The best Christian movies

…are movies that aren't explicitly Christian. They're secular, but whether they know it or not they favorably convey Christian teaching. This may have been intentional with American movies of the past, but I think it's more accidental in American movies today and in movies from non-Christian countries. So let's dive in.

• The Big Country. Easterner James McKay, played by Gregory Peck, escorts his fiance west to her father's ranch. Referred to repeatedly and mockingly as "the dude," McKay refuses to defend himself against the slights and insults that are thrown his way by his father-in-law's ranch hands. Everyone reads his internal confidence and strength of character as weakness, including his fiance, but he doesn't care what they think. When challenged to a fight by Charlton Heston, he agrees, and they fight to a draw. "What did it prove?" he asks, gasping, afterwards. The look on Heston's face says it all. In my experience, there's no better cinematic example of turning the other cheek or being slow to anger than this movie.


• Nausciaä of the Valley of the Wind. One of my personal favorites! A young princess, the de facto leader of a meek yet thriving valley, must meet two threats to her people: neighboring kingdoms fighting over a powerful weapon, and a toxic jungle encroaching on the kingdom's border. Nausicaä advocates peace and detente with the jungle, but her message loses traction as the neighboring kingdoms wrangle for control of the means to annihilate the jungle and each other. The ohmu, the sentries of the jungle, can withstand any weapon man can wield, and threaten to overrun the valley. On the brink of disaster, the princess makes a final overture of peace to the ohmu, showing that love, not hate, is truly man's most powerful weapon. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God." (Matthew 5:9)


• Flight. This comes with a caveat, as there's rampant drug abuse, profanity, and explicit sexual content throughout the movie. For that reason, I don't recommend it to Christians who are already familiar with Christian doctrine on sin. However, to secular people, this is a sneaky sermon in a movie. The narrative thread of the movie is Whip Whitaker, played by Denzel Washington, seeking exoneration from wrongdoing in his heroic crash-landing of a doomed commercial jet. (He was drunk while piloting the plane.) As an NTSB hearing looms, his freedom is at risk unless he can pass himself off as someone he is not (that is, sober and in control of his life). He tragically fails. Something becomes apparent in the movie's final scenes: Freedom from sin in many ways is more liberating than license to do whatever you want.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. If you like hard sci-fi, check out my books Seeds of Calamity and Tendrils to the Moon. You can find extended previews for each here and here.