TStormer said:
Any film which does not mention religion is atheist.
Atheism is the standard setting and religion is a claim away from it. If it does not say otherwise it is atheist.
I don't think this is what the OP is going for. Plenty of movies don't address theism or spirituality at all, but those that do tend to fall into specific patterns:
1) The basic spiritual approach: Good guys are challenged but ultimately win. Bad guys have their early triumphs but ultimately find their comeuppance. Spiritually correct stratagems (essentially zany schemes dependent on divine providence) are more likely to be successful than pragmatic ones, even though the latter ones have the probabilistic advantage. In short, the screenwriter is a very clear, intervening god.
2) God is real (though often more omnibenevolent than as portrayed in the bible) and intervenes in not-so-mysterious ways (usually overly contrived coincidences) to help the protagonist and thwart the antagonist. Especially if doing so helps the former restore faith in God. The afterlife, if it is portrayed at all, is usually done so in vague, broad strokes. Heaven and Hell each are often implied, though not necessarily as per Christian myth.
3) Movie atheists are either fallen theists who had succumbed to the despair of some tragedy (see
Signs) or are there to be taught to have faith in some ephemeral higher power (as per
Contact, which likely has zombie-Carl Sagan spasming in his tomb), but they seldom are aloud to exist as they are in their own right.
4) The mythological approach: Gods are real as per a given mythology, whether historical (e.g. Hellenistic) or fictional (Lovecraftian). Sometimes the mythology gets hijacked by Christianity, as per Disney's
Hercules and
Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (The
book version of
Percy Jackson was by far truer to the original Olympians.)
5) The horror approach: God is real, but the spiritual realm is far more twisted than is portrayed in the bible. The
Prophecy series seemed to play with this. Anything based on the Lovecraft mythology will fall into this, since the outer gods and their terrible truth are not very nice to behold.
6) Documentaries shouldn't be included since they are going to have a leaning usually on the side of those doing the documentary. They're also non-fiction (bias notwithstanding) meaning they'll portray how things are, not things that tell an effective story.
bificommander said:
The problem with making an 'atheist story' is the same reason why I don't buy into the New Atheist idea that God can be disproven: It is physically impossible....
As a new atheist, I have to question where this idea comes from that we would believe possible or endeavor to prove God's nonexistence.
I will grant that New Atheists believe that information derived from sacred texts should be challenged by society exactly the same way we would challenge any other assertion (news: we in western civilizations usually don't). Also, if someone says a given fact indicates God exists (or more often, that a
specific god exists) that we should challenge such a notion.
But otherwise, no, we're not on any kind of mission to disprove God. More often, we invite people to question sacred texts such as the bible, especially since a) some scientific assertions in the bible (such as geocentricism) are demonstrably false, and b) some moral assertions in the bible (such as institutionalized slavery) are demonstrably inhumane. That's all.
Getting back to the original topic I would note that
Angels and Demons is pleasantly Atheist friendly. The protagonist is an academic and coincidentally atheist and never has to get in touch with his inner faith to progress. The Roman Catholic Church is portrayed both as a source of inspiration and as a political institution. The big heartwarming moment doesn't rely on a miracle, nor does the solution to the problem. It's a fun romp (though also not to be taken too seriously). PS:
Don't read the book, of which the movie was a nicely pragmatic adaptation.
Kingdom of Heaven as
quantumsoul mentioned and
Troy are both period movies (and epics, though the war in Troy is obviously shortened to less than a year). In both, the characters have belief systems appropriate to their eras, though both feature (not entirely appropriate) moments of apostasy (though I can see Achilles openly invite the gods to
bring it and defy them when they don't.) Both are resolved without miracles or even coincidences, and
Troy was intentionally meant to be a naturalistic interpretation of the
Iliad. Gladiator is similar, though it is clear that characters carry a strong (period appropriate) faith and spirituality, though again, nothing is contrived by the heavens.
238U.
