The heart of faith...

...Not so pious Pi

While it is not accurate to say, as Lee suggested, that the question of faith rarely occurs in cinema today, what is increasingly rare is doctrinal specificity. With international mega productions ever more prevalent, might we expect a rise in non-denominational narratives of faith? Will this be accompanied by a consequent downturn in films worth serious consideration that address themselves to a specific, parochial doctrine, as opposed to those which, like Life of Pi, deal with “spirituality” in its broadest, catchall form? Such a development would be a triumph for the vaunted “one world” universality — but we must not forget that true universality is often best arrived at through the specific and local.