Introduction: Film and Religion Author(s): Daniel J. Leab Source: Film History, Vol. 14, No.

2, Film and Religion (2002), pp. 119-120 Published by: Indiana University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3815614 . Accessed: 30/06/2011 13:55
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FilmHistory, Volume14, pp. 119-120, 2002. Copyright John Libbey ISSN:0892-2160. Printedin Malaysia

Introduction:

Film
W

and

religion
cinemas (variousItalian also had enorproductions mous impact in the years before the outbreakof WorldWarI in 1914), Americanmovies dominated in the presentation religion cinemaformuchof the of 20th century.Oftenthese filmsserved as an excuse forthe depiction- not onlyof faith- but also of sex, sin and violence,as inthe case of director-producer As Cecil B. De Mille. withmanyof the otherbiblical moviemakerswould storieshe and otherHollywood filmKingof Kings- De Mille's spectacular1927 film on the lifeof Christ packaged (inthe wordsof one with minedboththe critic) 'piety vulgarity'. Hollywood Old Testamentand the New in its search for story material. And the Good Book has a lot to offer (all of which is in the public domain), includingextreme The resultof all violence, rape, incest and murder. this filmingranges fromthe near blasphemousto a ponderous reverence, from extremelyeconomical GradeC productions whichexcessivelyutilisestock footage for crowd scenes (e.g. the embarassingly inferior 1953 Sins of Jezebel) to big budget superspectacle productions,such as the various films the involving storyof Christ.These often had problems: the inferior 1961 remakeof Kingof Kingsbecause of its panderingto the youth marketwas dubbed by one wag 'IWas a Teen-AgeJesus'.

Daniel Leab J.
hat is religion? What is faith? These are

and questions that have intrigued plagued humanbeings since the days of the Creation.The quest foran understandable and belief can be said to lie at comprehensivespiritual the core of the effortsof men and womento deal with the complexity life. of Andunderstandably quessuch tions have piquedthe interestsof filmmakers world wide ever since the earliestdays of cinema. the During past 125 years or so allthe world's religionshave foundtheirway on to cinema and TV screens. The hope thata movingimagewouldsway its viewers has for decades been an inspiration for those who wished to proselytise,and forthose who fromcateringto the beliefsof hoped to earn a profit others. Such a dualityhas resultedin many of the world's religionsmakingtheirway on to the large screen and the small,amongthemBuddhism, Islam, and Judaism. Shintoism, Christianity Therehave also been reverential documentaries such as Altarsof the World fascinating1976 (a attemptat comparativereligionundertaken the by and pacifistactorLewAyres), variousdenominations have supported independentproductionssuch as the awardwinningfilmMartin Luther(1953, undertakenby the noteddocumentary filmmaker LouisDe Rochementat the behest of the Lutheran church). The domination the Westernentertainment of media has meantthatChristianity all its formshas in the largest play. In 1897, just after probablygotten commercial film presentation began, the infant French cinemapresenteda series of movingpictures about the lifeof Jesus, and such movies became a The staple of the nascent filmindustry. nextyear,for example, Thomas Edison in the UnitedStates presented whatpurported be a versionof the Passion to Play at Obergammau.Otherearlyexamples of the and ChriststoryincludeItalian British versions. the efforts of the European Notwithstanding

munist History.His most recent book is / Was a for Commuist the F.B.I.: Unhappy and Times the Life Bergman'sCold Warmovies appeared in the Summer2002 issue oftheHistorical Jounalof Film, Radio,

DanielJ. Leabis Professor History SetonHall of at of and American ComUniversity, editor thejournal

ofMatt Cvetic. article goodandevilinIngmar His on andTV. wasa judgeatthefourth He (2001) 'Religion film Today' festival. to Correspondence danleab@earthlink.net

120

Daniel J. Leab That other avenues existed for treatmentof Jesus Christhas been demonstratedby the Italian filmindustry overthe decades. Itseffortsrangefrom the biblical spectacular,such as the 1912 and 1914 of to filmings the epic novelQuoVadis, the intelligent and moving 1964 // VanageloSecondo Matteo(released in the US as TheGospel Accordingto Saint And then there are the deliberately more Matthew). Life irreverant effortssuch as Monty Python's of Brian (1979), about the youth born in the stable next to Jesus - this film has been aptly described as 'an religiousfilms'. outrageousparodyof Hollywood's Subsequent films have in their treatmentof faithand beliefattempteda levelof sophisreligion, cinema involved) the ticationthat (whatever national has not provedveryviablecommercially, regardless of the critical reaction. The biblical spectacular seems to have runits course and an adequate replacementhas not been found,albeitthereare from film timeto timeeffortslikethe 1987 German Himmel Ueber Berlin(Wingsof Desire), an intriguing story aroundcontempoabouta pairof angels wandering raryBerlin.And in the 1970s pop operas such as Godspell and Jesus ChristSuperstardid have a impact. momentary TV Overall,the the multi-part series treating and geared to an internareligionpast or present tionalaudience (e.g. the 1975 attemptat depicting BurtLancaster) have the life of Moses and starring and unsuccessalso provedcritically commercially ful. A pleasing exception is the fine 1990s US TV series Touchedby an Angel. Whateverthe aim in and recentyears of those who deal withreligion the movingimage, they do not seem able to reach the audience. morejaded contemporary of This issue deals withthe treatment religion by various filmmakersand societies at different and points in time. The approachis not uniform the of diverseviewson a variety issues. articlesrepresent deals in some MariaElena de las Carreras-Kuntz Catholicvisionof fourwelldetailwitha particularly knownHollywood directors,discussing how thatvision can be found in certain of their films. Greta Austinis concernedwithmodernday movieviews of the MiddleAges and raises a numberof questions about how that view is formed. Sally Shafto deals more specificallywithcertainkindsof religiousimFrench ageryintheworksof twogiftedcontemporary film artists, and queries how the resultingimages in framethe concept of theirwork.William LaFleur turndeals withequallygiftedartists(thoughtheyare less well knownin the West), and discusses their work in terms of religiousviews. ChristineMarran comments on ProfessorLaFleur's conclusions and herown insights.SheldonHalldescribes in provides detailhowthe sales pitchfora biblical spectacularis task framed,a difficult in any event, butas he points out made even moreso by the attemptto seem less DavidR.Williams describes responses commercial. to maintainSunday closings in Englandin lightof commercialand other pressures. Stephen Bottoto moretraces the careerof one of the firstministers make use of the new medium,while KevinLewis and contextto a rareand improvidesbackground on 1910 'disquisition' religionand the cinportant in ema, also reprinted this issue. Do these articles answer the question of whetherthe moving image does have a spiritual You dimension? willbe the judgeof that.Indeed,can the movingimage have such a vision?You too will it have to be the judge of that.Admittedly, is difficult to come to a conclusioninthis post-modern,media conscious world,in whichtechnologyseems to be developingfasterthanthe speed of light.Whatdoes remainveryclear,however,is thatthe impactmade in by Pope LeoXIII 1897 as a resultof the world-wide of distribution movingpicturesof him (and in which he consciouslywaved at a filmcamera)is inimitable. have a Religion,faith, belief and spirituality difficult time in our world, East or West, Northor South.Theyshouldnot,since most people, itseems to me, reallydo want to believe in something.This issue deals withaspects of the response of those who have dealt withreligionin terms of the moving the image in variousways. Whatever futureof the media's treatmentof religion,this issue deals with visions of the historyof the ties some particular and between religion film. and draws Thisintroduction on myessay about'Religion for whichwas written the year2000 catathe Cinema' cinema Today',an Italian logue forthe third'Religion with viewsof faith. festival dealing cinematic Daniel J. Leab