Movie Musings: Disney and More

Easter Movies

On this Easter Sunday, I thought we could explore fun facts about movies with spiritual themes. Please feel free to comment on your favorite!

1. Paramount’s The Ten Commandments (1956)-The same year that Yul Brynner played Rameses in this film, he also made the films Anastasia (1956) as well as the film version of his career-defining role The King and I. Before Brynner made “The Ten Commandments,” he underwent an intense weightlifting program so that he wouldn’t be physically overshadowed by co-star Charles Heston and would look physically fit as he appeared shirtless throughout most of the movie. Heston later said the Brynner gave the best performance in the movie. There is a moment in “King and I,” where Anna sees the King reading the story of Moses in the Bible and the King tells Anna he thinks Moses is a fool, ironically similar to what Rameses thought of Moses! But the movie does a great job of depicting the famous “Exodus” of the children of Israel00described in the Bible in a book by the same name, and highlighting the story of Passover, celebrated by Jews each year, but foundational to the Easter story for Christians.
2. Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)-This film received three Academy Award Nominations for Best Makeup, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Mixing. It won the award for Best Makeup. The film was directed by Andrew Adamson, for whom this was his live-action debut, having previously directed animated films such as Dreamworks’s Shrek (2001) and Shrek 2 (2004). Adamson also directed Disney’s to “Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe,” The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian in 2008. Both of these films, and the books upon which they are based, are the allegory for the story of Christ, the first of which includes the all-important fact of Christ’s resurrection, demonstrated by Aslan’s death and resurrection.
3. Paramount’s Braveheart (1995)-Mel Gibson only wanted to direct the film and didn’t want to play William Wallace because he was nearly 40 years old at the time and the character was supposed to be in his 20s. Paramount agreed to finance the film only if he played the role, so he changed his mind. While he made the movie, Gibson spent time with actual members of the real-life Wallace clan to learn their history, and even brought them in as extras in the movie. There were roughly 1,600 in the battle scenes. It is a strong tale of faith and freedom, with Wallace portraying both a Christ-like figure and a leader of the freedom movement in Scotland. 
4. United Artists’s The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965)-After playing Moses in “Ten Commandments,” Charlton Heston played Judah Ben-Hur in Ben Hur (1959), which won him the Best Actor Oscar for that year and then he played John the Baptist in this film. It was also the American film debut of Max von Sydow, and although he played Jesus in this film, he was in reality an affirmed atheist. Von Sydow also smoke and drank but wasn’t allowed to do either of those things while filming on the set. This movie was also the last film appearance of Four-time Oscar Nominee, Claude Rains, who portrayed King Herod. It has been much-beloved by people for more than 50 years, and considered by Christians as an excellent portrayal of the Bible stories foundational for their faith.
5. Dreamworks’s The Prince of Egypt (1998)-Jeffrey Katzenberg, this film’s executive producer and former CEO of Dreamworks Animation, had always thought it would be a good idea to make an animated movie of “The Ten Commandments,” and had originally pitched the idea while working for the Walt Disney Company to former Disney CEO, Michael Eisner, but Eisner never liked the idea. When Katzenberg left Disney in October of 1993, he later founded Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in 1994, they managed to get “The Prince of Egypt,” off the ground and Katzenberg hired Disney screenwriter Brenda Chapman to co-direct the film with Steve Hickner and Simon Wells. This film not only marked Chapman’s debut as a director, but also made her the first woman to co-direct an animated movie from a major movie studio. Chapman later won the Best Animated Feature Oscar for direction on Disney/Pixar’s Brave in 2012. It of course continues in the tradition of the live-action film, portraying the Jewish Passover and Exodus that is intrinsic to the Easter season for Christians. 

While these are just some of many spiritual themed movies, there are still a lot other movies that acknowledge the beauty and the mystery of God. Others such as Forrest Gump (1994), Facing the Giants (2006) and even Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), The Lion King (1994), and The Bucket List (2007) acknowledge God’s existence and presence in the universe. Overall, it really is amazing the trouble and efforts that these people who worked on them went to, making each of them not only great films, but inspiring to people of faith.