Screenplays that slid bits of spiritual truth in under the studio's nose

I can think of a whole posse of films that somehow did NOT get watered down in their spiritual messages. Those were cases of gutsy scriptwriters and insightful directors.

In this post-Passion of the Christ era, Hollywood is now actively embracing spiritually-themed film projects and specifically seeking out scripts with overt spiritual messages. No less than three of the huge studios have launched sub-studios to focus exclusively upon spiritual material--which bodes well for Christian novelists. But before PotC, it was almost impossible NOT to get censored. Of course, they didn't call it "censorship." They called it "script devlopment" and "rewrites" but the end result was always religious stuff getting drastically toned down or else weeded out completely.

The most classic example from the pre-PotC era is Chariots of Fire. And another strong contender is Dead Man Walking. Many also point to the Matrix series (although my own feeling is that it had as many Buddhist notions in it as Christian).

What films do you see as excellent specimens of SECULAR films that also have critical Christian theology in the sub-text of the story?

I like to point to The Good Son with MacCaulay Kulkin and Elijah Wood. There was nothing terribly Christian about the story on the surface. But the truths presented in it were unmistakably Biblical.


That film delved deeply into the idea that even children are capable of evil. And part of what allowed that child to grow in his evil was a LACK of direct moral training by his parents. Instead they chose to focus on academic and especially on scientific training of their kids.

The most critical line of dialogue in the whole script is when the 10-year old Elijah Wood is having his latest counseling session with the child psychiatrist who in convinced that Elijah Wood is delusional. The psychiatrist is oh so soft-spoken and she coos in loving tones, and she's merely patronizing Elijah Wood, not believing anything he says.

"But you don't understand!" Elijah Wood pleads in desperation. "He's evil!"

"But," she protests in her kind and gentle voice, "I don't believe in evil.'

And then Elijah Wood lowers his voice to a forboding pitch and ominously warns her: "You should."

alinasandor said:

Let's see, off the top of my head...Constantine (sp?), Evan Almighty, Bruce Almighty, all had a good Christian message.

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The theology of Bruce Almighty was amazing. Some people get hung up on the trivial stuff like Jim Carey making Jennifer Aniston's boobs bigger. But the actual issues of who God is and what he wants were profoundly explored in that film.

My favorite line is when Morgan Freeman (God) was explaining to Jim Carey about how when you're God, you can't violate people's free wills. And Jim Carey asks: "But how do you get people to love you without violating their free wills?" And then Morgan Freeman smiles and says: "Welcome to my world."

scriptwriter91 said:

Has anyone seen facing the Giants. Its basically based on Christianity. Its awesome

-sw91

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I'm sorry to say I have not seen this film. I heard it was pretty good. But the real significance of that film was the box office.

The profit margin for FtG was phenomenal. In terms of box office returns, it has been called the Christian Blair Witch Project since BWP had an initial investment of just $60,000 and grossed almost $250 million worldwide. Facing the Giants had a budget of only $100K and grossed $10 million. Pecentage-wise, BWP is (I'm pretty sure) considered the most successful film of all time, making back hundreds of thousands of percentage points from what the initial inventment was (I believe it comes out to 410,000%, but anyone here who's better at math than me should probably double-check those figures). So FtG is ranked in the same ballpark. Now I realize FtG didnt make back "hundreds of thousands of percentage points" but it DID make back a full 10,000%. And that's STILL an astronomical amount.

Most films maybe make back their entire budget (a mere 100%) --and when that happens, the film is a flop. The general rule of thumb is a film needs to make back a minimum of 200% of bugdet to break even. So if Spider-Man 3 cost $258 million to make, and it has only grossed back $300 million so far, it's still not in the black yet (not coutning foriegn markets). It needs to make $516 million (a mere 200%) to break even.

Same for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It cost $300 million and has only made back $301 million as of this weekend domestically. So it still hasn't turned a profit yet.

Now the recent surprise hit called 300 based on the Frank Miller graphic novel cost only $65 million and has so far grossed over $200 million domestically, so it's already taken 300% of initial inventment. It's considered a huge success.

Disturbia cost a puny $20 million and has already hit $80 million, a solid 400%, and it's still going strong.

And then there's the oh-so-well intended Evan Almighty. That movie cost a staggering $175 million to make, and yet it doesn't look like it's going to gross much more than $120 million domestically (maybe another $100 million foreign if its lucky).

When a movie can gross 300% or 400% of its budget, its considered a success. Few films ever exceed 500%--in fact, fewer than a half dozen films per year ever exceed 500%. Facing the Giants grossed 10,000%. So that movie made Hollywood stand up and take notice.

Another of my favorite non-Christian films that amazingly dished up generous portions of key Biblical principles was Autumn in New York starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder. That story explored issues around marital fidelity, monogamy, honesty in relationships, and most especially the cruelly lopsided social rewards and punishments that male philandering leaves behind--a fun ego trip for the guy, and a life of grief for the woman.

The whole film unbudgingly took the stand that male philandering is just plain wrong. And yet not one character was a Christian. Not one Bible verse was quoted. Religion played no role at all in the story.

This is exactly the kind of film that get's non-Christians thinking along moral lines, but without having to be "bothered" by religion. It's a pro-morality tale for those filmgoers who are otherwise allergic to Christianity.

rosemerry said:

My favorite part was when Bruce told God that he couldn't take care of the whole world and God said you aren't I only gave 42nd street to 53rd street or something of that nature. It was only ten blocks or something.

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Yes! I recall that general piece of dialogue also! God only gave him a small slice of Buffalo, New York, not the whole world. So again, the theology of who God is and what he's about was nicely explored.