Ship of Fools: Films for Discussion

Thread: Films for Discussion Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Joshua Bell (# 16323) on :

My church are looking to hold a film-plus-discussion evening. Can anyone suggest any films we might use?

Thanks!

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

Depends what you want to discuss really, but I would be inclined to suggest deconstructing The Pursuit of Happyness.

Questions

Ethics of career advancement vs your child's needs ?
Who is the 'good' parent ?
Ethics of unpaid internships ?
What message does the film give about greed ?
What does it imply about poverty ?
Ethics of patronage ?

Etc.

Posted by Hart (# 4991) on :

A similar conversation came up in January. See the Google cache of that discussion.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

Doublethink's got a great idea there. You could do that with just about any movie. I'm really, really in favor of getting people to question what they're ingesting in the media.

That raises the question, though - what sort of discussion are you looking for? Do you anticipate that there will be lots of people (whatever that means for your church), and so less in-depth discussion, or will the group be fairly small? Do you want to have a potentially disquieting discussion, or more along the lines of something comforting/assuring?

Also, so much depends on what background your church represents. To show, for example, Jesus Christ Superstar at a liberal Episcopal/Anglican church will be very different to showing it to a conservative Evangelical group, even though the film might challenge both groups (just in different ways, I'd imagine).

The average age you expect among attendees obviously makes a difference, too - not just in terms of what films they'll tend to like, but in terms of how they read film in the first place.

You probably know all that, but it could help with recommendations if you care to share any info like that with us!

And churches should do this sort of thing more often, I think. I hope you have a great event!

Posted by Golden Key (# 1468) on :

Well, if you're going to do "JC Superstar", you've got to do "Godspell"! It's great fun, and thought-provoking. The lyrics of "We Beseech Thee--Hear us!" are especially good.

[Yipee]

ISTM it's a good idea to view the films yourself before showing them to the group. Not all films are good for all churches--especially if kids and teens might see them. E.g., some churches could probably handle "Harold and Maude" very well, in an adult group, enjoy it, and have a great discussion about life, growth, second chances, etc. But many churches would probably freak out.

FWIW. YMMV.

Posted by orfeo (# 13878) on :

Jesus of Montreal?

I can tell you one most definitely not to use, though. The Last Temptation of Christ.

Not because it was terribly controversial in its day. But because it was tremendously boring. In fact, I think that the movie would have sunk without trace without the controversy, and I wonder if the film's backers didn't work hard to create controversy after seeing that Scorsese's film was a turkey.

When I was in my late teens or early 20s, my Bible study group full of inquisitive, highly intelligent university types decided to watch the movie and then discuss it. We never finished the movie. We were bored witless.

Posted by Jante (# 9163) on :

We are using the Kings Speech for lent along with a tudy book- Finding a Voice. So far it seems very good

Posted by Aravis (# 13824) on :

We had a Lent group based on the first two Narnia films and Shadowlands, with a study guide by Hilary Brand, "Not a Tame Lion". It was the best attended Lent group we've had - normally numbers tail off after a few weeks. It seemed to work for the couple of people who could quote whole chunks of CSL's works and equally well for those who thought they'd read a couple of Narnia books a few decades ago.

Posted by rolyn (# 16840) on :

'Schindeler's List' maybe ? A good story of compassion in a dark place .

Can't really go along with The Last Temptation being a 'turkey'. It hits the spot for me . But yeah, possibly not a good choice for a film group as it is very drawn-out.
And of course, never a good idea to raise expectations by giving something the controversial label when in fact the message is far more cerebral.

Posted by Stetson (# 9597) on :

quote:
And of course, never a good idea to raise expectations by giving something the controversial label when in fact the message is far more cerebral.

Not to mention conservative, by the standards of many mainstream Christians these days. Scorsese gives a literal reading of the miracles, portrays Satan as a real being, and has the Resurrection meaning pretty much what it's traditionally meant down through the centuries.

But yes, it was clever of Universal Studios to allow the pictchfork brigade to spread wild fantasies about what happens in the film.

And I second the opinion that it's a good movie, though probably not suitable for audiences pumped up for action and excitement.

[ 10. March 2013, 15:21: Message edited by: Stetson ]

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