Catching Light: Looking for God in the Movies

By Roy M. Anker

Book Overview

Films have come to not only entertain modern minds but also inform and shape them. Many of the best cinematic works have profound religious elements -- some obvious, some more subtle. In Catching Light Roy Anker examines nineteen popular films, showing how they convey a range of striking perspectives on the human encounter with God.

These selected films portray God showing up in different, surprising ways amid the messy circumstances of life. Anker looks closely at the plot of each film, especially at how characters, through their experiences, ultimately move "toward Light," toward recognition of a loving, redemptive deity.

The first section of Catching Light looks at classic 1970s films that inspect personal, social, and cultural evil: The Godfather trilogy, Chinatown, and The Deer Hunter. The second group of films depicts the ways and depths of specifically Christian notions of redemption: Tender Mercies, The Mission, Places in the Heart, and Babette's Feast. Some of the most successful films of our time have come as fairy-tale fantasies: the Star Wars saga, Superman, and three of Steven Spielberg's "lost boy" stories (Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, and A.I.: Artificial Intelligence), each of which Anker interprets as a fable of search and redemption. The films in the last section of the book feature characters who, to their great surprise, are ambushed by a wholly unexpected God: Grand Canyon, American Beauty, and Three Colors: Blue.

In addition to focusing on the theological dimension of each film, Anker comments on its merits both as story and as cinema. Also included are sidebars that discuss each film's history and significance as well as the quality and special features of DVD editions. For anyone interested in the intersection of religion, art, and culture, Catching Light offers a unique view of contemporary faith.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0802827950
• ISBN13: 9780802827951
• Release Date: October 2004
• Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
• Length: 402 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Triple Crown

Professor Anker has written a classic book about how some of the film classics deal with the classic search for God. Hence, it deserves a "Triple Crown" among books on this subject. I have used it to liven up my ethics classes at the Bristol,TN, campus of the National College of Business and Technology and plan to use it this summer as the basis for a Spiritual Film Series at Central Presbyterian Church.

catching light: deep reading

CATCHING LIGHT beautifully explores the capacity of film to articulate human experience. This is done through the Christian perspective but does not, as many Christian interpretations do, simplify its films. Anker touches on all the grey areas--the intoxicating darkness and the radiant light that seems to shroud all of human experience. This book plunges in deep and is by no means a mere overview. If one desires brevity, resort to minimalistic news reviews. CATCHING LIGHT carries readers along with the interpretation, avoiding the bombast of so many film reviewers. A must read to all who enjoy meditating and thinking deeply about film, limited not to Christians, but all who actively partake in life and the it contemporary reflections.