Hmmm. The list is disturbing for what it excludes and also for what it includes:
◾Andrei Rublev (1966)
◾Babette's Feast (1987)
◾Ben-Hur (1959)
◾The Flowers of St. Francis (1950)
◾Francesco (1989)
◾The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1966)
◾La Passion de Notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ (1905)
◾A Man for All Seasons (1966)
◾The Mission (1986)
◾Monsieur Vincent (1947)
◾Nazarin (1958)
◾Ordet (1954)
◾The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
◾The Sacrifice (1986)
◾Therese (1986)
Values
◾Au Revoir les Enfants (1988)
◾The Bicycle Thief (1949)
◾The Burmese Harp (1956)
◾Chariots of Fire (1981)
◾The Decalogue (1988)
◾Dersu Uzala (1975)
◾Gandhi (1982)
◾Intolerance (1916)
◾It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
◾On the Waterfront (1954)
◾Rome, Open City (1945)
◾Schindler's List (1993)
◾The Seventh Seal (1956)
◾The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978)
◾Wild Strawberries (1957)
Art
◾Citizen Kane (1941)
◾8½ (1963)
◾Fantasia (1940)
◾Grand Illusion (1937)
◾La Strada (1954)
◾The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
◾The Leopard (1963)
◾Little Women (1933)
◾Metropolis (1927)
◾Modern Times (1936)
◾Napoleon (1927)
◾Nosferatu (1922)
◾Stagecoach (1939)
◾2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
◾The Wizard of Oz (1939)
I can only speak of the films with which I'm familiar, so...
It's a Wonderful Life - Although certainly theologically dubious (angels who were once men... and who read Mark Twain in Heaven?) and smarmily sentimental, it is nonetheless commendable for being probably the only Hollywood film in history to advance Catholic Social Teaching with respect to economics. Could be subtitled "Rerum Novarum for Dummies."
But apparently "The Vatican" sees this film's "values" as being of relatively equal merit with Jєω h0Ɩ0h0αx propaganda like
Schindler's List, despairing existentialist excrement like
The Seventh Seal and a secular hagiography of a degenerate Hindu pervert (
Ghandi).
The "Art" list is filled with films that meet only a modernist's definition of art. Makes sense that a pack of Modernists would compile it.
A Man for All Seasons is actually a pretty decent telling of the martyrdom of St. Thomas More. But, once again, it is of a quality apparently comparable to trash like
Francesco, a film wherein St. Francis of Assisi is depicted as a modern day thug, as played by the dependably thuggish Mickey Rourke.... and
The Gospel According to St. Matthew, a banal dramatization of the eponymous Gospel (King James Version), set to an eclectic soundtrack (including blues songs - a forerunner to the abominable
Godspell and
JC Superstar), dedicated (naturally) to "the happy, familiar memory of John XXIII" and directed by a notorious open sodomite (whose name I will not mention) who went on to direct a film (whose title I will not mention) that is the single most vile, Satanic, hateful piece of fαɢɢօt pornography that I have ever had the extreme displeasure of being exposed to (in film class in college). Even though I was deep in secular darkness when I saw it, it still revolted me on a profound, spiritual level. Regardless of the merits of his "St. Matthew" film (which are slim to none by the way), no man who produced such a demonic work (and let alone an avowed and notorious sodomite) should be praised in any way by any ostensible Catholic body - let alone one that claims to speak on behalf of the Holy See.
But this is all par for the course for Modernist occupied Rome... It wouldn't surprise me in the least if
The da Vinci Code or
The Last Temptation of Christ make it to the next version of this list.
Topic: 1995 45 movies selected by Vatican (Read 3233 times)