Amy Frykholm's theological film favorites
On the second anniversary of our media column, we asked several of our writers to reflect on their favorite theological films.
Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie, 2007) shows the power of the visual medium to tell a theological story. I not only felt that I knew Lars (Ryan Gosling), but that I knew myself through his fear of the tangles of relationship, his anxiety about the need to be transformed, and his desire to put transformation off as long as possible. I experienced how God can call out to us even when we are doing everything we can do to turn away.
To others, Lars and the Real Girl might be a “black comedy,” as it is categorized on the website IMDb; I found it to be both a theological as well as a personal commentary: my favorite kind of film.
