With a very loose definition of the word “spiritual,” BeliefNet has posted its annual film awards, with WALL-E taking the Judges’ Award and Gran Torino the People’s Choice Award as the year’s “Best Spiritual Film.”
Like I said, loose definition. And I was even one of the judges – though I’ve always told our friends at BeliefNet that I thought their definition of “spiritual” needed refining. (For the record, I voted Doubt as the year’s most spiritual film, having to choose from their short list of nominees – Wall-E, Gran Torino, Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight, and Doubt.)
Richard Jenkins in The Visitor won the Best Spiritual Performance (the people went with Queen Latifah in The Secret Life of Bees, and so did I), and Lord Save Us From Your Followers swept the Best Spiritual Documentary awards. (Inexplicably, Pray the Devil Back to Hell wasn’t one of the nominees.)
