The Filmgoer's Guide to God

In 2004, I published The Filmgoer’s Guide to God, which explores how film, the dominant art form of the twentieth century, has treated religious themes. Against the turbulent backdrop of a century of total war, of violence, of utter cynicism, I outline how the new medium of film mirrored and shaped these troubled narratives and offered fresh perspectives on the crisis of faith.

 

Cinema emerges as a powerful medium for illuminating religious themes in new ways, and in doing so takes in a wide range of European and American cinema [click here to download a table of contents.] I focus in detail on the particular contribution of four film-makers: Bresson, Dreyer, Rossellini and Tarkovsky. Films discussed include Diary of a Country Priest, Night of the Hunter, Andrei Rublev, The Samurai, Brighton Rock, American Gigolo, O Brother Where Art Thou?, A Man Escaped, Rome Open City, The Passion of Joan of Arc, Breaking the Waves and Babette’s Feast, among others, and concludes with a chapter on the films of the gospel.

The book is published by Darton Longman and Todd. It is 215 x 135 mm in size, and 176 pages long. They are planning to make it available through Print on Demand, and so while it may be listed as out of stock, it is not out of print. Incidentally, if you go to the Amazon websites you can find it available very cheaply from second-hand booksellers. 

For some press comment, click here to download. Regrettably, all reviews -- to the best of my knowledge -- have been in the religious/ theological press, and there are none in the cinema press. I’ve a mind to write one myself, but I haven’t done it yet.