Justice and Faith on the Big Screen in 2014

Moral and Spiritual Themes Highlight a Decent Movie Year

)

The quest for justice and harmony echoed through the best films of 2014, playing out in various arenas: social, domestic and spiritual.

And, in a remarkable number of films, individuals grappled with questions of religious identity and divine calling.

 

10 Films That Stood Out

1. Two Days, One Night. Yet another work of perfection from the Dardenne brothers (The Kid With a Bike), their latest is a somber but deeply humane portrait of a woman suffering from depression as she struggles to keep her job. As always, the Dardennes extend empathy to virtually all characters in their various difficult situations. A suicide attempt; brief crude language; mature themes. Teens and up.

2. Selma. Possibly the best civil-rights historical drama I’ve ever seen, Ava Duvernay’s masterful account offers a gratifyingly complex portrait of the cultural and political landscape of the 1960s. David Oyelowo’s brilliant interpretation of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. anchors a film that doesn’t neglect the role of faith in the civil-rights movement. Scenes of strong violence; references to marital infidelity; limited profanity, crude language and some racial epithets. Teens and up.

3. The Overnighters. Inspiring, challenging, sobering and, finally, devastating, Jesse Moss’ existentially probing documentary about a Lutheran pastor in a booming North Dakota oil town committed to showing Christian hospitality to an influx of out-of-state roughnecks has more layers than a twisty Hollywood thriller. Mature themes, including references to sex crimes, homosexuality, drug use, etc. Adults.

4. Like Father, Like Son. Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (I Wish) explores the challenges faced by two families who discover that their 6-year-old sons were switched at birth at the hospital. Mature themes. Teens and up.

5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. The summer’s most thoughtful blockbuster offers a pessimistic look at a world in crisis, critiquing the insidiousness of “us vs. them” ideology, while darkly contemplating how much easier it is to burn bridges than to build them. Brief, strong action violence; an obscenity and some crude language. Teens and up.

6. Ida. Pawel Pawlikowski’s haunting art-house film depicts a young novice in a Franciscan convent in the early 1960s who learns a shattering secret about her past. It’s a thoughtful reflection on identity and memory, religion and atheism, guilt and grief in Poland in the wake of Stalin and, further back, the Nazi occupation. A suicide; a brief bedroom scene (nothing explicit); mature themes and brief, disturbing images; limited bad language. Older teens and up.

7. Song of the Sea. Irish indie animation filmmaker Thom Moore’s follow-up to The Secret of Kells is even better, a modern-day fairy tale with roots in Irish mythology. There’s something Miyazaki-ish to the magic of this tale. Stressful family situations. Kids and up.

8. Noah. Steeped in rabbinic and other Jewish sources, Darren Aronofsky’s mad, visionary work of Old Testament movie midrash is a blend of epic spectacle, startling character drama and provocative biblical imagination, offering rich fodder for theological reflection on a wide range of themes. Action violence and battle mayhem; disturbing images; a childbirth scene (nothing explicit); brief sensuality; theological ambiguities requiring critical thought. Older teens and up.

9. Boyhood. Richard Linklater’s bravura 12-year experiment in serial filmmaking is an impressionistic tale of a growing-up Millennial in a broken family. Some profanity and heavy obscene and crude language; divorce and serial polygamy; sexual dialogue and themes, including a teenage sexual encounter (nothing explicit) and discussion of contraception; heavy drinking; some marijuana use. Mature viewing.

10. Chef. An indie crowd-pleaser starring writer-director Jon Favreau as a once-hot chef in a personal and professional funk, this joyous, compassionate film is a celebration of going back to basics, of good food, culture, music and shared family traditions — with the most moving screen father-son relationship I’ve seen in years. Divorce, an implied affair and some sexually themed dialogue; limited profanity, some crude language and heavy obscenity; brief marijuana use. Mature viewing.

 

10 Runners-Up

The Babadook, Jennifer Kent’s unsettling horror-movie exploration of a widow’s unhealthy grief and its effects on her relationship with her young son. Adults.

Big Hero 6, Disney/Marvel’s animated sci-fi action-comedy about two nerdy brothers, their robotics work and their nerd-school peers. Might be a bit much for sensitive youngsters.

Calvary, John Michael McDonough’s deeply troubling parable starring Brendan Gleeson as one of the best screen priests ever in one of the most impossible pastoral situations ever. Adults.

Ernest & Celestine, a charming Belgian animated adaptation of writer-artist Gabrielle Vincent’s children’s books about an unlikely friendship between a mouse and a bear. Kids and up.

Guardians of the Galaxy, the summer’s most sheerly entertaining escapist romp, with a ragtag band of scruffy antiheroes masking a refreshingly sincere moral baseline. Teens and up.

The Jewish Cardinal, a thoughtful biopic about the life of Jean-Marie Lustiger (played by Laurent Lucas), a Jewish convert to Catholicism at age 13 who became archbishop of Paris under Pope John Paul II. Teens and up.

The Lego Movie, the year’s freshest, most unique Hollywood animated film. Kids and up.

Locke, Steven Knight’s riveting one-act, one-man morality play, starring Tom Hardy as a man in a car on a mobile phone struggling to manage various personal and professional crises. Mature viewing.

Virunga, an engrossing documentary that builds to thriller-like conflict around a UNESCO World Heritage national park in the war-torn Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a British company hopes to find oil. War violence; some obscene and crude language. Teens and up.

X-Men: Days of Future Past, Bryan Singer’s triumphant melding of the old and new X-Men casts in a time-bending tale of moral choices between anger and hope. Teens and up.

 

10 More Worth Mentioning

The Amazing Spider-Man 2; Belle; Captain America: The Winter Soldier; Deliver Us From Evil; Edge of Tomorrow; Force Majeure; Get On Up; Life Itself; Muppets Most Wanted; Siddharth

Steven D. Greydanus is the Register’s film critic. Read more at NCRegister.com.