Engaging film and faith
By Ian Maher
Bible Society. 31 pages
ISBN 0 564 04126 2
Where do people have conversations about issues that really matter? Often it's on the way out of the cinema. Films engage profoundly with our intellect and our emotions and raise important questions about identity, justice and suffering.
Ian Maher, who writes both thoughtfully and knowledgeably about the subject of film in this book, states that cinema attendance in Britain last year was 137 million, and was highest among 7-35 year-olds. He then asks what the church is doing to help these young people make the connection between the hard questions they are asking and the answers found in the Bible. He also explains why films have the power to touch so many people so deeply - often it is the portrayal of painful themes in our shared experience, such as unemployment and hopelessness in The full Monty, or love and loss in The English Patient, that audiences connect with on a profound level.
