Movie Recommendations - Great Spiritual Stories Told Well

Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Robert Powell, Anne Bancroft, Laurence Olivier, Ernest Borgnine, James Earl Jones, Christopher Plummer, Olivia Hussey, Michael York, James Mason, Ian McShane, Peter Ustinov

Mother Hamilton loved this TV series and even discussed it during church service, recommending it highly. She said of this movie that this is the story of Jesus as he is depicted in the Gospels.

Review by Rebecca Barnowe:

Since its arrival, Jesus of Nazareth by Zeffirelli, remains the most visceral and moving depiction of the Life of Christ in existence.

From the delicate birth by Spirit of Mary, to the clap of hoofbeats of Roman soldiers terrorizing young mothers to slay their infant children, one is transported into choices required.

“Before kingdoms change, men must change.” John the Baptist foretold.

As decades pass like hours since its arrival, faith in unseen currents still empowers transforming moments.

To view by film, the thousands seeking Jesus, is unequaled.

The feeding of the thousands by Jesus out of a few fish and barley rolls was a miracle never discounted over centuries.

The Lord’s Prayer became integral to Christians everywhere holding untold power to redeem the fallen.

“The Heart of the Law is Mercy” Jesus says.

One of my favorite moments in this movie depicts Mary Magdalene, crying at the feet of Jesus, drying his feet with her hair. All around are horrified and want her removed. Jesus says to Mary, “Your love has saved you, go in peace.” Even after Jesus’ death, his disciples mistrust Mary. Yet he appeared to her first.

The Resurrection of Jesus after death was feared by the Jewish aristocracy.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075520/

Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Cast: Graham Faulkner, Judi Bowker, Leigh Lawson, Kenneth Cranham, Lee Montague Valentina Cortese, Alec Guinness

Mother Hamilton also loved this movie and, as with the above movie on Jesus, she discussed it during church service and couldn’t recommend it highly enough. Once in 1976, Pat Downey, Mother’s center leader in Victoria, BC, arranged to show this movie as a surprise private showing for Mother and the Victoria group. Mother was moved to tears in watching it and in her gratitude and love for Pat and the devotees there.

Review by Rebecca Barnowe:

“Brother Sun, Sister Moon” remains one of my favorite movies of all time. It is the story of St. Francis of Assisi, raised by a wealthy cloth merchant in the 13^th century and describes the transformation of this young man, which alienates him from his past, as he struggles to become like Christ and his apostles—to live among the poor close to Nature.

Zeffirelli’s astounding photography showcases his own love of Nature, with his stunning ability to transform scenes with a peerless acuity.

For example, we see scenes in the movie of countless birds, “flying into the heavens,” after Francis releases his small sparrow, balancing on the slate roof of his parents’ home, terrifying onlookers.

Starting the movie with “drumbeats” in the fog, we view an injured Crusader in a long dark robe, barely able to walk—his heartbeat greatly magnified—collapsing at the gates of Assisi. Met by his parents, Francis is moved to a secure linen-enclosed room to heal from a high fever which persists for weeks.

Here he is having flashbacks, reliving what he had faced in battles, and with friends on the eve of the war. We see and hear the stomping of hooves of Francis’ white horse, and his best friends’ bravado. Francis utters, “This is the last night of our youth.”

Zeffirelli instantly shows us the main characters for this film: father, mother and six best friends, including Claire, a lovely maiden, who is devoted to feeding her homemade bread to lepers. We learn that Francis had been horrified when seeing lepers with their cruel wounds and rotting flesh.

We next learn that Francis’s father, Bernardone, has a terrible temper when his son makes spiritual choices which contradict his father’s. Opposite viewpoints can be incendiary! Zeffirelli uses imagery to highlight this specific rage; He shows images of gargoyles with mean faces whenever the father beats his son—upsetting the entire household.

It is not long before their dramas in Assisi become civil and then Church-directed actions. The Old Church proclaimed: “We must punish those who subvert the established order.”

Francis must leave Assisi in order to live the simple life he most cherishes. He returns his clothing and name to his parents, nakedly trusting God to direct his steps. Inspired to renovate the ruined San Damiano Church for love, Francis works tirelessly barefoot, even in winter.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069824/

Director: Carlo Carlei
Cast: Sergio Castellitto, Pietro Biondi

Review by Rebecca Barnowe:

Born in 1887 in Pietrelcina, a poor mountain village in Southern Italy, the movie follows an extraordinary soul: Francesco Forgione, eyes blazing with spiritual light, he is the second born of five children to his parents. Spiritual in temperament—having daily talks with Christ, Mary, and his guardian angel.

Bathed in glorious scenes of the Italian countryside—through the eyes of a very young Italian boy, this movie instantly uplifts whoever enters the currents at play. We observe Francesco, in a rustic enclosure made from saplings and straw, his accustomed enclosure from the sun where he has sacred objects to inspire him in private. Suddenly the vision of a fierce black dog with menacing growls appears. The small boy runs and runs over extremely long distances, to reach the sacred enclosed chapel with candles.

Francesco screams: “What are you doing?”

“Help me !!!,” he cries. As soon as he sees the face of Jesus he is immediately calmed.

In the next scene we see Brother Camillo, a Franciscan Friar visiting Francesco. They develop a close rapport, sharing holy cards and the statues of certain saints. Francesco tells him he sees the Holy Family many times. That night Francesco tells his parents: “I want to be a Franciscan Friar too.”

The seed is planted. It will take years of study, requiring his father to travel all the way to America to send enough money to his wife, who runs their farm. We follow the path of Francesco Forgione, as he enters the Capuchin Monastery in Morcone, Benevento for a year of novitiate, a rigorous discipline. He is given his habit and is ordained as Padre Pio.

Becoming very ill, with pneumonia and tuberculosis, Padre Pio is sent home to rest, as Italy becomes involved in the first World War. Padre Pio is called up to serve in the medical corps at the Military Hospital in Naples but is sent home to rest, due to his severe fevers. His superiors had Padre Pio transferred to San Giovanni Rotondo where he would remain for the rest of his life.

While there Padre Pio was found on the floor of the chapel, with severe bleeding coming from his hands, feet and sides. (These were photographed, and copies sent to the Vatican.) They were told to tell no one, and to hide these wounds from being seen by others. Eventually they were told to have a doctor examine these wounds, which they did.

Padre Pio had already received his first stigmata in 1910. (It disappeared over weeks.) This time, in 1918, the stigmata would remain on his body for 50 years.

Padre Pio was noted for his loving compassion for every soul, and his closeness with Jesus. He was known to appear at many sites at once to help those in severe need, instantly removing severe illnesses, leaving behind a perfumed scent.

I recommend this movie to anyone needing inspiration for God’s everlasting Presence.

It changes everything all at once. David especially wanted his students to watch this movie because it helps to expand consciousness over how to overcome dark forces and liberate the Highest. In our line of Gurus, Mother was often attacked by dark forces; I remember them leaving a burnt mark on her bedroom dresser.

I had personal experiences of a similar kind. Our dog Harley had a bad reaction to a visitor from Germany, who harbored a dark force with evil intents. While living in New Zealand, my husband left me alone with two small children, driving hundreds of miles away, as very loud forces attacked the room. My eldest daughter tried to hide in a cupboard to escape the frightening sounds. This is why Mother had told us to keep our minds on God, and to say The Lord’s Prayer over and over.

Certainly, this Padre Pio movie, covering his lifetime from childhood to death is full of miracles. I recommend this movie, as well as a biography of Padre Pio called: Padre Pio, The Stigmatist written by Rev. Charles Mortimer Carty, published by TAN Books, copyright 1973. This book reveals the Saint as he actually appeared and is breathtaking in its scope—showing the cures and miraculous events surrounding Padre Pio, before and after his passing.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0211559/

Director: John Kent Harrison
Cast: Jon Voight, Cary Elwes, Ben Gazzara, Christopher Lee, Vittoria Belvedere, James Cromwell, Daniele Pecci, Ettore Bassi, Chiara Conti, Valeria Cavalli, Marcin Kuzminski, Giulietta Revel

Jon Voight is simply delightful as Pope John Paul II. Much fun and great depth.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0475999/

Director: Josefina Molina
Cast: Concha Velasco, Héctor Alterio, Francisco Rabal, Patricia Adriani, Emilio Gutiérrez Caba, Tony Isbert

Master once told Mother that she looked like St. Teresa. This is a lovely depiction of this great saint.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088246/

Review by Rebecca Barnowe:

“I began to think of the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond or of a very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions.”

So began my journey, in learning about St Teresa of Avila, who wrote these lines in a convent in Spain, in 1557, during the time of  the Inquisition, a fierce period in Catholic history seeking to stop potential heresy through torturing adherents.

Teresa’s writings were taken by the Inquisition, as a deterrence. This movie covers what transpired..

I needed to gain perspective about Spain’s history, before and after this volatile time. The Moors, an Islamic people from North Africa , occupied the Spanish Peninsula in  the eighth century. In 1492 the Moors were finally expelled from Catholic Spain, yet its  former Alhambra Palace remained a source where textiles, cloths and fountains remain to this day.

As this movie unfolds, one sees vestiges from this former time, in copper pots, textiles, and jewelry. still being offered in street brazzers.

Just as most of us were very young when meeting our teachers, Saint Teresa was also young writing her verses, for the glory of God.  This movie shows Saint Teresa as an aging Saint, who had become crippled through a fall, and experienced despair, over the assaults she had witnessed of her dearest sons, branded by the Inquisition with near death assaults.

The glory comes at the end, when the Pope formally exonerates Mother Teresa declaring  her work at the Palace of Escorial.

“We will defend as our most important crown jewel,  Mother Teresa of Jesus”

This is a magnificent film covering a very contentious time with genuine humility and grace.

This movie was made in Madrid in 1983.

Mother Teresa was played by the following actresses for the three phases of her life: Concho Velasco,

Director: Ashutosh Gowariker
Cast: Aishwarya Rai, Hrithik Roshan, Ila Arun, Kulbhushan Kharbanda, Suhasini Mulay, Sonu Sood, Baby Rucha, Vaidya Rajesh, Vivek Yuri

This is about Akbar the Great and how universal he was in his vision. He learned to love all of India and he was a tremendous example of religious tolerance and desired nothing more than harmony between all religions. The music by A.R. Rahman is sublime.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0449994/

Director: Giddi Dar
Cast: Shuli Rand, Michal Bat-Sheva Rand, Shaul Mizrahi, Ilan Ganani, Avraham Abutboul, Daniel Dayan

This is a very cleverly written movie. Stick with it and it will delight you. The themes here are profound, yet quirky and laugh-out-loud funny, and there’s a wonderful ending. It tells the story of a difficult situation for both husband and wife and how, through their high-mindedness and great love for each other, they overcome their trials in a surprising and moving way.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0426155/

Director: Catherine Hardwicke
Cast: Shohreh Aghdashloo, Keisha Castle-Hughes, Oscar Isaac, Ted Rusoff, Matt Patresi, Shaun Toub, Hiam Abbass, Alexander Siddig

Nicely done. Beautifully filmed and acted.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0762121/

Director: Pavel Lungin
Cast: Pyotr Mamonov, Viktor Sukhorukov, Dmitriy Dyuzhev

God comes in many forms and plays many roles. Father Anatoli is a very eccentric and seemingly distracted priest in a small island monastery in Russia. The humor in this movie slowly builds in the story itself and in the audience as we gain more insight into who and what this unusual man is. It is also a haunting portrayal of a soul tormented by previous deeds and needing to serve people to offer penance to God. It is a story that has echoes of Nikos Kasantzakis’ book, The Last Temptation of Christ.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0851577/

Director: Bhavna Talwar
Cast: Pankaj Kapur, Supriya Pathak, Pankaj Tripathy

Dharm is the Hindi word for Dharma, which is a Sanskrit word meaning duty and righteousness. This virtue is preeminent in Pandit Chaturvedi, a Hindu priest, but never truly tested until God visits him in the form of a beautiful young boy who is adopted by the priest and his lovely wife. The Pandit’s love is stretched into a universal form through the trial that he is put through. Beautifully acted and directed.

IMDB Link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1047459/. English title is “Religion.”

Director: Pamela Mason Wagner
Cast: Robert Sean Leonard, Liev Schreiber (voice)

This documentary provides very good biographical information on Francis’ life. It is amazing how well the movie above, “Brother Sun, Sister Moon,” follows much of the known history that is given in this movie. And there is great context given to his era of the early 2nd millennium. The film covers his parents and early life as a rich playboy, his participation in a war against a nearby city, Purugia, his year-long prison confinement, malaria, and eventual ransom. He was quite damaged psychologically in these later experiences and this suffering caused him to rethink what life was for. After a few years, he renounced his parentage and set off to live the life of a beggar.

The ending of his life was capped by more suffering and the eventual gift of the stigmata in LaVerna, Italy—100 miles to the north of Assisi. He was the first person in history to show these signs of commiserating with the Christ on the cross. Also, the movie continues through to his death, canonization, and the building of the basilica that now houses his body in Assisi.

Available on DVD and Youtube at the time of this writing. Here’s the Youtube link: https://youtu.be/6hYMLmSeEXs

IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395727/

A wonderful movie about a great saint, St. Nektarios of Aegina, who was a bishop in the Greek Orthodox Church. He was born in what is now Turkey (but part of Greece in his day), ordained in Egypt, sent back to Greece under a cloud, was the principal of a seminary and completed his life’s work on an island (Aegina) south of Athens at a monastery for nuns. He was a quiet person, he taught by example and many miracles are attributed to him.

IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6060964/

Directors: Paola di Florio, Lisa Leeman

Cast: Marc Benioff, Brother Chidananda, Deepak Chopra

Review by Rebecca Barnowe:

AWAKE: The Life of Yogananda by Counterpoint Films from 2014, is an unconventional biography about the Hindu swami who brought yoga and meditation to the West in the 1920s.  Paramhansa Yogananda’s spiritual classic Autobiography of a Yogi has sold millions of copies worldwide and remains a go-to book for seekers. By personalizing his own quest for enlightenment and his struggles along the path, Yogananda made ancient Vedic teaching accessible to a modern audience, attracting many followers and inspiring millions who practice yoga today.

Filmed over three years with the participation of 30 countries, this docu-drama explores why millions have turned their attention inwards in pursuit of Self-realization.

This movie covers the birth of Yogananda to parents who were disciples of the Great Master Lahiri Mahasaya of Benares, India. We are shown his meeting with his own guru, Master Sri Yukteswar, sent by Babaji to train Yogananda, preparing him to deliver Kriya Yoga to the Western world.

We watch his arrival by ship to Boston and his transcontinental trip across America, with stops in many major cities. He establishes his Self-Realization Fellowship Center in Los Angeles CA. His lectures attract overflowing receptive audiences nationwide until he encounters the American South in Miami where he faces “yellow journalism,” and has to flee for his life. Yogananda boards a ship bound for Mexico to revive his spirit.

Divine Mother tells him to return to Los Angeles and start over…

By the 1930s, Yogananda attracts disciples who seek to become renunciants for life but also many disciples are prominent people in the world. We meet James Lynn, an industrial capitalist, who becomes highly enlightened through Yogananda’s transmissions. Dr Lewis also achieves great spiritual progress. The movie points out that scientific advances worldwide corroborate the wellspring of positive results of meditation.

By 1936 his guru, Sri Yukteswar called him back to India where he faces his Guru’s death.

Returning home to Los Angeles, Yogananda is inwardly withdrawn, resulting in intense periods in the desert, writing his Spiritual Works.

Lahiri Mahasaya had predicted that Kriya Yoga would encircle the world. Watching this movie, one sees devotees before their altars of this lineage all across the globe, waving in bliss.

Watching this movie to the very end is so inspiring and heartwarming. Yogananda’s Mahasamadhi is beautifully enacted.

The movie is directed by Paola di Florio and Lisa Leeman. It is narrated by Anupam Kher.

Sri Yukteswar is played by Dilip Gosh; Yogananda’s beautiful Mother by Roshit KarSubarita Das.

– By Rebecca Barnowe

IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3741860/

Writer and Director: Peter C. Jones

This is a wonderful documentary about Father Thomas Keating (1923–2018), a Trappist Monk who in his early days wanted to follow the teachings of the Christ and this led him to immersing himself into the deep practice of meditation. He developed a way of teaching meditation called Centering Prayer and in the course of this effort he ended up leaving the monastery and started teaching people in the outer world. Rather than feel threatened by the eastern teachings that were sweeping through much of America he strove to universalize his consciousness and to accept other teachings as legitimate and very beneficial.
Keating was a mystic, a teacher and a guru (as we understand and use the term).
This is a beautifully crafted movie about Keating’s early life, his mission, and his path to realization of God.
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9196212/