Spring is in the air, and the stores are full of the gimmicky Easter candy and toys that we have come to love. While many of us are making plans to visit with family or stock up on peeps and jelly beans, some prepare for Easter spiritually as well. Lent is a time of fasting, prayer, almsgiving, repentance, and preparation for those who practice it. Whether you are devoted to the practice, or just curious to understand it a little better, there is something each of us can learn about sacrifice and devotion.
While some of the best Easter movies are religious in nature, the themes of sacrifice, fasting, and resisting temptation are prominent throughout a wide array of films. Here are some movies about giving things up and making sacrifices to watch during Lent, in preparation for Easter.
8 Everything Must Go
It doesn't take too long for a story about sacrifice to become dark and heavy. Everything Must Go manages to remain more heart-warming than heart-wrenching, even though it is not as funny as most Will Ferrell films; like Stranger Than Fiction, it finds the comedian who became a great actor taking on a more dramatic role. The film centers on a salesman who loses his job and his wife. As his life falls apart and he begins drinking heavily, he holds a massive garage sale to sell and give up just about everything he owns.
7 Walk The Line
Walk the Line, about the music icon Johnny Cash, is full of toe-tapping music and heart-wrenching drama. The story takes viewers from Cash's childhood up to his stardom and fallout. It shows his struggle with substance abuse, and how his family helped him to overcome it. Cash's ability to quit addictive substances cold-turkey is an inspiration to anyone struggling with an addiction or giving something else up for lent.
6 Last Days in the Desert
Last Days in the Desert received mixed reviews for its controversial religious content and painfully slow pace, but for anyone looking for a new and hypnotically meditative take on an ancient story, this film Is definitely worth a watch. Ewan McGregor plays Jesus Christ as he ponders and prays for 40 days in the dessert. Along the way He is met by Satan (also played by McGregor) who tempts and tries Christ, and attempts to make a wager with Him about improving a desert family's life.
This story portrays Christ as an everyday person more than as a religious figure. His battle with Satan is just as much a battle with himself. Last Days in the Desert is a story about putting off temptation and overcoming natural weaknesses in favor of spiritual growth, very similar to the purposes of lent.
5 Silence
Silence, starring Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, and Liam Neeson, tells the story of two missionaries who go to Japan in search of their mentor. The two have a crisis of faith as they face religious persecution from Japanese rulers. Father Rodrigues (Garfield) questions if he should allow for his Christian followers to suffer or denounce his own religion, giving up and sacrificing his own faith in order to save others. One of the best Martin Scorsese films of recent years, this story of early Christian missionaries and both their external and internal struggle will captivate audiences regardless of their religious background.
4 Chocolat
Chocolat shows a less successful attempt at fasting and a less-favorable look at some religious leaders. However, the film is still a fun watch for its romance, humor, and drama, with great chemistry between Johnny Depp and Juliette Binoche. Vienne and her daughter move to a new town and start a chocolate shop. Unfortunately, they open the shop just as Lent begins, and the late 1950s town is stubbornly steeped in old traditions. A battle ensues between the town's religious leader encouraging fasting among church-goers and the new chocolatier.
3 Dune
This science fiction movie Dune is full of all kinds of political intrigue, creative world building, and even fantasy elements. In a political maneuver to put a target on the family's back, The Emperor sends Duke Leto Atreides (in one of the best Oscar Isaac movie roles) and his household to the barren planet of Arakis. The Royal household bands together to protect themselves from numerous political, physical, and environmental attacks. Dune won six Academy Awards in 2022 for its excellence in categories like cinematography and sound.
Although few of the characters choose to give up wealth or power, the lack of water on Arakis results in a culture embedded with ideas of sacrifice. The characters wear special clothing to trap in moisture, and must make sacrificial choices based on the limited resource. Although the struggle for water is not as focussed on in the new movie as in the book, those fasting for Lent will have a new appreciation for one of Dune's less prominent themes.
2 Gandhi
Ghandi, the 1980s film starring an Oscar-winning Ben Kingsley, depicts the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. The movie walks through the man's most notable accomplishments including creating equal rights for Indians in South Africa, getting India independence from the British Empire, and the salt march. The Best Picture Oscar winner is an epic, moving biopic through both the darkest and brightest moments of liberation history.
After India gains its independence, local religious groups erupt into civil unrest. Gandhi, who is greatly troubled and disappointed by the country's sudden violence, says he will fast until the conflict stops. Eventually the conflict did die down, but not until 21 days after the leader started fasting. Even though this movie is not about Catholicism, anyone can learn more about sacrifice and religious devotion from Gandhi's example, and see how Lenten practices can unite the world's religions.
1 The Lord of the Rings
J.R.R. Tolkien incorporated all kinds of larger than life themes into his writing that make Lord of the Rings applicable to almost any situation, even (and especially, considering the prominent Christian allegories) Lent. This is a high-fantasy series set in middle earth, where all kinds of magical creatures exist, both good and evil. The Lord of the Rings follows a diverse group of heroic creatures as they set out to destroy the magical but evil ring of power.
As each member of the group embarks on this journey, they have their own struggles with the ring (or with power symbolically). The ring and its absolute power corrupts everyone around it. The strongest characters are the ones who manage to turn away from the ring, distance themselves from its influence, and choose to give up power. The films feature noble sacrifices from many of its characters, who must let go of big things in order to help others. Anyone giving something up for Lent will have new appreciation for the moral character of the heroes in this film.