Religion in Film

I watched three films over the weekend that all mentioned religion in different ways. The Help (Taylor 2011) discussed the true nature of being a good Christian and loving thy neighbour. Machine Gun Preacher (Forster 2011) built upon this by taking a drug-addicted bikie to the extreme landscape of southern Sudan. In this film Christianity saves the 'preacher' from his previous life but throws up other contradictions, such as how can there be a God while the children of Sudan are suffering in such horrendous ways? Lastly I watched Moneyball (Miller 2011) which explored the religion of baseball.

In each of these films religion plays an intrinsic role in at least one of the characters lives and influences how they make decisions. For example, Viola Davis' character Aibileen is moved to speak out after listening to a sermon from her Pastor in The Help. I think it shows that religion definitely isn't going anywhere; these films are set in different times and countries and yet it still plays a role.

I should note that these three films are American, and we have discussed in tutorials that religion plays a larger role in society then perhaps it does in Australia.

Works Cited:

The Help. 2011. Dir. Tate Taylor. Dreamworks SKG and Reliance Entertainment.

Machine Gun Preacher. 2011. Dir. Marc Forster. Relativity Media.

Moneyball. 2011. Dir. Bennett Miller. Columbia Pictures.