It’s not hard to see why headlines proclaim
this as Hollywood’s “Year of the Bible.” Son of God opened at the end of March, followed by Noah a month later. Mary,
Mother of Christ and Exodus are
slated for this December. In various stages of development are films about Pontius
Pilate, David, Goliath, a Ben-Hur
remake and another Moses movie. In addition, a handful of faith-based films are
also on the big screen this year. Heaven
is for Real and God’s Not Dead
came out earlier this spring, and Left
Behind is due out in October.
Bible movies have been around as long as film
itself. Film critic Peter Chattaway, in “Battle
of the Bible Films” published in Christianity
Today, notes Bible films were very popular with the major studios in the
silent era and in the post-war boom of the 1950s, culminating with a record 11
Oscar wins for Ben-Hur (1959). But in
the 1960s, their popularity waned as audiences turned to other genres.
Why the renewed interest? It seems to have
started with Mel Gibson’s Passion of the
Christ (2004), which made over $600 million worldwide. It revealed a niche
market of religious moviegoers, and Hollywood took note. Screenwriter Stuart
Hazeldine tells Chattaway that Bible stories also have “a built-in recognition
factor” attractive to major studios.
Chattaway also points to growth in foreign
markets and that the latest Bible films share similar elements with
“sword-and-sandal” action movies like Clash
of the Titans (2010) and 300
(2006), which are popular overseas. Son
of God filmmaker Mark Burnett tells
NPR that the surge in Bible films “just has to be that God is moving. There
is no other explanation for it.”
Whatever the reason, many Christians are
excited by the trend—but also wary, particularly of films made by secular
filmmakers.
Reverence for and faithfulness to Scripture are
top concerns. Indeed, some films stray far from the text. The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) is a familiar example of
straying so far as to become irreverent.
But films made by Christians aren’t exempt from
this concern. Some smooth over difficult aspects with modern sensibilities.
Still others, favoring plot or fearing controversy, lack the deeper, more
troubling themes and confrontations in the stories. Son of God was criticized for trying to please too many, resulting
in a bland film and a bland Jesus.
It’s important to keep in mind that any film,
made by a Christian or not, will take creative liberties to fill in gaps as it
takes the story from the text to the screen—and that’s not necessarily a bad
thing.
“We need to be able to approach each film with
a willingness to discern which bits come from the Bible, which bits don’t, and
how God might be speaking to us through both,” writes Chattaway in
a blog post about Noah.
In “Can
an Atheist Make a Good Bible Movie?” film critic Brett McCracken reminds us
that God gives his gifts to both Christian and non-Christian artists, and we
need to “open our minds to the possibility of truth, beauty, and goodness
shining forth in films from even the most secular filmmakers.”
We won’t always agree on which films do this.
But if we approach films with Chattaway’s and McCracken’s advice, we may find
the truth of the text comes to us in a new way on the big screen.
This post first appeared as an
article in the Christian Leader. See
my reviews of Noah here
and here.
See my review of Son
of God here.