Friday June 8
7:30 p.m.
Lounge
Faith and Film’s summer season debuts with a decidedly different take on spirituality in cinema. A classic movie in the film noir style, “Out of the Past” (1947) stars Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming in the story of Jeff Bailey struggling to maintain a normal existence until he becomes enmeshed in his past.
Film noir (French for “black film”) is a genre of Hollywood crime drama of the post World War II era. Its stark visual style expressed a moral ambiguity and (perhaps) nihilism that lurked under the surface of an American culture that had returned to routine life following the trauma of war and the Holocaust. While noir is certainly not a religious outlook, the genre provides a philosophical look at the limits of the human condition. An article on “The Moral Universe of Film Noir” will be available on the Faith and Film bulletin board and in the office—reading this in advance will heighten your experience. We will discuss how Christian ethics relate to the ethics of film noir life.
Go out for dinner and come to church for dessert and a fascinating experience in American film noir cinema.