ABSTRACT
In the early 1990s, at least two films were produced that treated the Christian religion and those who practice it with reasonable respect, though neither motion picture made the top ten for the year in which it was shown. Black Robe, a film about Jesuit missionaries to the Indians in what is now Canada treats a Jesuit priest, one of the major characters in the film, as a person of sincere humility and deep belief. Shadowlands, a fictional biography film about C. S. Lewis, treats the British author and his Christian beliefs seriously, though he is portrayed as something of a maverick and the Christian message he delivers periodically to audiences of middle-aged women is presented as thin and contrived. Moviemakers have transformed customary religious storytelling in several important ways. A distinct variant of the supernatural films has drawn from the science fiction genre, focusing on the existence of supernatural powers in outer space.
