July 27, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info: “Triumph of the Will” (1936) – Leni Riefenstahl – 120 minutes

Distributor: Blockbuster Video

Summary: Triumph of the Will (Triumph des Willens) is a filmed record of the 1934 Nazi Party Convention, in Nuremberg. No, it is more than just a record: it is an exultation of Adolf Hitler, who from the moment his plane descends from Valhalla-like clouds is visually characterized as a God on Earth. The "Jewish question" is disposed of with a few fleeting closeups; filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl prefers to concentrate on cheering crowds, precision marching, military bands, and Hitler’s climactic speech, all orchestrated, choreographed and illuminated on a scale that makes Griffith and DeMille look like poverty-row directors. It has been alleged that the climactic rally, "spontaneous" Sieg-Heils and all, was pre-planned according to Riefenstahl’s specifications, the better to take full advantage of its cinematic potential. Allegedly, propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels resented the presence and intrusion of a woman director, but finally had to admit that her images, achieved through the use of 30 cameras and 120 assistants, were worth a thousand speeches. Possibly the most powerful propaganda film ever made, Triumph of the Will is also, in retrospect, one of the most horrifying. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Posted in Quasi-religion, Feast Days, Celebrations, & Events, Older Films, Politics, North America | Print | No Comments »

July 27, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info: “Shrine under Siege” (1985) – 42 minutes

Distributor: Icarus Films

Summary:  SHRINE UNDER SIEGE describes the coalition formed by Fundamentalist U.S. Christians and militant Israeli Jews to destroy the Dome of the Rock, Islam’s third holiest shrine, and to build a new Jewish temple in its place. The documentary explores the theological background to this unusual coalition and places it within the context of the increased political power of fundamentalism in the U.S., and the rise of extremist religious parties in Israel, as demonstrated by the election of Rabbi Meir Kahane to Parliament

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in War/Pacifism, Older Films, New Christian Right, Conflict, Politics, Africa & Middle East, Islam, Judaism, Evangelical Protestants | Print | No Comments »

July 27, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info:   “Romero” (1989) – Directed by John Duigan, starring Raul Julia – 105 minutes

Distributor: Available from Amazon (www.amazon.com)

Summary:   Feature film based on the story of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, 1980 victim of a political assassination.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in War/Pacifism, Older Films, Liberation Theology, Conflict, Change, Latin America & Caribbean, Politics, Social Activism, Catholics | Print | No Comments »

July 27, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info:  “The Radio Priest” (1989) – PBS – 58 minutes – color & b/w

Distributor: ??????????

Summary:  An interesting documentary about Charles Coughlin, the controversial right-wing Catholic radio preacher of the 1930s.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in Older Films, Conflict, Politics, Catholics | Print | No Comments »

July 27, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info: Part of “The Long Search”, a 1977 BBC series hosted by Ronald Eyre – 52 minutes

Distributor: Ambrose Videos has the entire series on DVD for $99

Summary: The Orthodox churches in Eastern Europe seem to be bound to the Communist states in essentially loveless marriages, except in Rumania. The Rumanian Orthodox Church is still seen as an important aspect of Rumania’s cultural heritage and ethnic identity. The Orthodox liturgy is one of the oldest and longest in Christendom, and the spirituality of the services intensified by the Byzantine splendor of the setting and the beauty of some of the most inspiring choral music to be heard in any church in the world.

Posted in Older Films, Worship Style, Politics, Eastern Orthodox, Christianity, Europe | Print | No Comments »

July 24, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info: Holy Terror – CGuild (1986) – 58 minutes

Distributor:  ??????????

Summary:  Portrays the religious legitimation of the New Right (esp anti-abortion) activism of the 1980s.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in Older Films, New Christian Right, Conflict, Social Activism, Politics, Christianity | Print | No Comments »

July 24, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info: The Bible Belt: Politics of the Second Coming – Canadian Broadcasting Company (1972) – 90 minutes

Distributor: ??????????

Summary:  Examines the rise of fundamentalist Protestant sects in Western Canada during the 1920s and 1930s and their impact on Canadian politics then and now.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in Older Films, New Christian Right, Politics, Evangelical Protestants, Sects, North America | Print | No Comments »

July 24, 2011 by Jim Spickard.

Film Info:  Battle for the Bible – PBS “God and Politics” series (1987) – 60 minutes.

Distributor ??????????

Summary:  Illustrates a contemporary conflict between Christians who want to enforce a conservative orthodoxy in their denominations versus others who want to maintain their denomination’s tradition of freedom of conscience for individual believers.

Film notice taken (with permission) from the “Teaching Resources” list in Meredith McGuire’s Religion: The Social Context, third edition. Her 5th edition (available from Waveland Press: see www.religionthesocialcontext.com) does not contain the resource list. I have only traced some of these films to current distributors. Please post updated information about them, if you have it. – JS

Posted in Older Films, Conflict, Politics, North America | Print | No Comments »

April 13, 2007 by Jim Spickard.

Film Title: “Fall From Grace” — by K. Ryan Jones — 2007 — 71 minutes
Distributor: www.fallfromgracemovie.net

Summary: (from the producers)

“God hates fags,” “You’re going to Hell,” “Thank God for 9/11,” “Thank God for dead soldiers.” Even in the darkness, the picket signs glow, not simply because of their neon hues, but because of the incandescent hate with which they are branded.

This shocking rhetoric flows from the Reverend Fred Phelps and his followers at the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas - smack in the center of America’s heartland. Whether it’s on their toxic website www.godhatesfags.com or at one of the 22,000 demonstrations they’ve staged over the last fifteen years, the Church is focused on one key message: America is doomed because, for too long, it has tolerated homosexuality and allowed it to thrive. Church members picket daily in the city of Topeka and often travel abroad. Most recently, Pastor Phelps and his followers have targeted military funerals for soldiers killed in the war in Iraq as a venue to preach God’s wrath against a nation that has apparently been “taken over by the fags.”

Directed by first-time filmmaker K. Ryan Jones - currently a senior at the University of Kansas - Fall From Grace is the first in-depth documentary feature film to focus on Pastor Phelps and his hate group, and features unprecedented access, interviews with Pastor Phelps and other members of the Westboro Baptist Church. Fall From Grace also includes interviews with the myriad of dissenters: Topeka leaders and officials, ministers, theologians, and two of Pastor Phelps’s adult children who have chosen to leave the church and their family.

Westboro Baptist Church is led by Pastor Fred Phelps, a lawyer who was disbarred in the mid-90s for witness intimidation, who started the church fifty years ago. It is a small group, comprised mostly of members of the Phelps family, but their hatred is prolific. They demonstrate anywhere they feel that their message is applicable, like the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming student who was killed for being gay and most recently, at the funerals of military servicemen and women killed in Iraq.

Fall From Grace takes the viewer inside this surreal world with rare interviews and footage of several pickets and church services. The film focuses on a group that represents a variety of contemporary American issues, including intolerance of homosexuality, the right to freedom of speech, separation of church and state, and the War in Iraq.

Posted in Conflict, Gender, Evangelism, Congregations, Gays/Lesbians, Family, Social Activism, Sects, Evangelical Protestants, Christianity, Politics, North America | Print | No Comments »