(ANALYSIS) Here we are, doing a top ten list of faith-based films for 2024. It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years since “The Passion of The Christ” helped launch the modern era of faith-based films. Since then, such movies have gone from a mostly-mocked niche genre to one that has entered the mainstream. 

A lot has changed. After nearly two decades of the industry being a wild west of Hollywood and independent filmmakers trying to establish themselves as the power players in this market, now, the industry has settled into some stable voices and companies. Kingdom Story Company (partnered with Lionsgate), Angel Studios with “The Chosen” (until recently following a split) and their regular output of films like “Sound of Freedom.” These players have established a minimum level of quality unheard of in the early days of the industry. 

Meanwhile, in Hollywood, there’s a lot more respect — and a better understanding — of religion and religious themes. This means that even when a faith-based movie (which I define as “any film which affirms religious faith as one of its primary features”) comes out of Hollywood, it’s far more likely to get faith right and be a worthy entry into the canon of films that articulates the religious experience and worldview well. Even if this definition disqualifies really good films that portray faith, but don’t “affirm” it like “Exhibiting Forgiveness.”

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That means it’s now possible to do a top ten list where many films within the faith-based space are genuinely worthy of viewing.  

Of course, it’s not all good. Hollywood still has trouble understanding faith. And the faith film industry, while they’ve gotten a lot better, still has a long way to go. While they’ve reached a certain minimum standard of quality, they still hold onto a lot of their typical flaws, including preachiness and sometimes distorting truth in order to deliver a messages. There are also often too many voiceovers to tell you what to think and feel.

That means, for example, that in 2023 we had more faith-based studios with major releases than ever before: “Sound of Freedom,” “The Shift,” “Jesus Revolution,” “The Hill,” “Nefarious” and “Journey to Bethlehem”). Only one (“On a Wing and a Prayer”) made it into my top five last year. It also means that this year, most of these faith-based films — ones made by Hollywood as well — had notable flaws. In fact, the list also served aa an autopsy of how such movies can continue to grow and improve. 

This year is no different. While many high-profile faith-based films came out this year, many expected ones won’t make it onto my list. You won’t see, for example, “Bonhoeffer,” “Cabrini,” “The Forge” or “Unsung Hero” on this list. Those who’ve read my reviews of these films will understand why.

I have found it really encouraging to make lists like this one at the end of a busy year. Faith is an important part of life for the majority of people on this planet, Movies are one of the most universal art forms. It matters what we watch and experience as a society. Therefore, here are the movies that made my list this year:

10. ‘Hellboy: The Crooked Man’

Adapted from the classic graphic novel, and co-written by the novel’s creator, “Hellboy: The Crooked Man” tells the story of the titular Hellboy — the son of Satan and a witch — who works with the U.S. government to stop monsters and demons. On a mission to deliver a monster to the authorities, Hellboy and a rookie agent get lost in the woods and have to face off against Satan’s minions who haunt a small, secluded village.

Easily the biggest surprise on this list, “Hellboy” works by staying lean and mean and knowing exactly what it is. It’s a supernatural crime procedural story about a man born a monster who wants to be a hero, and fights bad guys to do it. It falls into the faith category because it takes the Christian worldview for granted: God is real, Satan is real, he wants to tempt humankind to sin, we have to resist, and God, the church and Jesus are real people who help us if we turn to them. Heck, if they hadn’t had one of the heroes use witchcraft to beat the bad guys, this would almost unironically qualify as a full-on Christian film. 

9. ‘Ordinary Angels’

“Ordinary Angels” is a heartwarming story about a struggling single father and his friendship with an equally struggling single mother whose unlikely friendship and faith help them and their town pull together to save his family. It stars Hillary Swank (from “Million Dollar Baby” fame) and Alan Ritchson (“Reacher”) and is produced by Kingdom Story Company in partnership with Lionsgate.

This film is a real positive example of how faith-based films have improved over the past 20 years. This film hits most of the high notes you would want from a Christian inspirational family drama without most of the problems. The acting is solid. The story is heartwarming. The dialogue isn’t preachy. And the message is positive. 

Of course, many of the genre’s weaknesses — such as paint-by-numbers dialogue, montaging through scenes of struggle and wanting to have it both ways with dark topics in family-friendly packaging — remain. Even so, this movie is a sign of how the people at Kingdom Story Company have elevated the standard of the industry.

8. ‘Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film’

“Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film” is the second feature film by the Deaf Missions, a Christian ministry founded in 1970 that seeks to spread the gospel, and the second by its director Joseph Josselyn. The film tells the story of the life of Jesus, from his calling of his disciples to the resurrection and the Apostles’ proclamation. 

Whenever I see a movie that takes such a big swing with something new, and lands it, I have to give it a shoutout. The idea of doing a movie about Jesus — all done in American sign language — is such an innovative one and expands the faith-based genre to an audience so often ignored or unreached. The movie takes the idea seriously and takes care that the film also be artistically compelling as well. They focus on close-ups to create intimacy with the characters versus wides so they can express themselves with sign language. Moments like Jesus trying to speak on the cross while his hands are tied are used to evoke pain in a unique way because he can no longer express himself through his hands. 

The movie gets a bit more generic in its narrative and film language as it goes on, and sometimes comes off as a bit less polished than it should. But the film is still an impressive achievement that more than deserves its spot on any top ten list of this year’s faith films.

7. ‘The Deliverance’ 

Based on supposed true events, director Lee Daniels's “The Deliverance” tells the story of a single mother living with her mother and kids who must deal with their own inner demons while dealing with potential actual demons. Fending off accusations that she’s an unfit parent, a single mother must seek out help from a pastor experienced in deliverance when her son appears to be possessed. 

The film does a great job of nailing everything that you want from an exorcism movie — a really dark family drama with well-developed dysfunctional characters whose inner sin becomes manifest through demonic entities. The movie hits all those in a satisfying way without stumbling, which is surprisingly rare. It also evolves the genre beyond Catholic exorcists to have Pentecostal exorcists and exorcism language.

If the film had developed more of its unique elements from the rest of the genre to carve out more of its own identity, it could have been a genuine must-see. As it is, once the demons arrive, the movie loses steam and feels like it’s just going through the motions. But the rest of the movie’s strengths earn its spot on this list.

6. ‘Monkey Man’

Dev Patel directs and stars in a high-octane action movie about a young man out for revenge against someone who killed his mother and their village. Along the way, he’ll have to seek spiritual enlightenment and topple an entire political party.

“Monkey Man” achieves a rare feat of combining the faith-based and John Wick-style action movie genres. These work surprisingly well, with the heroes god furnishing him with a religious role model and the faith being a place to refresh him and change his attitude when he’s hurt, setting himself up to come back stronger next time.

The action works also for the most part — although sometimes it’s shot in ways that make the action hard to see, reminding us why we left the era of “Bourne” movie shaky-cam action behind.

And sometimes the movie’s silly elements clash with the very serious (if ham-fisted) political commentary it seems to want to do. But I’ve come around to enjoying it as a silly action film that combines faith with its genre tropes.

5. ‘Conclave’

“Conclave” boasts an all-star cast that includes Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow, while directed by Oscar-winning director Edward Berger (“All’s Quiet on the Western Front”). It follows a cardinal (played by Fiennes) who must run the conclave to elect a new pope after the old one suddenly dies. As he does, he discovers layers of scandal and intrigue that force him to stand for his beliefs in ways he didn’t expect. 

Many will be surprised at this placement on the list. Some will think it’s so low; others that it’s on here at all (particularly given a certain twist at the end). “Conclave” earns its exact spot on the list though from the sheer aesthetic brilliance with which it captures the sacredness of religious ritual and belief, and the tension that exists for those who live in the shadow of the church between the holy and the ordinariness of life (something as a preacher’s kid, I know all too well. Likewise, it asks difficult questions about faith and doubt head-on, which is always gratifying.

Unfortunately, it undermines many of its own themes in ways that are difficult to overlook. It makes a big point about the importance of doubt. “There is one sin which I have come to fear above all others. Certainty,” Fiennes says. “If there was only certainty and no doubt, there would be no mystery, and therefore no need for faith.” And yet, the movie itself never doubts its politics, which make up the majority of the ideological conflict rather than religion per se.

Those who don’t tow the liberal line on homosexuality, Muslim immigration and women’s ordination. They are demonized and never considered. This means the protagonists never really have to wrestle with doubt about their convictions on the main conflicts the movie focuses on. Which causes its themes to feel far more vapid and hypocritical than satisfying.

4. ‘Sound of Hope’

“Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot” follows a pastor and his wife who lead their congregation in adopting every foster child in their area, as costly as it sometimes is. Based on a true story, the film features executive producer (and actress) Letitia Wright (“Black Panther”) and distributed by Angel Studios and The Daily Wire. 

The film sets a new standard for Christian dramas by making the story first and foremost about the people involved. The pastor and his wife are three-dimensional characters, and we watch them love, laugh and struggle through the process of raising and loving very difficult children.

Struggle is a key word here. While many faith films skip over the struggle to get to the successes, this movie lives in the hard parts. If it weren’t for an ever-present distracting voiceover spoon feeding you what you were supposed to feel, this movie would be even higher.

3. ‘The Best Christmas Pageant Ever’  

Based on the classic 1972 children’s book directed by “The Chosen” showrunner Dallas Jenkins, produced by Kingdom Story Company and starring Judy Greer and Pete Holmes, this movie is brimming with star power on both sides of the camera. “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” tells the story of “the worst kids in the world” who force their way into the local church’s annual Christmas pageant, much to the horror of their classmate Beth Bradley and her mom Grace. And yet, by welcoming the Herdmans, the whole town might learn the true meaning of Christmas again.

The film is easily one of the best movies to come out of the faith-based industry in two decades and one of the best Christmas movies in the same time period. It has everything you want from both genres: It’s heartwarming, funny, a good Christian and features a Christmas message. And yet it elevates itself from typical fare with a really wickedly wholesome sense of humor and commitment to quality. The characters are well developed and real, the jokes mostly land and the heartfelt moments feel sincere and not forced. The family in this film reminds me very much of mine growing up. The expressions of faith come across as natural expressions of real believers wrestling with how to integrate their faith into their lives.

Unfortunately, even here some typical genre weaknesses hold the movie back. The voiceover — which is far better than most because of how it's used for humor — is still often used as a crutch to tell us what to feel in many scenes. Also, they muddle their message by assuring us both that the Herdmans are bullies who force their way into the pageant by threatening to hurt the other kids. Without these weaknesses, the movie would be a lot higher on this list (and it’s already at No. 3!) and would have been a nearly perfect film.

2. ‘The Book of Clarence’ 

Director Jeymes Samuel (“Harder They Fall”) brings together an all-star cast of LaKeith Stanfeild, James McAvoy, RJ Cycler and more for this dramedy mashup of “Life of Brian” and “Ben Hur.” When two ne'er-do-wells find themselves owing a powerful gangster a lot of money, one of them sees the influence of Jesus and tries to pass himself off as his own Messiah to get the money to pay off his debts (and become worthy of the girl of his dreams). But things go south when the Romans start to take his claims seriously.

“Life of Brian” meets “Ben Hur” by way of “Elmer Gantry” is really the best way to describe this movie. The film has a fairly familiar story (well-meaning louse lies his way into achieving his potential, sinner finds his way to believing in Jesus), but tells it with Samuel’s respect for genre and style. The camera, editing, acting and dialogue have dynamic energy that riding over this terrain again is a lot of fun. The film isn’t shy about showing (mostly tastefully) the seedy underbelly of a people trapped in cycles of poverty and crime.

And yet, it’s equally sincere and unapologetic about Jesus being who the Bible claims He is, and how accepting and following Him are how you get out of that life. In this way, it’s better than most faith-based movies at being a “I once was lost but now I’m found” story.

1. ‘Wildcat’

Ethan Hawke directs his daughter Maya Hawke as the famous Gothic Catholic writer Flannery O’Conner in “Wildcat.” The film follows O’Conner as she is forced by a debilitating illness to return home even as she wants nothing more than to be a great writer — which she fears she will never be. She wrestles with God in her imagination as she takes her life experiences and turns them into stories in her mind with real life people acting out the characters.

“Wildcat” probably does the best job I’ve seen at exploring the inner thoughts and imagination of a deeply religious, creative and intellectual person. The film grants us access to O’Conner’s inner world in multiple layers: What she says to others, what her inner monologue says and what her imagination makes of it. The storytellers show how these all compliment, contradict, and play off each other in ways that are both beautiful and sometimes painful. O’Conner is portrayed as most believers are, someone who loves God and loves her work, but finds her relationships with both painful and isn’t sure how to reconcile them. Because of this, the climax of the film is not her coming to believe in God, but to grow into a closer relationship with God that reconciles her to herself.

What particularly sets this film apart are the ways it uses the multiple art forms of the film medium to share her inner and outer world. It uses shallow focus to show distance between her and others. It uses editing to cut between her imaginative world and her real one to show the parallels and contradictions between them. It places crosses and religious imagery in places where she feels most herself. This shows us the context in which she’s wrestling with these problems and ideas.

The secret may be that neither Ethan Hawke or his daughter are practicing Christians. They are, instead, artists who were deeply compelled by O’Connor, and so did their best to simply portray her faithfully. The result is a work that is not trying to proselytize to anyone or sell Christianity. It’s a film that is simply trying to share what they found beautiful about a person and how she saw the world. The result is one of the best portrayals of a Christian (and religious) intellectual imagination I’ve seen in quite some time.

Joseph Holmes is an award-nominated filmmaker and culture critic living in New York City. He is co-host of the podcast “The Overthinkers” and its companion website theoverthinkersjournal.world, where he discusses art, culture and faith with his fellow overthinkers. His other work and contact info can be found at his website josephholmesstudios.com.