fbpx

10 Powerful Historical Drama Films That Honor God

Photo from HACKSAW RIDGE’s Instagram

10 Powerful Historical Drama Films That Honor God

By Movieguide Contributor

Fans of the Historical Fiction movie genre will enjoy this list of curated films that honor the Lord. Learning from fictional and real-life characters from the past can be inspiring. Take a look back and immerse yourself in history with these powerful flicks. From the story about the life of Jesus to a spiritual revolution in the 1970s, these movies are worth a watch.

JESUS REVOLUTION

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
JESUS REVOLUTION is a very entertaining and accurate, though compressed, portrait of the Vietnam protest era of hippies and young revolutionaries who find Jesus because God calls several people to welcome them into the Body of Christ. At its heart, the plot is propelled by a love story between an impoverished young man, Greg Laurie, with an alcoholic mother, and a beautiful young woman named Cathe, from a wealthy Laguna Hills family in Southern California. JESUS REVOLUTION is very bold about showing drug use, communal living, protest rallies, and Christian hypocrisy, but it also has many scenes of intense jeopardy and many scenes featuring inspiring, uplifting, well-written Christian presentations and expressions of the Gospel.

PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST is a profound, inspiring movie experience about Paul’s last days in a Roman prison as Luke comes to visit Paul and starts to write about the Book of Acts under Paul’s direction. Brilliantly made and acted in many places, PAUL, APOSTLE OF CHRIST is a must-see, soul-stirring movie for mature audiences with a strong Christian, biblical worldview that imparts valuable, inspiring and profound Christian messages.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE

Quality:
****
Content:
+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.
In this Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Eric Liddell is a Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of Jesus in the 1924 Olympic games and who believes that Christ is his trainer.

SHADOWLANDS

Quality:
****
Content:
+1 Moderately questionable elements. (Discernment required for young children.)
SHADOWLANDS presents the challenging story of the brief and emotionally turbulent marriage of Christian author/scholar C.S. Lewis to American poet Joy Gresham. With outstanding (and understated) performances by Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger, an intelligent script and gorgeous cinematography, this film presents an eloquent portrait of sacrificial love--indeed, of the emotions of love growing from selfless acts of love. Only an unfortunate failure to depict the resolution of a crisis of faith which naturally followed Lewis' tragic loss of his wife prevents this film from being a masterpiece on the order of CHARIOTS OF FIRE.

HACKSAW RIDGE

Quality:
****
Content:
-2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.
HACKSAW RIDGE is a great, emotive, powerful, touching Christian war movie about Desmond Doss (Andrew Garfield), a courageous conscientious objector who serves as an unarmed medic during the brutal battle of Okinawa in World War II. Brilliantly directed by Mel Gibson, HACKSAW RIDGE is a captivating, emotional movie about uncompromising faith and miraculous courage. It will make you laugh and cry, but strong caution is advised because of bloody violence and some foul language.

RISEN

Quality:
****
Content:
-1 Caution advised for older children, including teenagers, and sensitive adults.
RISEN is about a Roman soldier and non-believer, who hunts for Jesus Christ’s body, not realizing that Jesus has risen from the dead. RISEN is almost like the follow up movie to Mel Gibson’s THE PASSION, with some war violence and killing, but with a powerful Christian, biblical worldview promoting the reality of Jesus Christ’s physical resurrection.

THE HIDING PLACE

Quality:
***
Content:
+3 Some minor questionable elements. (Media-wisdom is suggested to discuss.)
THE HIDING PLACE is a filmed theatrical production based on the eponymous memoir by Corrie ten Boom, the daughter of a Dutch watchmaker who, along with her father and siblings, helped more than 800 Jews escape capture by the Nazis during the Holocaust. Since a majority of the play is lifted straight from the words of ten Boom herself, reflecting back on her own life, her unapologetic Christian worldview is ever-present in the narrative. THE HIDING PLACE is a bit overlong and deals frankly with the harsh reality of Nazi persecution, but viewers of all ages will find it spiritually and morally edifying. 

THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST

Quality:
****
Content:
-2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.
THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST, Mel Gibson’s masterpiece, covers the time period from the Garden of Gethsemane to the Cross and beyond. The movie goes beyond most Passion Plays to highlight in stark, dark, and intense terms the spiritual warfare raging around Jesus Christ during His Passion. It is a must-see movie, beautifully directed and powerfully acted.

AMAZING GRACE

Quality:
****
Content:
+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.
AMAZING GRACE is the story of William Wilberforce who, after a young life of debauchery, came to Christ at the age of 25 and believed he was called by God to stop the slave trade and reform morals in England in the 18th Century. The acting, directing and production values in AMAZING GRACE are superb. It also has deep, soul-stirring Christian references to the sinfulness of people, the salvation of Jesus Christ, and the divinity of Jesus Christ, with frequent renditions of the great hymn “Amazing Grace.”

LOVE COMES SOFTLY

Quality:
****
Content:
+4 Biblical, usually Christian, worldview, with no questionable elements whatsoever.
LOVE COMES SOFTLY was the "most watched" Hallmark Channel television program ever and one of the most Christian. Set in the Old West, it demonstrates how Christian wisdom, understanding, love, prayer, and compassion triumphs over trials and tribulations, to bring true love and conversion to this frontier family.