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How Three Movies Inspired My Faith

How Three Movies Inspired My Faith

Last updated on: April 15, 2026 at 1:17 am by Henry Karlson

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How Three Movies Inspired My Faith 2026-04-15T01:17:50-05:00 Henry Karlson

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Of the three movies about saints which inspired me the most, the one on Andrei Rublev helped bring a message of hope and peace to my life by the revelation of the beauty he saw and depicted in his icons. Photo: shakko: Icons by Rublev / Wikimedia Commons

Like most in my generation, I have a great fondness for the cinema. While I do not go to the movie theater as much as I used to, for I now tend to watch movies at home, that fondness remains. My favorite genres, like my favorite genres of fiction, are science fiction, fantasy, and horror, however, I do not limit myself to them. I enjoy movies of all genres. I like great historical dramas. I like well-done movies centered on religious themes (The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, The Mission, Silence), and of course, I like movies based upon lives of some of my favorite authors (like Shadowlands for C.S. Lewis). Movies inspire me in various ways. They can make me think. They can help me understand different perspectives on life. They can entertain me, giving me a couple hours of joy when I need it. They can disturb me. This tends to be true for most of us. Which is why it should not be surprising that when I was becoming Catholic, or soon after I did so, I watched three movies about saints, movies which suggested to me the kind of moral character I wanted to develop for myself in my own spiritual journey. Those movies are: A Man For All Seasons, Becket, and Andrei Rublev. All three of them, obviously, simplified (and in some ways, fictionalized) aspects of the lives of the saints, but despite doing so, they gave me a glimpse of the saint, showing me not only what made them great, but why they, like all saints, have something I can learn from and imitate in my own life.

A Man For All Seasons presents to us the martyrdom of St. Thomas More. It gives to us a study of the conscience of St. Thomas More, and what led him to defy Henry VIII. In doing so, it highlights the need we have to obey our conscience, even if it means we find ourselves at odds with friends, family, or our country. The movie came out at a time when that message was needed, but it is also a message which certainly is needed today, as many find present calls to engage patriotism demands that they ignore their conscience when their country wants them to do something morally wrong, that they should merely obey what they are told to do (as seen by the way the Trump administration says it is wrong to tell soldiers that they must not obey unlawful orders). St. Thomas More wanted to be a good servant to his friend and king; he certainly could have been said to be a great patriot in his day, but when he found himself in a situation where he was forced to obey the state and declare the king’s new marriage valid, when his faith had him believe it was not, he wanted to remain silent so as not to cause his friend problems. That is what his conscience told him to do. To the state, that was not enough. Thomas Cromwell wanted him to speak and promote the king’s marriage, and when he did not, Cromwell knew Thomas More was a threat; he had Thomas More tried and convicted of high treason for not acknowledging the king’s spiritual authority as well as for not supporting the king’s marriage to Anne Boleyn. Thomas More would not lie; his conscience could allow him to be silent, and have people believe whatever they wanted with that silence, but he would not be forced to speak against his own belief. It was only after he was convicted that he spoke and revealed his objection to what Henry (and Cromwell) had done. By having him executed, the state made his voice become that much more effective, that much louder than his silence. What Cromwell wanted to prevent, was unable to be stopped (and ultimately, Cromwell would himself be tried and executed for treason, so that what he had set up and established, was the cause of his own demise). A Man For All Seasons showed me the importance of the conscience, and with it, conscientious objection. It established very well that we must follow our conscience, even if it means we might lose our life in the process. It is better to lose one’s life than one’s soul. The movie inspired me to read the works of St. Thomas More, to study his biography, finding ways the movie sometimes simplified things, especially in the way it ignored some of St. Thomas More’s faults. Nonetheless, it presented what made Thomas More’s witness important and encouraged me to take seriously the role the conscience should play when dealing with difficult, real-world situations.

While the story behind Becket is, in many ways, different, from A Man For All Seasons, what I took out of it, like A Man For All Seasons, is the need to be true to oneself, the need to listen to one’s conscience and not be threatened or bullied into giving in to what you believe is wrong. This remains invaluable today, even if the central conflict in the film, in light of the sexual abuse scandal within the Catholic Church (and other churches), should make us question the actions of all sides in the conflict. St. Thomas Becket wanted to affirm the authority of the Catholic Church to police its own, to have its own standing, to make sure it did not have to fall for and obey anything an authoritarian state or dictator would have them do; the fear was that at that time, states often did possess a proper justice system, and so it was easy for the state to make false accusations against clergy in order to try to control the church. Historically, we have seen similar thing happen, such as in Soviet Russia. On the other hand, the church as an institution is like all institutions, and within it, corrupt, abusive clergy can and do exist, and while it is important to have the charges against them confirmed by evidence, it is also important for the church to accept the state’s role in filing those charges and punishing clergy proven to have commit grave offenses like sexual abuse. That is why, when watching the film, I think both sides are partially correct, and partially wrong, while, to be sure, in relation to the events are the are shown in the movie, Becket’s reasons for what he did were superior to those of Henry II. This is because Henry II was trying to manipulate the church, to use it as a force for his own will, like many Christian nationalists today. The church should not ever accept such manipulation. When the events in the movie are examined under this light, then the movie truly becomes a movie about conscience, and how Thomas Becket learned to listen to and follow his when he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. The movie represents the kind of hope we should have concerning others, that they can change, and change for the better, and if they do so, even surprise us all by becoming a voice for integrity, even if it means they lose their life in the process.

The third movie, Andrei Rublev by Andrei Tarkovsky is the most fictionalized story of the three, and yet, the movie is awe-inspiring and suggestive in ways which continues to influence my faith and how I live it out. The movie depicts the life of the iconographer, St. Andrei Rublev, and his struggles to find his faith in the midst of a time of great trials and tribulations. He found all around him, despite the fact his country was supposedly Christian, Christian love has grown cold and replaced with violence, violence which led to mass poverty and death. Christians massacred Christians for the sake of power and control. Rublev didn’t know what to make of it. His faith was severely tried. He wanted to find peace, to see that God’s glory and love manifesting itself in the world. The movie gives us glimpses of his life, in fictionalized accounts, where he slowly finds himself dealing with his struggles, sometimes giving in to despair; but it also shows us how he found reconnected to the hope that his faith gave him, so that at the end, he not only experienced the peace he long sought after, he was able to take it, embrace it, and use it in his iconography so as to become one of the greatest iconographers ever, inspiring people with his icons, especially his icon of the Holy Trinity. It is a slow but hypnotic film, shown in black and white until the very end, when his icons are revealed in full color, signifying the transcendent peace and glory which he experienced; the world was dark and grey, full of pain and sorrow, but the kingdom of God is full peace beauty, full of color all its own, a beauty which, if we are open to it, will allow us to gain a sense of the majesty of the kingdom of God and the peace which is found in it. This revelation, shown, again, through Rublev’s own icons, has helped me in my own understanding of icons and how they manifest the presence of the kingdom of God into the world. Indeed, I have seen how and why icons are one of many ways in which we find the immanent eschaton is at work in the world, that we can experience it now, in our present life. And why is this possible, because, as the theological defense of icons tells us, they represent the truth of the incarnation, the truth of the immanent eschaton, that is, the invisible, incomprehensible, and so transcendent God, comes to us in an immanent form which we can apprehend.

All three movies, in their own way, show me the way Christians are to engage and develop their conscience, especially in the midst of abusive, authoritarian regimes which demand us to ignore our conscience and obey them instead. Each movie also presents, in their own way, the life of a saint who struggled to follow their conscience, showing how they prevailed when most people gave in to the madness of their age. All three movies gave me practical examples of what it means to follow one’s conscience, instead of the kind of focus we might have if we kept such concerns theoretical. They show what we are to do, especially when we are threatened by others, threatened by those who want us to ignore what our conscience dictates to us. Hopefully, Catholics in the military, Catholics working with the Trump administration, will realize that, in many respects, the madness of Henry II and Henry VIII is upon them; if the Trump administration threatens or bullies them when they find themselves conflicted, they are not to obey Trump but their conscience, if they want to be true, not only to themselves, but to God, who gave them their conscience.

* This Is Another Post From My Personal (Informal) Reflections And Speculations Series

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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.

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