To take spirituality seriously

Now and then you hear about a movie that you "just have to see." Not because it's a great escape or a great laugh, but because it's a film that brings you closer to others and to what you know has to be true. The film takes seriously the values of life that mean so much to the human heart—even when it may not use familiar religious terms.

Word about these films is spread more often by the grapevine than by reviews and previews. Perhaps that's why James M. Wall has taken on the commitment to watch out for such movies, making sure people don't miss them and examining the possibilities for deeper spiritual understanding tucked away in these films. An editor of The Christian Century magazine, Mr. Wall frequently discusses contemporary films in ways that enlighten and illumine. He is also an ordained United Methodist minister and a teacher and lecturer on film. In this interview he talks about some of the lessons films can teach us about ourselves and about the hunger to know God. His interviewer is Marilynne S. Mason, herself a film commentator. (An interview with her was published in last week's Sentinel, the first of three in this series.)

Mason: Why do you write about film?

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To take spirituality seriously

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