For this assignment, you will choose a film that deals in some significant way with the material we have studied or will study in this class and watch it critically — as a historian would.
Your film must focus in a significant way on the history of religions — the focus of this class.
A list of possible films to choose from is given below. If you would like to suggest a film for this assignment, shoot me an email and argue for its inclusion in our list. If I approve it, you can use it for this assignment.
Heads up: Writing a film review often requires multiple viewings of the film. Plan to watch the film two or even three times. During the first viewing, surrender yourself to the cinematic experience; in other words, get lost in the narrative and enjoy the film without worrying about the answers you will eventually write. During your second viewing, try distancing yourself from the plot and instead focus on interesting elements of the film that link up significantly with the material we cover in this class, the material you’ve encountered in the assigned readings. These significant linkages are the heart of this Project.
Read that again: “These significant linkages are the heart of this Project.”
After watching the film of your choosing, you will write a film review about it. That review must, at minimum, be 1,500 words long. In that review, you will answer the following questions in the order in which they appear here:
(Use about 200 words, no more. I’ve seen the film!) Write a synopsis, or summary, of the film, starting by giving the title of the film, when it was made, and who directed it. Make sure that your summary makes sense to a reader who does not know the movie.
(Use about 100 words) Where is the action set in the film (not the literal action — where it was shot — but where it pretends to be filmed)? When does the action take place in the film’s story? (present the time depicted as accurately as you can: give us some brief context. This question is not asking when the film was made, but when the action of the film pretends to take place). Is the story chronological (according to the order of time) or does it have flashbacks?
(Use about 800 words) An important question: Given the material we’ve explored in our class (textbook, video, primary sources), how historically accurate is the film in portraying the period its makers have tried to represent or depict? “Very accurate” or “pretty accurate” is not enough and will earn you a poor grade. Raise your game: Dissect the film as an historian would and show us its historical strengths and weaknesses. (Remember, the historical accuracy of the film is more important in this assignment than its entertainment value.)
(Use about 200 words) If you were the historical consultant of religion to the director of the film (name him or her), what significance is missing from this representation of the past (the film) that should be mentioned to the director? Why should it be mentioned?
Please observe the recommended word lengths for each question. The minimum word count for your review essay is 1,500 words. Write no more than 1600 if you wish to exceed the minimum word requirement.
Other Requirements
Has the student in their film-review essay —
Demonstrated factual and chronological knowledge of the key events, themes, and people that we have covered so far in our assigned work (or WILL cover)? Have they been the historian as film reviewer?
Demonstrated the ability to interpret historical information by using analytical skills, such as using the textbook and primary sources skillfully, contextualizing, and comparing and contrasting them
Cited (given proper credit to) the sources used by using quotation marks to set off the words of others and citing sources? (for example: Esposito, World Religions Today, pp. 114-15). What is plagiarism? Have you avoided it?
Used no other outside sources other than the assigned readings, primary sources, and chosen film — unless otherwise directed by the instructor?
Written a clear, grammatically correct, well-organized review essay, free of misspellings and basic writing rules? Has s/he punctuated properly? Do they announce their film in the first paragraph and answer ALL of the assignment questions in the order in which they appear? Do they finish their review essay with a conclusion? That is, have they written college-level work?
The Deadline
Your History Film Review Project is due on the last day of this intersession — July 11th, by 11 p.m. PST. No late work will be accepted. Work submitted other than on this page will not be graded.
All of these films can be found on streaming services, in libraries, on Google Play, Amazon Prime, and many other outlets. Be resourceful and search for them. Start early in your search so that you can find them well before the deadline. If you are not planning ahead, you are planning to fail.
Submitting Your Work
The Film Review Essay must bear your name, and it must answer the questions above in the order in which they appear, keeping each section to about the length specified in the question.
The Review Essay must be submitted in one of the following filetypes: pdf, doc, docs. No exceptions. If I can’t open your paper file, it will be the same as not having submitted it. You will receive a zero for this assignment.
Click on the “Submit Assignment” button on the upper right of this page to submit your Film Review Essay.
You are far too intelligent to wait until the last few hours of the day of the deadline to upload your work: the server will likely be overwhelmed and you may miss the deadline. If you are not planning ahead, you are planning to fail. At the very least, you are tempting fate. No late work will be accepted.
The Films
Here is a list of films to choose from: choose one and only one for your review. If you wish to suggest a title, send me your suggestion to have it approved.
Indigenous Religions
The Other Conquest
Chac, the Rain God (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chac_the_rain_god
(Links to an external site.)
)
The Fountain (2006) / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fountain
(Links to an external site.)
At Play in the Fields of the Lord, 1993 (modernity/primal religion)
Black Robe, 1991 (clash of cultures, European missionary, primal mores)
Dances with Wolves, 1990 (Native American myth and ritual)
The Emerald Forest, 1985 (colonialism, modernity/primal religion)
The Mission, 1986 (colonialism, Christian missions, slavery, racism)
Judaism
The Other Story (2019)
Moses (1996)
The Chosen, 1978 (Jewish Zionism, liberal Orthodox Judaism, Hasidism, American secularism)
Fiddler on the Roof, 1971 (modernization vs. tradition)
The Outside Chance of Maximilian Glick, 1988 (young Jewish boy meets real life outside parents’ orthodoxy)
Paradise Now, 2005 (Jewish–Arab conflict)
Schindler’s List, 1993 (the Holocaust)
Christianity
Amazing Grace, 2006 (victory for social justice)
The Apostle, 1998 (evangelism; sin and redemption)
Blood Done Sign My Name, 2010 (civil rights)
Clarence Darrow, 1988, or Inherit the Wind, 1960 (both on the Scopes trial)
The Crucible, 1996 (Salem witch trials)
Dead Man Walking, 1995 (capital punishment; salvation; compassion)
Leap of Faith, 1992 (evangelism; faith healing; charlatanry; genuine miracles)
Les Miserables, 1998 (Christian forgiveness and genuine conversion)
A Man for All Seasons, 1966 (church and state; spiritual integrity; politics)
Of Gods and Men, 2010 (French Trappist monks in 1990s Algeria)
A River Runs Through It, 1992 (Protestantism; God seen in nature)
Romero, 1999 (liberation theology in Latin America)
True Confessions, 1981 (Catholic Church as bureaucracy; corruption and use of power; sin, redemption, and salvation)
Hinduism
Gandhi (1982) / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gandhi_(film)
(Links to an external site.)
Mahabharata (1989) / viewable here –
(Links to an external site.)
A Passage to India, 1984
Devi (The Goddess), 1960
Kanchana Sita (Golden Sita), 1977
Kondura (Sage from the Sea), 1977
Monsoon Wedding, 2001
The Namesake, 2005
Salaam Bombay!, 1988
Samskara (Last Rites), 1970
Water, 2005
Buddhism
Milarepa (2006) / https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0499238/
(Links to an external site.)
Seven Years in Tibet, 1997
Beyond Rangoon, 1995 (engaged Buddhism, political situation in Burma/Myanmar)
The Burmese Harp, 1985 (Theravadin practices)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2003
The Cup, 1999 (Tibetan)
The Horse Thief, 1986 (Chinese)
The Last Samurai, 2003
Little Buddha, 1993 (primer on basic Buddhism)
Kundun, 1997 (identification of the present Dalai Lama at age 2 and his next twenty years until he flees Tibet during the Chinese invasion)
Rikyu, 1990 (explores struggle between art and power in sixteenth-century Japan)
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring, 2003 (Buddhist monk and student)
Why Has Bodhi Dharma Left for the East? 1989 (South Korean)
Confucianism / Taoism / Shintoism
The Hidden Fortress (1958) / https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051808/
(Links to an external site.)
If you like Star Wars….
Islam
Kite Runner (2007) / https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419887/
(Links to an external site.)
The Message (1976) / https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074896/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
For further film titles, see the Resource Pages in each module…..
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