We watched the WHOLE Vatican Film List

Jun 27, 2023

Nathan Douglas, a talented Catholic filmmaker, joins the discussion to explore the Vatican's influential film list from 1995. They dissect the list’s creation and its moral implications in cinema. The team debates which films should be removed or added, sharing their personal favorites like 'Andrei Rublev' and 'Au Revoir Les Enfants.' They also advocate for overlooked gems and modern masterpieces, like 'The Tree of Life.' This insightful conversation sheds light on the impact of cinema on faith and the evolving landscape of Catholic storytelling.

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ANECDOTE

Discovering A Lost English Catholic Film History

Nathan recounted discovering a forgotten English‑language Catholic film culture and archival materials online.
He credited peers like Sam Storch and resources such as archived Focus film readers for reopening that history.

INSIGHT

Propaganda Films Need Contextual Framing

Including clearly propagandistic films requires explicit commentary to avoid implicit endorsement.
The hosts argued Intolerance needs contextual notes if it remains on a values list.

INSIGHT

Key Film Traditions Were Omitted

The hosts noted an underrepresentation of Soviet-era montage masters like Eisenstein on the list.
That omission limits a fuller historical account of cinema's formal and ideological uses.

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Since we started Criteria: The Catholic Film Podcast in May 2020, we've been hosting in-depth discussions of movies from the Vatican's 1995 list of important films. Now, after three years, we've finished discussing all 45 films - and in this episode, together with Catholic filmmaker Nathan Douglas, we're taking a look back at the list as a whole.

After discussing how and why the Vatican film list (actually titled "Some Important Films") was made, and putting it in the context of several decades of concern from the highest levels of the Vatican about the social and moral influence of cinema, we talk about our favorite and least favorite films on the Vatican's list, as well as the movies we think should be added in a hypothetical future update of the list.

Ultimately, watching through the entire Vatican film list is not only an education in the classics of world cinema, but also gives important perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of past cinematic engagement with religion, allowing us to see both the potential fruit that could be borne and the dead ends that should be avoided in the Catholic cinema of the future.

0:00 Introduction 11:31 History behind the Vatican film list 43:34 What films should be removed from the list? 1:24:10 Our favorite films on the list 1:55:30 What films should have been included that weren't? 2:34:09 What post-1995 films would we add? 3:00:19 The most Catholic/edifying films on the list

Links

Pope St. John Paul II's address on the 100th birthday of cinema https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/speeches/1995/march/documents/hf_jp-ii_spe_19950317_plen-pccs.html

"100 Years of Cinema" document from the Pontifical Council of Social Communications with model curriculum https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/pccs/documents/rc_pc_pccs_doc_19960101_100-cinema_en.html

Below is the 1995 list by the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, "Some Important Films" (with links to our episode on each film):

Religion

Andrei Rublev, Andrei Tarkovsky (1969, USSR)
The Mission, Roland Joffé (1986, UK)
The Passion of Joan of Arc, Carl T. Dreyer (1928, France)
Vie et passion du Christ (Life and Passion of Christ), Ferdinand Zecca and Lucien Nonguet (1905, France)
The Flowers of St. Francis, Roberto Rossellini (1950, Italy)
The Gospel According to Matthew, Pier Paolo Pasolini (1964, France/Italy)
Thérèse, Alain Cavalier (1986, France)
Ordet (The Word), Carl T. Dreyer (1955, Denmark)
The Sacrifice, Andrei Tarkowsky (1986, Sweden/UK/France)
Francesco, Liliana Cavani (1989, Italy/Germany)
Ben-Hur, William Wyler (1959, USA)
Babette's Feast, Gabriel Axel (1987, Denmark)
Nazarín, Luis Buñuel (1958, Mexico)
Monsieur Vincent, Maurice Cloche (1947, France)
A Man for All Seasons, Fred Zinnemann (1966, UK)

Values

Gandhi, Richard Attenborough (1982, UK/USA/India)
Intolerance, D. W. Griffith (1916, USA)
Dekalog (The Decalogue), Krzysztof Kieslowski (1987, Poland)
Au Revoir, Les Enfants (Goodbye, Children), Louis Malle (1987, France)
Dersu Uzala, Akira Kurosawa (1974, Japan)
The Tree of Wooden Clogs, Ermanno Olmi (1978, Italy/France)
Rome, Open City, Roberto Rossellini (1946, Italy)
Wild Strawberries, Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden)
The Seventh Seal, Ingmar Bergman (1957, Sweden)
Chariots of Fire, Hugh Hudson (1981, UK)
Bicycle Thieves, Vittorio de Sica (1948, Italy)
It's a Wonderful Life, Frank Capra (1946, USA)
Schindler's List, Steven Spielberg (1993, USA)
On the Waterfront, Elia Kazan (1954, USA)
The Burmese Harp, Kon Ichikawa (1956, Japan)

Art

2001: A Space Odyssey, Stanley Kubrick (1968, UK/USA)
La Strada, Federico Fellini (1954, Italy)
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles (1941, USA)
Metropolis, Fritz Lang (1927, Germany)
Modern Times, Charlie Chaplin (1936, USA)
Napoléon, Abel Gance (1927, Italy)
8½, Federico Fellini (1963, Italy)
La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir (1937, France)
Nosferatu, F. W. Murnau (1922, Germany)
Stagecoach, John Ford (1939, USA)
The Leopard, Luchino Visconti (1963, Italy/France)
Fantasia (1940, USA)
The Wizard of Oz, Victor Fleming (1939, USA)
The Lavender Hill Mob, Charles Crichton (1951, UK)
Little Women, George Cukor (1933, USA)