__Paper __________________________________________________________________

A Reinhartzian Approach to the Bible and Popular Hollywood Films

Author: Anton Karl Kozlovic

Abstract

Scripture scholar Adele Reinhartz suggested a postmodern approach to religion studies that required scanning the popular cinema for three manifestations of Holy Writ, namely: (i) biblical artefacts, (ii) biblical texts, and (iii) biblical narrative structures. This innovative methodology is highly appropriate for the proverbial children-of-the-media during the current reign of moving image culture. It is also a necessary first step in raising the religion professions' consciousness about the celluloid Bible for pedagogic purposes, whether within the classroom, home or pulpit. Consequently, the critical film and religion literature was selectively reviewed and the popular Hollywood cinema briefly scanned to illustrate her tripartite taxonomy utilising copious inter-genre exemplars to demonstrate their richness and diversity. It was concluded that the cinema is a legitimate extra-ecclesiastical resource, and that Reinhartz's pop culture-rooted methodology is valuable for teaching religion, Scripture, theology, film, communication, cultural studies and the like. Further research into the emerging interdisciplinary field of religion-and-film was recommended.

Introduction: The Intersection of Hollywood and Divine

Popular feature films [1] were the dominant art form of the 20 th century. They ushered in the “Age of Hollywood” (Paglia 1994: 12) that continues to dominate into the 21 st century via theatres, TVs, videos, DVDs, the Internet, cell phones and who-knows-what-next, thus further accelerating the ascendancy of moving image culture worldwide. Films are so pervasive today that for Clive Marsh (2005: 32): “We have arguably now reached a stage where more people in Western cultures watch TV and visit the cinema than read their Bibles or access theological resources regularly (via worship, in literature or via the Internet).” Furthermore, “theology cannot assume it has the last word. Ensuring that theology is in the mix as the arts and popular culture are discussed…is essential for both church and society…Without such engagement…Christians will not be prepared to be disciples in today's world” (Marsh 2008: 280), or as Doug Fields (2008: 40) put it: “as church leaders, we can either be a part of the movie conversation or we can ignore the conversation; but the talk is going to grow louder and more overwhelming in the years ahead. I say we join in!”

Not only can feature films generate powerful aesthetic, emotional, intellectual and psycho-spiritual effects (Kozlovic 2000), but they can also radically change one's perception of love, life and faith. For example, Kathleen S. Nash (1996) confessed that she now reads biblical texts differently because of her exposure to movies:

[Take] Pulp Fiction , for example. Now, whenever I read or think about New Testament parables [Luke 15-16 [2]], I look for the motorcycle named Grace that speeds characters off into second chances and new life. To discuss the Wise Woman and the Foolish Woman of Proverbs [14:1], I invoke the demure, domestic/ated Beth [Anne Archer] and the wildly sexual Alex [Glenn Close] of Fatal Attraction . Bette Davis [playing Julie Morrison] descending the stairs in an off-the-shoulder gown [in Jezebel ] is forever fused with the image of the queenly Jezebel dressed in her finest to mock Jehu from a second-story palace window, as she engineers her own death [2 Kings 9:30-37] (188).

For Camille Paglia (1993: 208), “Hollywood Bible movies of the Fifties, like The Ten Commandments and Ben-Hur , with their epic clash of pagan and Judeo-Christian cultures, tell more truth about art and society than the French-infatuated ideologues who have made a travesty of the “best” American higher education.” Although Bible films are essentially entertaining, numerous, and have a relatively long history (Campbell and Pitts 1981), they are grossly under-utilised within formal educational settings, whether classroom, home or pulpit. This is a waste of a cheap, fun-filled and easily accessible extra-ecclesiastical resource that literally encompasses the Western world, and is therefore a significant pedagogic shame.

Part of this under-utilisation problem is rooted in the literary and theological complexity of its sacred source material, as dramatically illustrated in Sling Blade when the nasty Doyle Hargraves (Dwight Yoakam) confronted the mentally retarded Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) and said:

Doyle: You believe in the Bible, do you Karl?

Karl: Yessir, a good deal of it. I can't understand all of it.

Doyle: Well, I can't understand none of it. This one begat that one, that one begat this one. Begat and begat and lo and behold someone says some shit to someone or another. Just how retarded are you?

This dramatic rendition of confusion about the Bible was not too far off the social mark for as Dave Veerman (1933) reported over one-and-a-half decades ago:

…31 percent of all adults in America say that the Bible is too difficult to understand…Maybe they tried reading the Bible themselves and stumbled over the thees , thous , and wouldests or got lost trying to find Obadiah. They may even have tried to understand Scripture by using Bible reference books, but the tiny print just explained facts—words such as wormwood , Septuagint , Pentateuch , and Ammonites —when they wanted to know about worry, stress, peer pressure, and anger (5-6).

One wonders how wide that understandability gap has grown today. The professional burden of this pedagogic responsibility was acutely felt by Scripture scholar Adele Reinhartz (1999) who argued:

While popular movies generally convey a positive view of the Bible and its role as sacred Scripture, we as students and teachers of biblical literature should worry about those for whom popular culture is a primary vehicle of biblical knowledge. Our mission, should we choose to accept it, is to help our students to an educated reading of the text against which movies and other popular representations of the Bible may be tested (10).

It was an exciting and noble idea that she diligently put into practice (Reinhartz 2003b; 2007). Regrettably, not much research has been devoted to exploring how the popular Hollywood cinema, [3] as a pervasive, persuasive and legitimate teaching resource can be effectively put to work for contemporary religion studies and revitalisation purposes.

The Hollywood Hermeneutic: Religious Exegesis, Movie Style

Although there is a wide range of approaches to film criticism (Bywater and Sobchack 1989), as Ambros Eichenberger (1997: 8) lamented, “interpretations from a religious or theological point of view are still relatively exceptional.” To date, this methodological deficiency has only been addressed spasmodically at the theoretical level (Eichenberger 1997; Martin 1974; May 1997; Nash 1996; Nolan 1998, 2003), tentatively at the pedagogic level (Goldburg 2004; McCutcheon 1998; Mercadante 2007; Rowe 2004), and exploratory at the biblical epic level (Birch 2005; Kozlovic 2008; Moses 2004). Yet, much more work is needed to turn it into a viable teaching tool for today that is accepted by both ecclesiastical and educational hierarchies without suspicion or complaint, especially by those practitioners solely rooted in book culture and who not yet developed complementary audiovisual skills. Somewhat appropriately, a partial solution to the problem was suggested within the popular cinema itself.

In the film Where the Heart Is , the “welcome woman,” Sister Hubbard [Stockard Channing], meets the young, pregnant Novalee [Natalie Portman], who was abandoned at a Wal-Mart by her boyfriend. The Pentecostal Hubbard aims to give Novalee some advice. “You read the Bible?” asks Hubbard. “Not as much as I should,” replies Novalee. “Good,” says Hubbard with conviction. “Folks read too much of it, they just get confused. That's why I like to hand out just one chapter at a time. That way folks can deal with their confusion as it comes” (Schultze 2002: 66).

This was friendly interpersonal advice and a sound pedagogic principle. The Bible is a big book and an even more complicated theological document that should be examined in easily digestible chunks aimed at student comprehensibility; therefore, when any confusion of the sort Doyle Hargraves experienced, it can be dealt with expeditiously.

Sister Hubbard's sage-like advice was akin to Adele Reinhartz's (1999) educational mission-cum-pastoral desire to make the Bible accessible to the post-print generation in our increasingly post-Christian, media-dominated world. Consequently, Reinhartz advocated an innovative exegesis strategy that has cultural currency, academic relevance, and addresses the public's palpable desire for knowledge wrapped inside an entertaining package, what Barry Taylor (2008: 19) called entertainment theology—that which “highlights the evolution of theology from a didactic or studied approach to the question of God to a more global communal conversation about the sacred in general.”

Performing religious exegesis using “the movies” certainly fits the prescription for an engaging educational experience that creatively fuses film, faith and fun, just as Janine Langan (2002: 68) discovered when running her classes in Christian imagination. As she reported: “When teaching film, I have found that students are intensely excited when introduced to this method as a mode of interpretation.” Moreover, according to Carleen Mandolfo (2005: 323): “students throw themselves into theological and exegetical reflection more eagerly with film than with any other medium,” and as such, it is another gross shame (bordering upon professional negligence) to waste this wellspring of enthusiasm for learning, especially in a subject that many students consider dull, boring and incompatible with 20 th century sensibilities, let alone 21 st century needs (Jones 2004: 32).

Not only can commercial feature films provide small thematic chunks about religious issues that may lessen a novice's initial confusion, but film analysis can stimulate one's theological imagination beyond pre-digested or dogmatic religious party lines. Furthermore, it can be done without the overarching fear of censorship or punishment for exploring potentially “heretical” ideas because one is only talking about a movie interpretation and not the sacred text itself. As such, it is only prudent for the profession to tap into such a natural wellspring of enthusiasm and alternative source of religious insights. Treated as a cultivated act of applied cinema (i.e., putting movies to work and not just a relief from work), it can quickly transcend the traditional classroom function of film as student pacification, visual aide or diversionary entertainment.

Adele Reinhartz's Tripartite Approach to the Celluloid Bible

Studying the Bible via popular films is a natural, easy and intuitive approach that is commensurate with the technological realities and cultural aspirations of the proverbial children-of-the-media who are already tightly ensconced within an audiovisual culture. Besides, this being their natural sociocultural turf, “students have a special thing going with the movies. They get turned on when the projector gets turned on” (Culkin 1969: 208), and thus it is a fertile ground for innovative research methodologies catering to their needs, aspirations and desires. Adele Reinhartz's (1999) postmodern approach to exegesis comprises of three basic focuses, namely, scanning the cinema looking for evidence of (i) biblical artefacts, (ii) biblical texts, and (iii) biblical narrative structures, in much the same way that field archaeologists hunt for the material evidence of lost civilisations. For the purposes of this paper, the critical film and religion literature was briefly reviewed and incorporated into the text to enhance narrative coherence (albeit, with a strong reportage flavour). The popular Hollywood cinema was briefly scanned and selected films that matched Reinhartz's tripartite taxonomy were identified and explicated herein utilising copious inter-genre exemplars to illustrate their richness and diversity.

Basic consciousness-raising in this elementary survey fashion is a necessary first step in demonstrating the extent of this pop culture phenomenon, and in promoting both the value of the Hollywood hermeneutic and the pedagogic legitimacy of the emerging and exciting interdisciplinary field of religion-and-film ( sacred cinema, spiritual cinema, holy film, cinematic theology, cinematheology, theo-film, celluloid religion, film-and-faith, film-faith dialogue ). For teachers, scholars and laypersons alike, it can be a source of joy and creativity beyond the ken of book-based research. After all, who said that religion studies had to be book-bound, or endured more often than enjoyed, or that film, faith and fun cannot coexist simultaneously?

I. Biblical Artefacts: The Good Book as Holy Prop

Reinhartz's focus on biblical artefacts requires one to seek out the Holy Bible being employed as a film prop. For example, the comedy science fiction (SF), Coneheads , showed the pointy-headed alien, Prymaat (Jane Curtin), from the downed Remulakian scout ship of Beldar hiding inside an Earth motel room. Whilst lying on her bed, she idly opened its Gideon Bible and shrieked with laughter, thus implying that Judeo-Christianity was a joke to her off-world alien sensibilities. The contemporary drama, Nell , depicted a young feral female, Nell Kellty (Jodie Foster), who was found abandoned near a decaying old house. Inside this building was a large, well-wore family Bible that contained a note from Nell's now-deceased mother asking its future finder to look after her baby for her; whom she believed would be divinely led to Nell. The Good Book was literally used as a means of salvation for the baby, albeit, a somewhat high-risk strategy that was eventually successful, if extremely late in fruition. In the comedy western, Buck and the Preacher , the Negro preacher-cum-snake oil salesman, Willis Oakes Rutherford (Harry Belafonte) of the High and Low Orders of the Holiness Persuasion Church frequently fondled his huge, ostentatious Bible. However, he did not do this because he was an especially holy man or in love with his copy of God's word, but because it contained a loaded handgun hidden between its sacred covers that could be quickly used to defend himself in times of trouble. His Bible was a legitimate source of comfort for him, but for essentially non-religious reasons.

In the American prison film, The Shawshank Redemption , corrupt Warden Norton (Bob Gunton) was an obnoxious Bible-thumping Christian who distributed Bibles to new prisoners and claimed: “I believe in two things: discipline and the Bible. Here you'll receive both. Put your trust in the Lord. Your ass belongs to me.” The Warden referred to the Bible throughout the film to justify his sadistic brutality of the prisoners and to add an air of pious authority to underpin his ruthlessness. In effect, the Warden had turned the holy word of God into a symbol of oppression and hypocrisy, whilst highlighting his corrupt Christian fundamentalism hidden behind the guise of church-going righteousness. However, at films end, the Warden's pretentious piousness, moral hypocrisy, and secret financial corruptions were revealed by the long-suffering, innocent inmate, Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), who successfully escaped prison by digging a hole through his cell wall using a rock hammer cunningly hidden inside his own hollowed-out Bible. Andy had thus turned his copy of sacred Scripture into a postmodern symbol of liberation, if somewhat unconventionally packaged and deployed.

Indeed, even deeper theological meaning can be extracted from this Bible scene because the “top page of the carved-out space for the rock hammer is clearly visible to the observant film viewer: it is the title page of the book of Exodus, the biblical story of escape from bondage” (Jewett 1999: 181). Previously, Andy almost lost his Bible-cum-escape tool when Warden Norton accidentally walked off with it before turning around and giving it back saying: “I'd hate to deprive you of this. Salvation lies within.” That statement was biblically, theologically and literally true, which Andy deliciously acknowledged within his own escape note: “Dear Warden, you were right. Salvation lay within.” Similarly, the American prison film, Escape from Alcatraz , employed a Bible to hide Frank Morris' (Clint Eastwood's) material means of escape, thus proffering another de facto symbol of hope and freedom packaged inside Holy Writ.

In the sacred servant film, The Apostle , the fleeing Pentecostal preacher Euliss “Sonny” Dewey/the Apostle E. F. (Robert Duvall) resettled in the rural town of Bayoun Boutte Louisiana and rebuilt an abandoned church with the help of retired black preacher Revd. C. Charles Blackwell (John Beasley). During the refurbishment process, an aggrieved community member and some of his mean-spirited friends decided to raze the church with a bulldozer, however, E. F. confronted the menace, read out a Psalm then physically laid the Bible in front of the approaching bulldozer. This bravura act of holy defiance stopped the demolition of the church, spiritually galvanised the congregation, and won a new convert to the fledgling religious community—the formerly aggrieved driver. The film suggested that the Holy Bible (coupled with the charismatic preacher who used it) had the power to achieve personal transformation via a form of textually-mediated epiphany, divine osmosis, or holy radiation as God re-entered their lives via physical and/or symbolic exposure to the Good Book's holy presence. Furthermore, as Adele Reinhartz (2003b: 117) noted: “ The Apostle differs from most other Hollywood films in the central role given to the Bible, which is visible, cited, and quoted in virtually every scene.”

In the social drama, Sling Blade , the retarded murderer Karl Childers (Billy Bob Thornton) befriended young Frank Wheatly (Lucas Black) who asked him what he was carrying in his travel bag. Karl quickly confessed that he was carrying books and told Frank that one of his favourites was the Bible, which at film's end he gave to Frank as a heart-felt parting gift (along with other personal items). However, the semiotic association between the Bible, mental retardation and murder was not particularly uplifting, especially when Karl killed again and was returned to his former mental institution, whatever the noble reason underlying his homicidal act. One could interpret Karl's giving away of his prized Bible as an act of rejection of the Holy word because he had reverted to his murderous ways and was no longer worthy of it, alternatively, that he no longer wanted to be restrained by its high moral standards, or that it was no longer effectual in supporting his now-rejected former non-violent values. After all, as J. Stephen Lang (2003: 198) suggested: “One reason many people do not read the Bible: it makes us uncomfortable, because so many of its cherished beliefs run head-on with our own cherished beliefs.”

Just as disturbing was to find a Bible surrounded by other religious paraphernalia in the room of sociopathic serial killer, John Doe (Kevin Spacey) in the cop film, Se7en , where once again Hollywood had linked abnormality and murder with Christianity, in another subtle form of character assassination (i.e., the religious-as-psychotic; religion's power to produce or attract psychotics). The apocalyptic thriller, The Omega Code was replete with images of Hebrew characters and selected verses from the Torah dutifully displayed upon holy parchments. Therein, sacred Scripture also formed a part of Jewish scholar Rostenberg's (Yehuda Efroni's) computer program that interpreted the Bible code in its animated double helix form (i.e., a virtual reality Bible), albeit, “it periodically spits out vague pronouncements that sound like fortune cookie messages” (Mitchell 2002: 218). The film's hero was a scholar of world religions, Dr. Gillen Lane (Casper van Dien), a practising mythologist and motivational guru wrapped up in a charismatic package. He posited that the Bible was actually a “holographic computer program” which gave a New Age twist to ancient world Scriptures that could easily rival Dan Brown's novel-cum-film The Da Vinci Code .

II. Biblical Texts: Hollywood's Deployment of Holy Verse

Adele Reinhartz's second focus upon biblical texts is the linguistic-literary equivalent of finding Bible props as one searches the popular cinema for examples of Scripture or pseudo-Scripture being employed. Dialogically quoting biblical verses, displaying Holy Scriptures for reading, or disembodied voices reading out holy passages is a standard cinematic convention for setting the religious-cum-moral tone of a whole range of genre films. For example, Cecil B. DeMille frequently used scriptural passages within his silent The Ten Commandments , and quoted numerous chapter-and-verses on intertitles throughout his Jesus film The King of Kings to reinforce the notion that they were authentically pious uses of Holy Writ (albeit, creatively sourced and sometimes re-arranged for narrative coherence reasons). In the foreign film Babette's Feast , General Lowenhielm (Jarl Kulle) dressed before a mirror and spontaneously recited Ecclesiastes 1:2, namely: “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity” to biblically reflect upon his own preening, in addition to showing that the film had “a great deal to say about Christian worship” (Pecklers 2003: 10) and the transformative spiritual power of a good meal.

In the Satan-as-lawyer film The Devil's Advocate , a small town Florida congregation was singing about God crushing Satan, and they used a catchy pseudo-chant comprising of four vocal parts, namely, “Romans 16, 19, 10” to scripturally backup their claim. Presumably, it referred to Romans chapter 16 verse 19 and verse 10 because there is no Romans 19 (only 16 chapters), and there is no Romans 16 verse 1910 (chapter 16 contains only 27 verses). Besides, the latter portion of Romans 16:19 was also appropriate to the congregation's anti-Satan theme, namely: “I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil,” whilst the first half of Romans 16:10, namely: “Salute Apelles approved in Christ,” suggests that one should be on God's good side before dealing with evil, which was also an appropriate theme for this Devil film. But then one wonders why the musically accompanied chant was not “Romans 16, 10, 19” (i.e., in numerical order) instead of “Romans 16, 19, 10” (presumably because it did not sound as good rhythmically). Interestingly, as Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) said to his biological father, John Milton a.k.a. The Devil (Al Pacino): “In the Bible, you lose. We're destined to lose, Dad” but as the Devil cunningly replied: “Consider the source, son. Besides, we're gonna write our own book!” and thus start an unholy textual tradition, which was temporarily thwarted at films end, but since John Milton also survived, who knows about tomorrow and a potential film sequel?

A battle of holy words in the form of Scripture-jousting dramatically occurred within The Shawshank Redemption between the unjustly imprisoned Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) and the corrupt Warden Norton (Bob Gunton):

Andy cites Mark 13:35, which refers to the master returning when least expected to demand an accounting from his servants, a clear reference to the expectation that the dishonest secrets will be exposed. The warden replies with an evasive citation from John [8:12] about “those who are in me will not walk in darkness,” implying that his piety will prevent exposure (Jewett 1999: 181).

Such Scripture-jousting has occurred in many feature films as a means of generating dramatic conflict and highlighting opposing positions/values/ideologies. For example, in the Australian sacred servant film Priest , during a Mass conducted by the gay Father Greg Pilkington (Linus Roache), biblical texts on the question of homosexuality were dramatically exchanged as an unplanned consequence of the not-so-good Father's indiscreet homosexual tryst. In the British comedy film Heavens Above! , the Anglican Revd. John Smallwood (Peter Sellers) was a holy fool who applied Christian goodness-and-charity principles to the small community of Orbitson Parva, but only ended up incurring the community's wrath because of his good-natured sincerity. Lady Despard's butler (Bernard Miles) subsequently indulged in Scripture-quoting-as-invective when he enthusiastically quoted Matthew 27:5 referring to hanging one-self, which was creatively reapplied to the good Reverend in the sincere hope that he would do likewise.

In The Devil's Advocate , small-town Florida lawyer Kevin Lomax (Keanu Reeves) got into a Scripture-quoting tussle with his Bible-holding, narrow-minded, but loving religious mother, Alice Lomax (Judith Ivey). She was not very happy about her son moving to New York, which she anxiously described as: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, it has become a dwelling place of demons. Revelation 18.” When she challenged Kevin to know what happened to Babylon, he responded crisply: “Now a mighty city in one hour has thou mighty judgment come. In the light of a single lamp shall it shine on me no more.” Although Alice immediately conceded defeat to her son, this scriptural recitation was only a condensed Hollywood version of Scripture because Revelation 18 is actually 24 verses long! Alice's quote is a rough approximation of Revelation 18:2, while Kevin's quote is a rough fusion of Revelation 18:10 and 18:23; admittedly, the Hollywood version was much better drama if poorer biblical scholarship.

On occasion, Scripture-quoting is designed as obfuscation, usually to hide the person's real lack of knowledge or to create an aura of piousness that none dare question. This comically occurred in Monty Python's The Meaning of Life during the very obtuse Bible-reading performed by the school headmaster (John Cleese). This was immediately followed by a silly prayer and even sillier hymn-singing led by the pious-looking school chaplain (Michael Palin) before massed school boys; none of whom were game enough to object to the incoherence and irreverence of either religious event. Biblical gobbledygook had been offered in place of theological knowledge, wisdom or relevance, and no one in the church even cared, let alone attempted to challenge or improve the situation.

At least in the British comedy Nuns on the Run , Charles McManus (Robbie Coltrane), who was disguised as a nun to escape murderous criminal partners, tried to explain the theological concept of the Trinity to high school students. However, when his/her efforts became garbled, he/she selfishly concluded: “It's not supposed to make sense! It's religion!” Interestingly, in Heavens Above! , Revd. John Smallwood (Peter Sellers) castigated his aristocratic benefactress Lady Despard (Isabel Jeans) for her businesslike approach to the Trinity by saying: “The way you talk, you'd think the Father, Son and Holy Ghost was a firm of builder's merchants!” At least scripturesque-flavoured piousness was effective in the SF classic Them! starring giant mutant ants created by atomic radiation. This 1950s monster movie concluded when Dr. Harold Medford (Edmund Gwenn) engineered the destruction of the queen ant's nest and then thoughtfully intoned afterwards: “We may be witnessing a biblical prophecy come true…The beasts shall reign over the Earth.” This was another favourite Hollywood practice: linking contemporary events with biblical prophecies of doom-and-destruction, but in this case it is understandable given the dawning of the atomic age and the potential apocalyptic horrors the bomb could easily trigger.

A powerfully disturbing use of Scripture-quoting occurred in the addiction drama, Bigger Than Life . Ed Avery (James Mason) was a cortisone-affected school teacher who alarmed his wife Lou (Barbara Rush) by deciding to kill their son Richie (Christopher Olsen), ostensibly to stop him from turning into a criminal. With Bible-in-hand, and after skip reading God's commandment to Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac (Gen. 22:9-10), Ed argued that God was wrong in staying Abraham's knife, and so he menacingly approached young Richie with knife-in-hand to complete Abraham's original task. Once again, Hollywood linked mental disorder and religious fanaticism with the Bible. Almost as disturbing is the psychotic killer Max Cady (Robert De Niro) in the remake of Cape Fear who frequently quoted the Bible as part of his revenge-cum-fear campaign against his former prosecuting lawyer and his family.

Powerful mock Scripture-quoting also occurred within The Shawshank Redemption when the corrupt Warden Norton (Bob Gunton) had a needlepoint sign hanging in his office that alluded to the Bible: “His Judgement Cometh and That Right Soon” (which ironically prefigured his own downfall). A particularly famous Scripture-quoting episode featured in Pulp Fiction when hit-man Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) used an authoritative voice befitting the Old Testament God of vengeance to challenge his intended murder victim:

Have you read your Bible?…There's a passage I got memorized, seems appropriate for this situation: Ezekiel 25:17: The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequalities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you (quoted in Reinhartz 1999: 6).

However, this quotation does not exist within the Bible; rather, it was an amalgamation of diverse holy verses dramatically compiled and employed for their cold-blooded mockery, in addition to being “an epiphanic moment for Jules” (Hudson 2004: 108). The actual biblical passage only said: “And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall lay my vengeance upon them” (Ezek. 25:17). As Reinhartz (1999) noted regarding this transgressive use of Scripture:

Viewers whose lives do not include a Bible, or whose biblical knowledge is only indirect and general, will not recognize that Jules's [Samuel L. Jackson's] version of Ezekiel 25:17 is phoney, nor are they likely to think through the differences between a literalist and a more nuanced understanding of lex talionis , “an eye for an eye” (10).

Nevertheless, his nostril-flaring threat was a powerful screen performance that had a profound effect upon the intended victim (and off-screen audience) prior to his violent execution; as if from on high. Supporting the biblical claim that “there is no new thing under the sun” (Eccl. 1:9), Jules' quote was imported from a kung fu movie The Bodyguard (Hudson 2004: 108). As Jorg Herrmann (2003) reported:

Either Tarantino did not check whether the kung fu film quoted the Bible correctly, or he misquoted it on purpose to establish a difference by which the reference to the biblical tradition was broken. The deliberate differentiation was probable, for it would be characteristic of Pulp Fiction to refer to and break with traditions of popular culture (192).

However, according to Barnes and Hearn (1996):

Jules's speech actually originated in an early draft of From Dusk Till Dawn and was modelled after that given by Sonny Chiba throughout the TV series Kaga No Gundo (aka Shadow Warriors ); Chiba's character recites a similarly involved chant – ‘The only people who hear this speech die' – immediately before executing one of his enemies (54).

Tarantino admitted to the dialogue originally coming from three sources: The Bodyguard , the Bible and Shadow Warriors creatively re-used in Pulp Fiction (Hudson 2004: 108).

III. Biblical Narrative Structures: Testament Tracing

Adele Reinhartz's third focus upon biblical narrative structures comes closest to a more fuller examination of the cinema for biblical content, since one is encouraged to look within the film for sacred stories as part of the plot. She envisioned examining biblical epics from the Old Testament (e.g., The Ten Commandments ) and the New Testament (e.g., The Gospel According to St. Matthew ) to biblical allusions within non-biblical films, for example, the SF story Deep Impact , which Reinhartz (1999: 7) claimed was “a modern day rendition of the flood story, animals, ark and all, with the priestly blessing, apocalypticism, and a messiah rolled in for good measure.” Although overtly dealing with meteor–based disaster, Deep Impact reflected the Bible because:

The Gospel is part of an eschatological discourse from Jesus, a meditation on the end of time. It is a warning about the judgment of God and uses apocalyptic images from Old Testament books like Ezekiel and Daniel. These images were further developed in the New Testament book of Revelation. The symbols are expressed in imaginative, colorful, hyperbolic stories and dramatic warnings (Malone and Pacatte 2003: 3).

This Reinhartzian tactic is the natural modality for the exploration of holy subtexts (a.k.a. sacred subtexts; holy infranarrations) such as Christ-figures, Moses-figures, Judas-figures and the rest of the “hidden” biblical menagerie. Much work has already been done in this area with many delightful examples emerging (Kozlovic 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007). For example, Gaye Ortiz (2002) explored the theme of the Holy family involving Jesus, Mary and Joseph in such SF classics as Superman: The Movie , The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day . Linda A. Mercadante (2001a) explored the female Christ-figure Bess (Emily Watson) in the dour drama tinged with magical realism, Breaking the Waves . Similarly, Arnfriour Gudmundsottir (2002) explored the female Christ-figure, Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon) in the American death-row film, Dead Man Walking , in addition to exploring her dedication to God as a working nun, that is, a bride of Christ representing Jesus in the darker corners of the mundane world.

Acting even more Christ-like was the heroic Dr. Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) in X-Men 2 , especially when she deliberately sacrificed herself to save her fellow crime-fighting X-Men; just like Jesus who sacrificed himself to take away the sins of the world and ensure the future survival of humanity (Matt. 1:21; Rev. 1:5). As Craig Detweiler (1999: 7) put it: “In the Marvel Universe, Jean Grey's life begins in death. She will return in the third X-men film, rising as a Phoenix from the ashes. Jean Grey follows the myth of the Dying God, demonstrating to audiences where enduring power resides.” Her name, Phoenix, and its animal image was certainly appropriate for it is a potent Christian “symbol of resurrection, of Christ consumed in the fires of the passion and rising again on the third day, triumphant over death” (Cooper 1992: 190).

A famous example of the Christ-figure film is Cool Hand Luke (1967), in which the lead character, played by Paul Newman, lies in classic cruciform position on a table after consuming fifty eggs in the space of an hour, to the amusement of his fellow prisoners. Other cinematic Jesus figures [sic—Christ-figures, Jesus “in which he appears indirectly” as opposed to Jesus figure, that is, Jesus “in which he appears as himself” (Reinhartz 2000, 131)] are Chance the Gardener, the main character of Peter Seller's Being There (1979), who speaks in parables and walks on water though he does not quite understand how or why; Andy Dufresne [Tim Robbins], of the Shawshank Redemption (1994), who gathers followers and gives them hope; and, in a entirely different mode, “Neo” (also known as “the One” [Keanu Reeves]), hero of The Matrix (1999), who is singled out to redeem humankind, and undergoes death and resurrection in the spaceship called Nebuchadnezzar (Reinhartz 2003a: 189).

Furthermore, the morally upright schoolteacher-cum-psychic John Smith (Christopher Walken) within The Dead Zone exuded many Christic resonances. For example, he survived a death-dealing experience, got on well with children much better than with adults, was a bachelor, childless and had a loner dispossession. He had visionary experiences, intimate contact with the dead, and performed miraculous intercessions for others. However, his gentle nature, soft-spoken demeanour, humbleness, selflessness, love, restraint and sympathy made him very approachable, yet he was still doomed by destiny. He was an ordinary man fated to make an extraordinary decision, but at least he achieved far more in death than he did in life. In a deliberate act of free will, he chose to become a martyr with his:

…Christ-like act of self-sacrifice made for the future welfare of humankind…Christian imagery and icons follow Smith throughout the film, from the picture of Christ wearing a crown of thorns that hangs on his hospital room wall to his violent death with arms outstretched, bleeding atop the broken fragments of a wooden bench (Magistrale 2003: 123).

Sometimes, Christian references can saturate secular films to an inordinate degree. For example, Christopher Deacy collated numerous biblical references in the fantasy film about the media, Pleasantville , as posted on David Bruce's Hollywood Jesus website. The innocent, 1950s prelapsarian town of Pleasantville was constructed as a subtextual Eden before the Fall. Like its Bible equivalent, there was no sex, chaos or crime within this “perfect” world. However, this closed society was no real paradise, as indicated by the screen's black-and-white colour that visually reinforced the notion of social sterility, procedural monotony, and emotional blandness. Then sin was introduced into their static, unspoiled, ant-like world via the promiscuous and “otherworldly” traveller Jennifer (Reese Witherspoon).

She was subtextually analogous to the head strong, rebellious and would-be usurper Satan, the dragon/Devil/serpent who was forcibly expelled from his heavenly home (Rev. 12:9), as quick as lightning (Luke 10:18), and then banished to Earth to roam around like a roaring lion (1 Peter 5:8). Likewise, against her will, Jennifer was instantaneously removed from her formerly comfortable and expansive “normal” world and relocated to the relatively restrictive world of Pleasantville. Therein, Jennifer reeked social havoc as she prowled around her new world rebelliously instituting a radical social order, just like Satan who reeked havoc by instituting his own radical new order of disorder via usurpation of God's will upon Earth.

Just like Satan, Jennifer introduced into Edenic Pleasantville forbidden knowledge (symbolised by the now readable classic textbooks in the local libraries), plus forbidden female sexual practices (e.g., clitoral masturbation) and associated seduction techniques via dress and demeanour. These radical acts forever coloured the community's perceptions of love, life and the delights of mundane existence, as visually indicated by the hues given to the peoples' bodies as a rainbow palette slowly filtered through them and also their bland black-and-white world slowly turning into a vibrant and colourful place. As Christopher Deacy (2003) put it:

The fact that Betty Parker [Joan Allen] has never heard of sex makes her…an Eve-figure, while one scene reveals David [a.k.a. Bud (Toby Maguire)] picking an apple from a tree and then eating it, in a clear (literal) analogy of Genesis 3. An image of a burning bush invokes, further, the story of God's appearance to Moses in Exodus 3, while the rainbow that follows the first rainfall in the town of Pleasantville, with its attendant motif of promise and hope, may be said to resemble Genesis 9, where following the Flood, God establishes the rainbow as ‘a sign of the covenant between me and the earth' (Gen. 9:12) (207).

Nor was Pleasantville the only satirical film about a TV sit-com world to subtextually retell the Garden of Eden story. Peter Weir's The Truman Show was another such retelling using the small island town of Seahaven as his metaphoric Paradise. Seahaven was actually the elaborate set of the world's largest studio owned by OmniCam Corporation that ran a 24/7 reality TV show directed by Christof (Ed Harris). The show starred an unknowing innocent, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) as its living work of art-cum-commercial media property. Since the day he was born, Truman's life was totally scripted. He was lied too, commercialised, manipulated and spied upon by 5,000 hidden cameras that tracked his every move throughout every possible phase of his existence. As David R. Allen explained regarding its biblical analogies:

The character Christof is God, Truman is Adam. As Truman goes through his world he is happy but dissatisfied, and then along comes Eve. One of the actresses in the movie, Lauren [Garland/Sylvia (Natascha McElhone)], gives him the knowledge that his world is a setup for him. He then becomes extremely dissatisfied and leaves Eden of his own accord. Lauren gives him the knowledge which he can have a better life, and then he takes it on despite all the problems that may come with it (quoted in Patterson npd: 1-2).

Similarly, John Drane (2000: 169) considered Christof to be “an overpossessive patriarchal God and Truman as a naive Adam, wanting to get out of Paradise,” whilst Linda A. Mercadante (2000: 169) considered Christof to be “a self-deluded and obsessive god. He does not truly love Truman…This is not a god who created out of overflowing love and is determined to work with humans until they can enjoy true partnership.” Richard A. Blake (1998: 20) held a similar sentiment and argued that: “My God holds little in common with Christof, and so I cheer for a Truman who strives to free himself from all illusion, however uncomfortable, and discover the authentic self in the midst of all this external artifice.” The “climax of the movie which we experience as the ultimate act of a spirited human being, [is when Truman] turns his back on the Creator and steps outside of the Creator's world and outside his control” (Baker 2002: 105). He literally comes to the end of his physical world when he hits the edge of the set riding inside a boat named the Santa Maria (after Jesus' mother), and just like Christopher Columbus, he will discover a whole new world. Lauren's truth had literally helped free Truman, just like Jesus said in John 8:32: “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”

Conclusion

As aptly illustrated by the consciousness-raising sojourn documented above and the copious inter-genre extra-ecclesiastical exemplars employed therein, popular feature films contain many diverse religious elements, but their existence is only the proverbial “tip of the iceberg. There is a titanic corpus of biblically-influenced films” (Reinhartz 1999: 9) that are still waiting to be discovered, rediscovered, explored and pedagogically deployed within the classroom, home or pulpit. However, this fact is not too surprising for as John R. May (2001: 15) claimed: “In the West, the Bible has been the single most influential text; it is, in fact, so much a part of our American Jewish-Christian cultural roots that its stories, images, and symbols continue to influence the imagination of artists whether they are believers or not.” If nothing else, biblically-inspired movies, whether overtly or covertly covered in secular wrappers proves that: “The Bible—which some people think of as dry and restrictive—is actually bursting with freshness and innovation” (Cloke 2003: 4); especially when entertainingly retold in “the most representative art form of the twentieth century” (Bywater and Sobchack 1989: 78).

Reinhartz's tripartite taxonomy of religious exegesis via the categories of biblical artefacts, biblical texts and biblical narrative structures is intrinsically exciting, pedagogically important, and a methodologically appropriate first-step for today's teaching of religion, Scripture, theology, film, communication, cultural studies and the like. Not only is her postmodern pop-culture approach innovative and attuned to both contemporary sociocultural sensitivities and technological realities, but her strategy is in effect just a modern manifestation of the Nazarene's own teaching strategy, namely, going to the people, speaking to them in their language, about their concerns, to teach them about her (and God's) desires. It is also akin to the Apostle Paul's preaching in the Areopagus (Acts 17:16-34), with movies being the modern site of Mars Hill with its engaging arguments between believers and non-believers that can result in insights and conversions as appropriate.

Further research into applied cinema studies and the emerging interdisciplinary field of religion-and-film is desired, warranted and recommended; particularly the re-examination of neglected feature films for their hitherto unappreciated religious content, the identification of new taxonomic categories and sub-categories of analysis, and the development of the teaching tactics needed to edify its primary, secondary and tertiary level students (see Bausch 2002; Mandolfo 2005; Roncace and Gray 2007). After all, what better way to reinvigorate and revitalise the religion professions during this second century of the age of Hollywood than with a methodological breath-of-fresh-air specifically tailored to the post-Millennial heirs of the modern media, and who do not automatically consider the cinema to be intrinsically brain-deadening, philosophically anaemic or unpalatably shallow?

Notes

1. There are real ontological differences between “cinema,” “film,” “movie,” “video,” “TV movie,” “CD,” “VCD,” “DVD,” “Mpeg-4,” “Internet movie” etc., but since they all deal with audiovisual images they will be treated herein as essentially interchangeable terms.

2. The Authorized King James Version of the Bible (KJV a.k.a. AV) will be used throughout, unless quoting other translations, because most of the biblical phrases that are embedded in Western culture are from it; being one of the most widely used English translations today (Taylor 1992: ix, 71).

3. The term “Hollywood cinema” is used herein as a shorthand for Western, primarily English-speaking cinema that conforms to the classical Hollywood narrative tradition, whether actually made in America or not (see Bordwell and Thompson 2001: 76-78).

References

Baker, Deane-Peter (2002). Transcendental arguments: The Truman Show and original sin. Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 113(July): 97-108.

Barnes, Alan & Marcus Hearn (1996). Tarantino, A to Zed: The Films of Quentin Tarantino . London: Batsford.

Bausch, Michael G. (2002). Silver Screen Sacred Story: Using Multimedia in Worship . Bethesda, MD: Alban Institute.

Birch, Bruce C. (2005). The arts, Midrash, and biblical teaching. Teaching Theology and Religion 8(2): 114-122.

Blake, Richard A. (1998). Wrestling with God. America 170(2): 19-20.

Bordwell, David & Kristin Thompson (2001). Film Art: An Introduction . New York: McGraw-Hill.

Bywater, Tim & Thomas Sobchack (1989). An Introduction to Film Criticism: Major Critical Approaches to Narrative Film . New York: Longman.

Campbell, Robert H. & Michael R. Pitts (1981). The Bible on Film: A Checklist, 1897-1980 . Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press.

Cloke, Sally (2003). Scripture as literature. Zadok Perspectives 81: 4-5.

Cooper, J. C. (1992). Dictionary of Symbolic and Mythological Animals . London: Thorsons.

Culkin, John M. (1969). Film and the Church. In B. F. Jackson Jr. (ed.), Television—Radio—Film for Churchmen , 199-308. Nashville: Abingdon Press.

Deacy, Christopher (2003). Paradise lost or paradise learned?: Sin and salvation in Pleasantville . In J. Mitchell & S. Marriage (eds.), Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture , 201-210. London: T & T Clark.

Detweiler, Craig (2003). Remythologizing faith and film. Theology, News and Notes 50(3): 18-21.

Drane, John (2000). Cultural Change and Biblical Faith: The Future of the Church. Biblical and Missiological Essays for the New century . Carlisle, UK: Paternoster.

Eichenberger, Ambros (1997). Approaches to film criticism. In J. R. May (ed.), New Image of Religious Film , 3-16. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward.

Fields, Doug (2008). F is for film: Using movies in ministry --- without being used by the movies. Youth Worker Journal 24(3): 40-41.

Goldburg, Peta (2004). Towards a creative arts approach to the teaching of religious education with special reference to the use of film. British Journal of Religious Education 6(2): 175-184.

Gudmundsottir, Arnfridur (2002). Female Christ-figures in films: A feminist critical analysis of Breaking the Waves and Dead Man Walking . Studia Theologica 56(1): 27-43.

Herrmann, Jorg (2003). From popular to arthouse: An analysis of love and nature as religious motifs in recent cinema. In J. Mitchell & S. Marriage (eds.), Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture , 189-199. London: T & T Clark.

Hollywood Jesus. http://www.hollywoodjesus.com

Hudson, Jeff (2004). Samuel L. Jackson: The Unauthorised Biography . London: Virgin Books.

Jewett, Robert (1999). Saint Paul Returns to the Movies: Triumph Over Shame . Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eermans.

Jones, Tony (2004). Inhabiting the biblical narrative: How I learned to stop doing Bible studies and start loving the Bible again.” Youthworker 20(5): 30-34.

Kozlovic, Anton Karl (2000). Cinematic epiphanies: Popular films as sites for reel devotion and psycho-spiritual encounters. Religious Education Journal of Australia 16(1): 20-25.

----- (2004). The structural characteristics of the cinematic Christ-figure. The Journal of Religion and Popular Culture 8: http://www.usask.ca/relst/jrpc/art8-cinematicchrist-print.html

----- (2005). Jesus covered in a secular wrapper: The Christ-figure in popular films. Kinema: A Journal for Film and Audiovisual Media 24(Fall): 33-54.

----- (2006). The construction of a Christ-figure within the 1956 and 1923 versions of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments . The Journal of Religion and Film 10(1): http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol10no1/KozlovicMoses.htm

----- (2007). Sacred cinema: Exploring Christian sensibilities within popular Hollywood films. Journal of Beliefs & Values 28(2): 195-208.

----- (2008). Christian education and the popular cinema: The creative fusion of film, faith and fun. McMaster Journal of Theology and Ministry 9: 50-71.

[http://www.mcmaster.ca/mjtm/pdfs/vol9/articles/MJTM_9.4_Kozlovic_XnREFilm.pdf].

Lang, J. Stephen (2003). What the Good Book Didn't Say: Popular Myths and Misconceptions about the Bible . New York, NY: Citadel Press.

Langan, Janine (2002). The Christian imagination. In L. Ryken (ed.), The Christian Imagination , rev. ed., 63-80. Colorado Springs, CO: Shaw Books/WaterBrook Press.

Magistrale, Tony (2003). Hollywood's Stephen King . New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Malone, Peter & Rose Pacatte (2003). Lights, Camera…Faith! A Movie Lover's Guide to Scripture. A Movie Lectionary - Cycle C . Boston: Pauline Books and Media.

Mandolfo, Carleen (2005). 208. Film as a resource for theological reflection on biblical texts. In M. Roncace & P. Gray (eds.), Teaching the Bible: Practical Strategies for Classroom Instruction , 321-324. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Marsh, Clive (2005). Christ in Focus: Radical Christocentrism in Christian Theology . London: SCM Press.

----- (2008). The point of theology: Arts, culture and godly living. The Expository Times 119(6): 275-281.

Martin, Thomas M. (1974). Approaches to religion and film studies. In A. Carr (ed.), Academic Study of Religion: 1974 , 92-106. Tallahassee, FL: American Academy of Religion.

May, John R. (1997). Contemporary theories regarding the interpretation of religious film. In J. R. May (ed.), New Image of Religious Film , 17-37. Kansas City: Sheed & Ward.

----- (2001). Nourishing Faith through Fiction: Reflections on the Apostles' Creed in Literature and Film . Franklin, WI: Sheed and Ward.

McCutcheon, Russell T. (1998). “Redescribing “religion and …” film: Teaching the insider/outsider problem. Teaching Theology and Religion 1(2): 99-110.

Mercadante, Linda A. (2001a). Bess the Christ figure?: Theological interpretations of Breaking the Waves . The Journal of Religion and Film 5(1): http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/bessthe.htm

----- (2001b). The God behind the screen: Pleasantville & The Truman Show . The Journal of Religion and Film 5(2): http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/truman.htm

----- (2007). Using film to teach theology. Theological Education 42(2): 19-28.

Mitchell, Charles P. (2002). The Devil on Screen: Feature Films Worldwide, 1913 through 2000 . Jefferson, NC: McFarland.

Moses, Gavriel (2004). The Bible as a cultural object(s) in cinema. In R. Stam & A. Raengo (eds.), A Companion to Literature and Film , 399-422. Malden, MA: Blackwell.

Nash, Kathleen S. (1996). “Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore”: From historical criticism to film theory. Semeia: An Experimental Journal for Biblical Criticism 74: 183-188.

Nolan, Steve (1998). The books of the films: Trends in religious film-analysis. Literature & Theology 12(1): 1-15.

----- (2003). Towards a new religious film criticism: Using film to understand religious identity rather than locate cinematic analogue. In J. Mitchell & S. Marriage (eds.), Mediating Religion: Conversations in Media, Religion and Culture , 169-178. London: T & T Clark.

Ortiz, Gaye (2002). Jesus, Mary and Joseph! (Holy) family values in film. In M. O'Kane (ed.), Borders, Boundaries and the Bible , 292-306. London: Sheffield Academic Press.

Paglia, Camille (1993). Sex, Art and American Culture: Essays . London: Penguin Books.

----- (1994). Vamps & Tramps: New Essays . New York: Vintage Books.

Patterson, Jimmy (npd). Is ‘E.T.' a retelling of the Christ story? http://www.pufori.org/news/9901/nws990105_5.htm , accessed 5 January 1999.

Pecklers, Keith F. (2003). Worship: A Primer in Christian Ritual . Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press.

Reinhartz, Adele (1999). Scripture on the silver screen. The Journal of Religion and Film 3(1): http://www.unomaha.edu/jrf/scripture.htm

----- (2000). Jesus of Hollywood: A Jewish perspective. In L. J. Greenspoon, D. Hamm & B. F. LeBeau (eds.), The Historical Jesus through Catholic and Jewish Eyes , 131-146. Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International.

----- (2003a). Jesus on the silver screen. In N. N. Perez (ed.), Revelation: Representations of Christ in Photography , 186-189. London: Merrell/The Israel Museum, Jerusalem.

----- (2003b). Scripture on the Silver Screen . Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

----- (2007). Jesus of Hollywood . New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Roncace, Mark & Patrick Gray (eds.) (2007). Teaching the Bible through Popular Culture and the Arts , 119-172. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature.

Rowe, David L. (2004). Preachers and prophets: Using film to teach American religious history. Teaching Theology and Religion 7(4): 230-237.

Taylor, Barry (2008). Entertainment Theology: New-Edge Spirituality in a Digital Democracy . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Taylor, Mark D. (1992). The Complete Book of Bible Literacy . Wheaton, IL: Tyndale.

Schultze, Quentin J. (2002). Habits of the High-tech Heart: Living Virtuously in the Information Age . Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic.

Veerman, Dave (1993). How to Apply the Bible . Wheaton, IL: Tyndale.

Filmography

Babette's Feast (a.k.a. Babettes gæstebud ) (1987). Produced by Just Betzer and Bo Christensen, directed by Gabriel Axel. 102 min. Panorama Film A/S.

Being There (1979). Produced by Andrew Braunsberg, directed by Hal Ashby. 130 min. BSB.

Ben-Hur (a.k.a. Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ ) (1959). Produced by Sam Zimbalist, directed by William Wyler. 212 min. MGM.

Bigger Than Life (1956). Produced by James Mason, directed by Nicholas Ray. 95 min. Twentieth Century-Fox.

The Bodyguard (a.k.a. Karate Kiba ; a.k.a. Viva Chiba the Bodyguard ) (1976). Produced by Terry Levene and Susumu Yoshikawa, directed by Simon Nuchtern. 87 min. Nippon-American Productions.

Breaking the Waves (1996). Produced by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Vibeke Windeløv, directed by Lars von Trier. 159 min. Argus Film Produktie.

Buck and the Preacher (1972). Produced by Joel Glickman, directed by Sidney Poitier. 102 min. Belafonte Enterprises.

Cape Fear (1991). Produced by Barbara De Fina, directed by Martin Scorsese. 128 min. Amblin Entertainment.

Coneheads (1993). Produced by Lorne Michaels, directed by Steve Barron. 88 min. Paramount Pictures.

Cool Hand Luke (1967). Produced by Gordon Carroll and Carter De Haven Jr. , directed by Stuart Rosenberg. 126 min. Jalem Productions.

Dead Man Walking (1995). Produced by Jon Kilik, Tim Robbins and Rudd Simmons, directed by Tim Robbins. 122 min. Havoc.

Deep Impact (1998). Produced by David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck, directed by Mimi Leder. 120 min. DreamWorks SKG.

Escape from Alcatraz (1979). Produced and directed by Don Siegel. 112 min. Paramount Pictures.

Fatal Attraction (1987). Produced by Stanley R. Jaffe and Sherry Lansing, directed by Adrian Lyne. 119 min. Paramount Pictures.

From Dusk Till Dawn (1996). Produced by Gianni Nunnari and Meir Teper, directed by Robert Rodriguez. 108 min. A Band Apart.

Heavens Above! (1963). Produced by John Boulting and Roy Boulting, directed by John Boulting. 118 min. Boulting Brothers.

Jezebel (1938). Produced and directed by William Wyler. 103 min. Warner Bros.

Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983). Produced by John Goldstone, directed by Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam. 107 min. Celandine Films .

Nell (1994). Produced by Jodie Foster and Renée Missel, directed by Michael Apted. 113 min. Twentieth Century-Fox.

Nuns on the Run (1990). Produced by Michael White and Simon Bosanquet, directed by Jonathan Lynn. 89 min. HandMade Films.

Pleasantville (1998). Produced by Robert John Degus, Jon Kilik, Gary Ross and Steven Soderbergh, directed by Gary Ross. 124 min. New Line Cinema.

Priest (1995). Produced by George Faber and Josephine Ward, directed by Antonia Bird. 105 min. BBC.

Pulp Fiction (1994). Produced by Lawrence Bender, directed by Quentin Tarantino. 154 min. A Band Apart.

Se7en (a.k.a. Seven ) (1995). Produced by Phyllis Carlyle and Arnold Kopelson, directed by David Fincher. 127 min. New Line Cinema.

Sling Blade (1996). Produced by David L. Bushell and Brandon Rosser, directed by Billy Bob Thornton. 135 min. Shooting Gallery .

Superman: The Movie (a.k.a. Superman ) (1978). Produced by Alexander Salkind, directed by Richard Donner. 143 min. Alexander Salkind.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Produced by James Cameron, Stephanie Austin and B. J. Rack, directed by James Cameron. 137 min. Canal+.

The Apostle (1997). Produced by Rob Carliner and Steven Brown, directed by Robert Duvall. 134 min. Butcher's Run Films.

The Da Vinci Code (2006). Produced by John Calley, Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, directed by Ron Howard. 149 min. Columbia Pictures.

The Dead Zone (1983). Produced by Debra Hill, directed by David Cronenberg. 103 min. Dino De Laurentiis Company .

The Devil's Advocate (1997). Produced by Anne Kopelson, Arnold Kopelson and Arnon Milchan, directed by Taylor Hackford. 144 min. Warner Bros.

The Gospel According to St. Matthew (a.k.a. Il Vangelo secondo Matteo ) (1966). Produced by Alfredo Bini, directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. 133 min. Arco Film.

The King of Kings (1927). Produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. 112 min. DeMille Pictures Corporation.

The Matrix (1999). Produced by Joel Silver, directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski. 136 min. Groucho II Film Partnership .

Them! (1954). Produced by David Weisbart, directed by Gordon Douglas. 94 min. Warner Bros.

The Omega Code (1999). Produced by Matthew Crouch, Robert Marcarelli and Lawrence Mortorff, directed by Robert Marcarelli. 100 min. Code Productions.

The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Produced by Niki Marvin, directed by Frank Darabont. 142 min. Castle Rock Entertainment.

The Ten Commandments (1923). Produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. 126 min. Famous Players-Lasky/Paramount Pictures.

The Ten Commandments (1956). Produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille. 220 min. Paramount Pictures.

The Terminator (1984). Produced by Gale Anne Hurd, directed by James Cameron. 108 min. Hemdale Film Corporation.

The Truman Show (1998). Produced by Edward S. Feldman, Andrew Niccol, Scott Rudin and Adam Schroeder, directed by Peter Weir. 103 min. Paramount Pictures.

Where the Heart Is (2000). Produced by Susan Cartsonis, David McFadzean, Patricia Whitcher and Matt Williams, directed by Matt Williams. 120 min. Wind Dancer Productions.

X-Men 2 (2003). Produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ralph Winter, directed by Bryan Singer. 133 min. Twentieth Century-Fox.

__________________________________________________________________________