c. 2006 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) Rare is the saint’s biographer who can avoid these words in the first few pages of the book: “His life would make a great movie!” or “Her story was like something out of a Hollywood film!”

So with Nov. 1 _ All Saints Day _ nearly upon us, here is an entirely subjective list of the top 10 films and documentaries about saints and near-saints, listed in order of their release.

The Song of Bernadette (1943)

Based on the novel by Franz Werfel, the movie is unabashedly romantic, starring Jennifer Jones as Bernadette Soubirous, the young girl who has visions of the Virgin Mary in the French town of Lourdes in 1858, and Charles Bickford as her initially doubtful but finally supportive pastor. Some find the score overripe, the dialogue saccharine and the acting hammy (Vincent Price all but devours the French scenery), but the stalwart character of St. Bernadette comes through. The film effectively conveys the saint’s courage in the face of detractors and her refusal to deny her experiences, despite everyone else’s doubts.

Joan of Arc (1948)

Movie buffs still sigh over “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” the 1928 silent film starring Maria Falconetti, but this Technicolor sound version is unmatched for its colorful flair. At 33, Ingrid Bergman was too old to play the 14-year-old girl, and too statuesque to portray the more diminutive visionary, but the movie makes up for those shortcomings with the intensity of Bergman’s performance and the director Victor Fleming’s love of sheer pageantry.

A Man for All Seasons (1966)

It’s hard to go wrong with a screenplay by Robert Bolt (who also wrote “Lawrence of Arabia”), Paul Scofield as Sir Thomas More and Robert Shaw as an increasingly petulant and finally enraged Henry VIII. Here is a portrait of the discerning saint, able both to find nuance in his faith and see when nuance needs to give way to an unambiguous response to injustice. For St. Thomas More, that response led to martyrdom.

Roses in December (1982)

This powerful, but lesser known, movie reminds us why so many believers are gripped with a passion to serve the poor and marginalized. The bare-bones documentary is a moving testament to the witness of three Catholic sisters and a lay volunteer, Jean Donovan, who were killed as a result of their work with the poor in Nicaragua in December 1980.

Merton: A Film Biography (1984)

I’m pretty biased about this documentary about Thomas Merton, the Trappist monk. Almost 20 years ago, seeing this film started me on the road to the priesthood. This low-key introduction to one of the most influential American Catholics is told with still photographs and interviews with those who knew Merton before and after he entered the monastery in 1941. By the end, you’ll want to read his famous autobiography, “The Seven Storey Mountain.” Who knows where that will lead you?

Therese (1986)

A rare example of a story about the contemplative life that finds meaningful expression on screen. Alain Cavalier, a French director, deploys a series of austere vignettes that leads the viewer through the unusual life of St. Therese of Lisieux, from her comfortable 19th-century childhood until her painful death. It doesn’t avoid showing the struggles of years in the Carmelite convent, nor the physical pain that attended her last years. But it also shows the quiet joy that accompanies the contemplative life.

Romero (1989)

One strength of this movie about the martyred archbishop of San Salvador is its depiction of a religious conversion. Archbishop Oscar Romero moves from a bishop willing to kowtow to the wealthy to a man converted _ by the death of friends and the plight of the poor _ into a prophet for the oppressed. Raul Julia invests the archbishop with a fierce love for the people of his archdiocese that manifests itself in his work for social justice.

Blackrobe (1991)

Bruce Beresford’s epic film is not about a particular saint. But it sticks closely to the lives of several 17th-century Jesuit martyrs, including St. Jean de Brebeuf and St. Isaac Jogues, who worked among the Hurons and Iroquois in the New World. Some find this movie unpleasant for its bleak portrayal of the life of the priest as well as for its implicit critique that the missionaries brought only disease and misfortune to Native Americans. But, finally, it paints a picture of a man who strives to bring God to the people that he ends up loving deeply.

St. Anthony: Miracle Worker of Padua (2005)

In Italian with subtitles, this is the first feature-length film about the 12th-century saint best known for helping you find your keys. The movie successfully conveys the saint’s conversion, his entrance into the Franciscan order, the appeal of the simple life and the miraculous deeds reported in his lifetime. (The only drawback is that, if medieval portraits are to be believed, the film’s Anthony looks more like Francis of Assisi than the fellow who plays Francis of Assisi.)

The Saint of 9/11 (2006)

The Rev. Mychal Judge, a beloved New York City fire chaplain, was killed on Sept. 11, 2001, while ministering to firefighters at the World Trade Center. Before that, he was a longtime servant of the poor and the homeless, an early minister to AIDS victims and an experienced pastor at three suburban parishes. This new documentary is a clear-eyed look at the priest’s life, showing how his faith enabled him to deal with his alcoholism and accept his homosexuality, reminding us that sanctity makes its home in humanity, in every age.

KRE/JL END MARTIN

(James Martin is a Jesuit priest and author of the recently published book, “My Life With the Saints.” He lives in New York.)

Editors: To obtain a photo of James Martin or scenes from “Romero” and “A Man for All Seasons,” go to the RNS Web site at https://religionnews.com. On the lower right, click on “photos,” then search by subject or slug.