A list of my favorite films would include such mindless entertainment as Alien, and The Terminator, and fascinating documentaries like Grizzly Man, and The Kid Stays in the Picture. I do enjoy a well-made
movie, but this list is of a handful of films that resonate with me on a profound level -- what some call spiritual cinema. Some of these films directly address the spiritual, while others serve as a momento mori. You can find most of the items on this page at a fair price at Half.com,
and your purchases help support this site.
Closer Than Close (2008) -- Yep, this is my film and available only from Poetry in Motion Films. John Kain wrote a nice synopsis:
Closer Than Close is a deftly crafted and poignant tale that weaves the stories of a handful of seekers bivouacked at various stages along the spiritual path with the straight-talk wisdom of three extraordinary individuals who have seemingly put an end to seeking. This juxtaposition creates a compelling resonance in which we can see (if the angle of light is just so) that the seekers and those that have stopped seeking are closer than we think. These are real stories of struggle and despair, friendship and hope, but above all, insight. Put this video on your list, better yet put it in your player and see what happens.
Here is the film trailer:
The Fountain (2006) -- "Death is the road to awe."
How many movies would contain that line? Visually entrancing, peppered with thought-provoking moments, and hauntingly scored by Clint Mansell and the Kronos Quartet, The Fountain is nevertheless far from flawless. I've watched it three times, and still feel the plot is in a shorthand known only to the writers. Writer/director Darren Aronofsky says the film is not meant to provide answers, but to raise the big questions: "trying to find out the reason of why we’re here and what is life and what is love. And what happens when you die. These are questions that people have been asking since the beginning of time," says Aronofsky. Cinema that gets people thinking... I can't criticize that. Some of my favorite moments:
Hugh Jackman's conquistador faces eighty Mayan warriors, single-handly charges them as he pledges, "I will not die, not here, not now, never!" I can't but think how many countless warriors have died thinking the same thought....
Rachel Weisz laying in the hospital bed dying from a brain tumor describing how she felt during a seizure, "I wasn't afraid. When I fell, I was full."
Hugh Jackman's astronaut's weeping realization that, "I'm gonna die," that delivers him (and all life) from the bondage of fear of death.
For me, the film is about facing death and transcending our fear. Others will see a story of eternal love, the resurrection of life through death, a psychedelic science fiction story, or even a muddled mess.
Into Great Silence (2005) -- At two hours and forty-five minutes, Into Great Silence is a marathon of... quiet. It is a documentary about life in a Carthusian monastery. Footsteps on wooden floors, the shuffle of cloth robes, bird calls, and wind comprise most of the soundtrack. I experience the film as a mirror: you bring to it what you are. In that sense, the quiet and solitude are quite confrontational; asking what is your life's purpose, can you live with your thoughts, and what is left when you have given all for God?
Ansel Adams: An American Experience Documentary Film by Ric Burns (2002) --
As a young man hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains, Ansel Adams saw something that he would
spend the rest of his life trying to convey through his photographs:
I was suddenly arrested in the long, crunching path of the ridge by an exceedingly pointed awareness of the light. The moment I paused, the full impact of the mood was upon me. I saw more clearly than I'd ever seen before, the minute detail of the grasses, the small flotsam of the forest, the motion of the high clouds streaming above the peaks. I dreamed that for a moment, time stood quietly and the vision became but the shadow of an infinitely greater world, and I had within the grasp of consciousness a transcendental experience.
Art inspired by such experience has the potential to evoke that experience in others, and this film is a work of art in itself. The timing and intonation of narrator David Ogden Stiers, the grand and graceful videography of Yosemite, the stark black and white photographs of Ansel Adams, and the soundtrack by Brian Keane amplify every nuance of the story, framing the journey of Adams' life in a mood of transcendental possibility. Both the film and the soundtrack are well worth owning.
American Beauty (1999) -- The closest a movie has ever come to expressing the feel of a cosmic consciousness experience -- the haunting plastic bag sequence and the accompanying dialogue by Ricky:
Ricky: It was one of those days when it's a minute away from snowing. And there's
this electricity in the air, you can almost hear it, right? And this bag was just... dancing
with me. Like a little kid beggin me to play with it. For fifteen minutes. That's the day I
realized there was this entire life behind things, and this incredibly benevolent force that
wanted me to know there was no reason to be afraid ever.
Video's a poor excuse, I know. But it helps me remember... I need to remember. Sometimes
there's so much beauty in the world I feel like I can't take it... and my heart is going to
cave in.
Other good quotes:
Ricky: I did see a homeless woman who froze to death once. Just laying there on
the sidewalk. She looked really sad. I got that homeless woman on video.
Jane: Why would you do that?
Ricky: Because it was amazing.
Jane: What was amazing about it?
Ricky: When you see something like that, it's like God is looking right at you, just for a
second. And if you're careful, you can look right back.
Lester: I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... and then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life. You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry, you will someday.
Click here for an interesting interview of the American Beauty screenwriter Alan Ball, in which he discusses the inspiration for the "plastic bag scene."
The Thin Red Line (1998) -- Set during the American invasion of Japanese-held Guadalcanal, this war film drifts between the human and the transcendent. At once beautiful and horrific, it hints at that which simultaneously threatens to destroy and liberate us. The stunning visual images and Rumi-like voice overs make this a meditation in film.
Train: Who are you who live in these many forms? You're death that captures all. You too are the source of all that's gonna be born. You're glory, mercy, peace, truth. You give calm a spirit, understanding, courage, the contented heart.
Witt: One man looks at a dying bird and thinks there's nothing but unanswered pain, that death's got the final word, it's laughing at him. Another man see that same bird, feels the glory, feels something smiling through it.
Welsh: If I never meet you in this life, let me feel the lack. A glance from your eyes and my life will be yours.
Witt: O my soul. Let me be in you now. Look out through my eyes. Look out at the things you made. All things shining.
Fearless (1993) -- Harrowing depiction of a jetliner crash, music from Gorecki's
Symphony No.3, and the powerful story of one man's transcendent experience make this one
of my favorites.
Jeff Bridges stars as Max Klein, who comes face to face with the undeniable reality of his mortality as his plane is crash landing. The experience leaves him a changed man and we watch as he struggles to live his new-found truth.
John Wren-Lewis writes a much better review than I at: "Fearless: A Movie Masterpiece about Transcendence" (requires Adobe Acrobat to view).
Unforgiven (1992) -- This Clint Eastwood film broke new ground in its attempt to display
the harsh realities of gunplay and justice in the Old West. There are no good guys and bad
guys. Instead, we see how the simple hopes and dreams of the characters collide head on, bring
out the worst in all, and forever alter the course of their lives. This is pure momento mori. Classic lines:
Will: It's a hell of a thing, killin' a man. You take away all he's got an' all he's ever
gonna have.
The Kid: Yeah, well, I guess they had it comin.
Will: We all have it comin, kid.
Little Bill (mortally wounded): I don't deserve this. To die like this. I was building a house.
Star Trek The Next Generation: "The Inner Light" (Episode 225, Season 5, 1992) -- Upon encountering an alien probe, Captain Picard collapses unconscious on the deck of the Enterprise. While unconscious for only 25 minutes, he finds himself living 30 years of another life on a planet doomed to destruction by its dying sun. After many years, life as captain of the Enterprise is a distant memory, but what will happen when he dies? A poignant and mind-bending episode that makes me weepy every time. The single episode is available on VHS, or the entire season on DVD.
Jacob's Ladder (1990) -- 
A Vietnam vet (Jacob) fears for his sanity as dream-like images and demons begin
to appear. Convinced these hallucinations are the result of government experimentation with a
mind-altering drug called "The Ladder", the hero makes a startling discovery about his true nature.
Louis the chiropractor hints at the truth in this quote [attributed to Meister Eckhart]:
Louis: If you're frightened of dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away, but if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the Earth.
Check out what Bruce Joel Rubin, the Jacob's Ladder screenwriter had to say about my film: Closer Than Close .
Our Town (1940, 1977, 1989) -- A Thornton Wilder play which looks at the pleasures and pains of life in the small New Hampshire town of Grover's Corners in the early years of the 20th century. The final act of the play is an enlightening look at the resolution of life in death.
Stage Manager: You know as well as I do that the dead don't stay interested in
us living people for very long. Gradually, gradually, they lose hold of the earth ... and the
ambitions they had ... and the pleasures they had ... and the things they suffered .. and the
people they loved. They get weaned away from earth -- that's the way I put it, -- weaned away ....
They're waitin'. They're waitin' for something that they feel is comin'. Something important,
and great. Aren't they waitin' for the eternal part in them to come out clear?
... mother'n daughter ... husband'n wife ... enemy'n enemy ... money'n miser ... all those
terribly important things kind of grow pale around here. And what's left when memory's gone,
and your identity, Mrs. Smith?
I've seen all three versions. The 1989 version is claimed truest to Wilder's original stage directions. The 1940 version is a black and white Hollywood movie rather than a stage production. I find it particularly moving, perhaps because it is a double dose of nostaliga: the 1940s waxing nostalgic about the early 20th century. Unfortunately, the ending was changed for the movie. You can often find these videos in your local library.
Blade Runner (1982) -- Harrison Ford as a film noir detective of the future whose job is to hunt renegade androids. With only a four-year lifespan, a group of androids battles against time to find their maker.
Tyrell: What seems to be the problem?
Roy: Death.
Tyrell: Death. Well, I'm afraid that's a little out of my jurisdiction, you --
Roy: I want more life fu@!er.
Roy: Quite an experience to live in fear isn't it? That's what it is to be
a slave. I've seen things you wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of
Orion. I watched c-beams glitter in the darkness at Tan Hauser gate. All those moments will
be lost in time, like tears in the rain. Time to die.
Deckard: All he'd wanted were the same answers the rest of us want. Where did I come from?
Where am I going? How long have I got?
TAT April 2006: What is Spiritual Action? (2006) --
TAT April 2005: Beyond Mind Beyond Death (2005) --
Two sets of DVDs that document the annual April TAT Conference. Not much entertainment, but a wealth of information and inspiration. Watch as each speaker talks of their path, obstacles, and ways that each of us can discover answers to our deepest questions. Produced by Poetry in Motion Films and available for $30 from the TAT website .
For a few literary recommendations, let's go to the books page .