Christian Reflections on Best Picture Winners

I love the Oscars. In fact, I remember when I first learned about the Academy Awards.

As a (definitely too young) middle schooler, I watched the edited-for-television version of 2000’s Gladiator and it mesmerized me. The performances were captivating, the costumes stunning, the sets beautifully crafted, and the cinematography (a term I proudly learned) gripping and gritty. I was thrilled to hear that my favorite movie had received a bunch of awards at an event dedicated to celebrating the best movies of the year, the Oscars: Best Picture, Actor (Russell Crowe), Visual Effects, Sound, and Costume Design.

After that, I became a full-on cinephile. I loved talking movies, from why lighting is so important to the difference between sound editing and sound mixing. I started hosting elaborate Oscar parties, naming foods after different films, and creating photo booths for my guests to take photos “with” their favorite celebrities. I love everything about awards season, from the glitz and glam of the red carpet to speculating for weeks in advance about who will take home the biggest prizes.

For me and many others, the Oscars are special because they celebrate the very best in film achievement. Movies reflect our human nature, society, and the things that are important to us. Through movies, I’m able to see my own story and also learn through different perspectives and (literal) lenses. While prizes are given to the “winners,” there are no real losers at the Oscars—all the movies recognized get time in the spotlight and offer the general public new experiences through film.

At Think Christian, we’ve published a number of articles on past Oscar Best Picture winners, thoughtfully considering how we see our Christian faith reflected in these films.

Oppenheimer and Our Appetite for Destruction (2023), by D. Marquel

While it’s easy to see sweeping destruction as the epitome of power, this view overlooks a broader message about showing strength, especially from a biblical perspective. Christopher Nolan’s atomic biopic argues that mercy is its own form of power.

Faith and FOMO in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), by Zachary Lee

Maybe our “best life” isn’t the version in which we have it all, but the one where we live as those who have been loved. Everything Everywhere All at Once offers a realization of what is lost when we gain the whole world in exchange for our soul.

Exiled from Empire in Nomadland (2020), by Joel Mayward

Nomandland is both a critique of American ideologies and a celebration of God’s created order. Director Chloe Zhao creates an aesthetic that awakens us to the dignified beauty of ordinary people and places.

The Parable of Parasite (2019), by Joe George

Who is “the least of these?” In the slippery Best Picture winner, the answer is complicated. Parasite is a movie about economic position and literal positions—specifically the vertical spaces in which the characters live and move.

Moonlight: What it Looks Like to be Bathed in God’s Grace (2016), by Josh Larsen

Cinematography is theology in Moonlight, which reflects God’s beneficence above all else.

Birdman (or, the unexpected virtue of the Academy Awards) (2014), by Josh Larsen

Birdman is about the artistic ego–and how pride goes before the fall. In his Oscar acceptance speech, director Alejandro González Iñárritu spoke about ego in terms similar to those used by C.S. Lewis.

_______________

At Think Christian, we encourage careful cultural discernment. We recognize and respect that many Christians choose not to engage with pop culture that contains particular content, such as abuse, sex, violence, alcohol or drug use, or that employs the use of coarse language. To that end, we suggest visiting Common Sense Media for detailed information regarding the content of the particular pieces of pop culture discussed in this article.