15 GREAT FILMS FOR SEEKERS

15 GREAT FILMS FOR SEEKERS

1) KOYAANISQATSI (USA/Godfrey Reggio) - outstanding
for conveying humanity’s head-long accelerated
rush towards self-destruction, along with the
sense of an impending radical change.

2) STALKER (Russia/Andrei Tarkovsky) - a great film, which
offers a portrait of a genuine seeker and depicts life as
a dangerous, yet necessary quest for Truth.

3) RED BALLOON (France/Albert Lamorisse) - without a
word, communicates the beauty and the preciousness
of our inner-self and awakens within us the
longing to regain the purity of childhood.

4) THE MAGIC FLUTE (Sweden/Ingmar Bergman) - sublime
music of Mozart sets the stage for recapturing the
long-lost ideals of love, manly virtues, child-
like wonder and the quest for wisdom.

5) MIRROR (Russia/Andrei Tarkovsky) - reveals the inner world
of the main character without him ever appearing
on the screen. Instead: his memories, thoughts,
wishes and strivings are shown woven into the
fabric of world history, space and time.

6) A MAN ESCAPED (France/Robert Bresson) - documents
the naturalness with which help is given from
Above to a man, who in complete simplicity
defies the hopelessness of his situation.

7) GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW
(Italy/Pier Paolo Pasolini) -
strives to convey the significance and the
tragedy of Christ’s life in a natural,
yet poetic way.

8) COLOR OF POMEGRANATES
(Armenia/Sergei Paradjanov) -
this film speaks in the language of the soul. A work
of transcendent beauty unlike any other.

9) 8 1/2 (Italy/Federico Fellini) - the most honest
portrayal of a filmmaker, drowning in the
world of his own dreams, memories
and indulgences.

10) WINTER LIGHT (Sweden/Ingmar Bergman) -
the most riveting, insightful documentation
ever of the crisis of faith.

11) NOSTALGHIA (Italy/Russia/Andrei Tarkovsky) -
a depiction of a man in a state of inner crisis: caught
between two countries, between two poles of reality,
between the here and the hereafter.

12) MILKY WAY (France/ Luis Buñuel ) - A blistering
questioning of authentic religious dogma and
attitudes of piety, rigidity and fanaticism.

13) SHADOWS OF OUR FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS
(Ukraine/Sergei Paradjanov) -
beauty and pulsation of life in every shot testify to
and celebrate the great uniqueness of
individual perception.

14) L’ARGENT (France/Robert Bresson) - a stunning,
graphic illustration of the chain-reaction of evil.

15) ANDREI RUBLEV (Russia/Andrei Tarkovsky) -
an epic masterpiece about the profound spiritual
struggle behind one man’s great art.

10 Honorable mentions:
Modern Times (USA/Charles Chaplin)
Oedipus Rex (Italy/Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Seventh Seal (Sweden/Ingmar Bergman)
Simon of the Desert (Mexico/ Luis Buñuel )
Ashik Kerib (Azerbaidjan/Sergei Paradjanov)
Ran (Japan/Akira Kurosawa)
Rashomon (Japan/Akira Kurosawa)
Solaris (Russia/Andrei Tarkovsky)
Persona (Sweden/Ingmar Bergman)
My Dinner with Andre (USA/Louis Malle)