Conservative Movies

The American Film Renaissance is a group that celebrates conservative themes in movies. According to the president and founder of AFR, "Our voters [choose] films that are not only of high aesthetic quality, but also have redeeming qualities that most Americans identify with."

AFR's website says, "AFR champions films that reflect the principles that made America great, such as free speech, free enterprise, freedom of religion, rugged individualism, and the triumph of the human spirit."

Here is the AFR Top 10 Movies of 2005:

10. King Kong
9. Capote
8. The World's Fastest Indian
7. Batman Begins*
6. Pride and Prejudice
5. Downfall
4. Crash*
3. Walk the Line*
2. The Chronicles of Narnia*
1. Cinderella Man*

The movies with an asterisk are the ones which I've seen. I'll probably see the others in the next month or two.

• Batman Begins was significantly better than I thought it would be. I was stunned that it was so well done (Spider-Man 2 surprised me in the same way).
  
• Crash, which won the Oscar for Best Picture, needs a big WARNING. It's full of objectionable content. It does say some interesting things about racial tensions and people in general, but I don't necessarily recommend it.
• We watched Walk the Line just the other night. I was very impressed, as it was probably the best movie of the year. So why didn't it win the Oscar? The Academy isn't likely to nominate a movie in which the main character becomes a Christian at the end of the movie (Ben Hur is the only one I can think of and that was 45 years ago).
• The Chronicles of Narnia was the big Christian movie of the year. It was fantastic to behold but it pales in comparison to the books – most movies do. I still enjoyed it.
  
• Cinderella Man was an excellent movie with one of the best portrayals of a father since Mel Gibson's Patriot. Like all the best boxing movies, it's not really about boxing.

AFR's documentary of the year was March of the Penguins. I thought it was interesting but it traumatized my kids. Be prepared for starved and frozen penguin babies and sea lions chomping on penguin moms!

The links in this post take you to Focus on the Family's Plugged-In. It's a great magazine and an excellent website if you want to know what your kids might be watching or listening to but you don't have time to preview it yourself. Every parent should have this website bookmarked.