Toward films with spiritual vision

Marilynne Mason with contributions from Horton Foote

Whether we see films in a musty local movie house, in a ten-theater complex, or on a videocassette recorder at a friend's house, the larger-than-life images in film have a way of setting patterns for our everyday lives. They say: "This is love. " "This is power. " "This has meaning." But all too often the power, love, and vision so central to film plots are at odds with the real needs in our world. Is there a way for films, filmmakers, and filmgoers to break through to a more genuine reading of the human condition? Is it possible that insights from a film could even point people toward spiritual answers for humanity's needs?

The Sentinel asked Horton Foote to share some of his views on these and related questions. Mr. Foote, a Christian Scientist, has written the screenplays for such films as To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies. (These two screenplays won Oscars.) More recently he has adapted for the screen several of his own plays; among them are A Trip to Bountiful, On Valentine's Day, and Courtship. His interviewer is Marilynne Mason, also a Christian Scientist, who works as a film critic for a Denver, Colorado, weekly and teaches film appreciation at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

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