Posted on 06/21/2006 6:18:30 AM PDT by rhema
How could the American Film Institute have missed The Return of the King when picking its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time? And not a single movie about Jesus? What's up with THAT?
Last week, the American Film Institute posted its list of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time. It's a good list, especially with It's a Wonderful Life and To Kill a Mockingbird occupying the top two spots. Rocky, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and Breaking Away are all in the top 10. Very nice.
But like all such lists, it's certainly open to criticism. My first gripe is specific enough: Where in the world is The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King? If that's not one of the 100 Most Inspiring Films of All Time, then I'll be a hobbit's uncle.
If Gandalf doesn't inspire, then who does?
At first I thought the omission was because the film isn't "American." It was primarily made in New Zealand by a Kiwi director (Peter Jackson), and the AFI criteria state that qualifying films must have "significant creative and/or production elements from the United States." But then I checked the list of 300 nominees from which the AFI culled its winners, and the first LOTR film, The Fellowship of the Ring, is a nominee (though it didn't make the top 100).
So, evidently, the LOTR films were eligible after all—but The Return of the King didn't even make the list of nominees. So, the AFI doesn't even count it as one of the three hundred most inspiring films in history!
How could they have missed it?
Were they not inspired when Gandalf comforts a frightened Pippin during the siege of Minas Tirith, telling the young hobbit about a glorious heaven that
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
There is no witchcraft in LOTR, though there is evil and there are demonic forces. LOTR does not glorify those things, and shows the stuggle to defeat them, while showing that some succumb to the evil. Doesn't the Bible teach us how to struggle against evil, but also show that some will not be able to fight evil, but will give over to it?
""Oh Shane, go in that bar alone and fight our battles for us while we wait out here" townspeople."
High Noon probably doesn't rate too high on your list either. Open Range was a western where the townspeople got into the action.
Well now, the story of The Guy who inspired a lot of people and got beat up and nailed to a tree for His efforts seems to have stood the test of time...
Are you a Yooper as in Iron Mountain and all that, by the way?
Heh... Yes, you'd be right :~)
They also left out: Lassie Come Home (1943) and I Remember Mama (1948). Serpico??? Inspiring???
Inspiring? Hmm...I watched it last weekend. I judged it to be an entertaining sci-fi story. Decently acted and poorly directed, especially the last scene. I wasn't particularly inspired by it. Other Mel Gibson films are much more inspiring, that's for sure. But, hey, if you find it inspiring then good for you!
Beautiful country up where you're from, but ya hardly need a flat-lander like me to tell ya that...
I agree and thank you!!!
People break down into two groups when the experience something lucky. Group number one sees it as more than luck, more than coincidence. They see it as a sign, evidence, that there is someone up there, watching out for them. Group number two sees it as just pure luck. Just a happy turn of chance. I'm sure the people in Group number two are looking at those fourteen lights in a very suspicious way. For them, the situation is fifty-fifty. Could be bad, could be good. But deep down, they feel that whatever happens, they're on their own. And that fills them with fear. Yeah, there are those people. But there's a whole lot of people in the Group number one. When they see those fourteen lights, they're looking at a miracle. And deep down, they feel that whatever's going to happen, there will be someone there to help them. And that fills them with hope. See what you have to ask yourself is what kind of person are you? Are you the kind that sees signs, sees miracles? Or do you believe that people just get lucky? Or, look at the question this way: Is it possible that there are no coincidences?
The movie was not about aliens, IMHO. The movies of Mel's that you maybe like better have far too much blood and gore for me to like them.
Cyber bruises don't show, and they heal instantaneously...unless you're messed up in the head like some.
Oh, don't get me wrong. I liked it, but I don't regard it as "inspiring."
We love that movie!! It is a great film about redemption.
I think there are positive messages in BOTH the Harry Potter books and LOTR. Both are about fighting evil, and helping others to not fall into evil ways. No, they aren't religious, but they are inspirational.
The message: Evil exists, and it is defeated by people who live the virtues of courage and loyalty. It isn't scripture, but it is a jumping off point for a message about the importance of virtue, which has an easy segue to a more explicitly religious message.
I've written before that there's a comparison to be drawn between To Kill a Mockingbird and Lord of the Rings. Atticus Finch and Samwise Gangee are heroes because of a clear moral vision and the determination to see it through. You and I can't decide to become Superman or Spiderman, but we can decide to be Atticus or Sam.
It's a Wonderful Life is inspiring for a different reason, and I can't argue with its #1 ranking. The movie came out after a decade of depression and a half-decade of war, when a lot of folks weren't where they expected to be at that point in life.
The message of the movie was that however dark things seem, however low you feel, there are angels above and friends on Earth who have your back. It's a good message for anyone at any time, but especially for its own time.
It took me a while to warm up to them, though. I was given the trilogy in 1968, when it was first published in paperback in the US. I was 15, and wasn't into fantasy; I was more into gothic romances and spy novels, and interesting combo. Hubby did a read-aloud of the books with our older two sons, when they were pre-teens, and I didn't listen in then, either. It wasn't until our younger two kids were pre-teens and the first movie was about to be released that I joined in the read-aloud and realized that I actually liked the books. I'm still not a big fantasy story fan, but Tolkien's stories were fantasy with a medieval flair that I enjoyed.
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