale was wonderful as Luc, the doctor who tended to 100 patients a day in the small mountain village

Lambert in NYTimes: “I fell in love with the character. Christian is very complex — a man of extreme power of conviction, very sensitive, extremely altruistic, like all the monks were. But he was also a great intellectual and a leader, a man who could convince those monks, even before the danger started to appear, that they had to build this bridge between Christianity and Islam.”

Lambert discusses film [press kit]: "The first interactions were a bit embarrassing because none of us were great singers, but it helped break the ice between us. As actors, it is because we had to work together on singing that it helped us become this community of monks. We had to fuse in some sort of higher level and reveal our own identities at the same time. For me, singing, besides the biographical work each of us did on our respective characters, is what constituted the essential foundation of our preparation. At the Tamié Abbey, where we went on a retreat, monks spend four hours a day singing during the seven religious offices. We all loved doing this work with multiple voices--it’s the principle of fusion in the choir. It was a very exhilarating journey.

In fact, it reminded me of the very simple emotions I loved when I was little. I did a little choir singing in kindergarten, and I totally loved it. In fact, that is why I say I am a frustrated singer: I think there is no more beautiful activity than singing.

What is surprising with the actors is that they gave themselves to this singular exercise with a lot of candor. On the set, when we were waiting for the lights to be adjusted, for example, instead of idling time away, we sang together. Suddenly, we would start singing a “Salve Regina” or another tune because we took real pleasure in it. We felt a real sense of sharing among us-- it’s a very simple joy, almost playful, to start off from the same bar and to manage to reach the last one together”.

Directed by: Xavier Beauvois Cast: Lambert Wilson as Christian, Michael Lonsdale as Luc, Olivier Rabourdin as Christophe, Philippe Laudenbach as Célestin, Jacques Herlin as Amédée, Loïc Pichon as Jean-Pierre, Xavier Maly as Michel, Jean-Marie Frin as Paul

Photo taken of the original monks in 1996


~ Testament written by Brother Christian ~

Should it ever befall me, and it could happen today, to fall victim to the terrorism which seems to now want to engulf all the foreigners living here, I would like my community, my church and my family to remember that my life was GIVEN to God and to this country. May they accept that the Unique Master of all life could not be a stranger to this brutal departure. May they be able to associate this death to so many other violent ones, consigned to the apathy of anonymity.

I've lived long enough to know that I am complicit in the evil that, alas, seems to prevail over the world and even of the one that would strike me blindly.

I could never desire such a death. In fact, I don’t see how I could ever rejoice in this people I love being indistinctly accused of my murder. I know the contempt the people of this country may have indiscriminately been surrounded by. And I know which caricatures of Islam a certain Islamism encourages.

This country and Islam, for me, are something else. They are a body and a soul. My death will of course quickly vindicate those who hastily called me naïve or idealistic, but they must know that I will finally be freed of my most burning curiosity and will be able, God willing, to immerse my gaze into the Father's in order to contemplate with him his children of Islam as he sees them.

In this THANK YOU, where from now on all is said about my life, I include you of course, friends of yesterday and today, and you as well, friend of the last minute, who knew not what you were doing.

Yes, for you as well I want this THANK YOU and this FAREWELL which you envisaged. And may we meet again, happy thieves in paradise, if it pleases God, the Father of us both.

AMEN! INCH’ALLAH!

In March 1996, 7 monks were kidnapped in the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months, and were found dead on 21 May 1996. The circumstances of their kidnapping and death remain controversial. Marytrs are: Dom Christian de Chergé, Brother Luc Dochier, Father Christophe Lebreton, Brother Michel Fleury, Father Bruno Lemarchand, Father Célestin Ringeard, and Brother Paul Favre-Miville.

Based on "The Monks of Tibhirine" by John W. Kiser

Official site
NYTimes - Of Gods and Men
NYTimes- Lambert Wilson
source

Of Gods and Men (2010)

In 1996 in the Algerian Mountains,

caught between a military government and extremist guerrilas,
a group of monks face the decision of their lives.

Inspired by a true story.

Official site: "Eight French Christian monks live in harmony with their Muslim brothers in a monastery perched in the mountains of North Africa in the 1990s. When a crew of foreign workers is massacred by an Islamic fundamentalist group, fear sweeps though the region. The army offers them protection, but the monks refuse. Should they leave? Despite the growing menace in their midst, they slowly realize that they have no choice but to stay… come what may. This film is loosely based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996."

"DES HOMMES ET DES DIEUX"
Winner of Grand Prix award at Cannes

Won César Award for Best Film

More information on OF GODS AND MEN