Reviews
Gareth Higgins’ top 100 films of the magazine’s lifetime (1977-2015)
Gareth Higgins
Third Way has been around since 1977, and the movies were born
in 1895, which means our lovely magazine has lived through about a
third of the history of cinema. We're still trying to figure out
the possibilities and power of this extraordinary medium, light
dancing on a silver screen (or an HD one at home), people
pretending to be other people, movement and sound interweaving with
the dreams of a thousand artists and craftspeople praying that what
results will surpass what has gone before.
An architect friend said to me recently that he feels the
purpose of his craft is 'to help people live better,' and with
those few words, I think he describes the perfect lens for
experiencing any art form. A great film - or painting, or book, or
piece of music - comes into being when the highest craft and most
humane content meet. (By the way, 'humane' doesn't mean 'easy' or
'light' the portrayal of violence in The Godfather is humane,
because it is felt; the violence in Transformers is ugly and
nihilistic; the violence in a Tarantino film sometimes seems to be
both felt and pointless.) Movies matter, partly because the stories
we tell shape, and re-shape, and are shaped by our lives. As we say
farewell to Third Way, where I've been privileged to share my
thoughts on cinema for over a decade, here are my choices for the
100 greatest films - those where creativity and humanity kissed
each other - of the magazine's lifetime.
1977: The Duellists
Ridley Scott's first feature remains his best, a painterly
masterpiece about the relationship between misguided notions of
honour and pride, and the cycle of violence.
1978: Days of Heaven
Terrence Malick's portrayal of Depression era brokenness is the
great poetic symphony of 1970s cinema.
1979: Being There
Peter Sellers reimagines the Christ figure as Chance the gardener,
childlikeness wiser than politics.
1980: Heaven's Gate
The myth of the American West retold as a story of plunder and
dehumanisation, driven by greed.
1981: Das Boot
A war story told from the perspective of the 'bad guys', inspiring
empathy for the enemy.
1982: Tootsie
A comedy with brains, in which a man temporarily gives up his
privilege, and grows up.
1983: Fanny and Alexander
Ingmar Bergman's enormous portrait of family and religious life,
in light and shadow.
1984: Paris, Texas
A man appears out of nowhere, trying to make amends for his past;
such pain and hope has never been more honestly
portrayed.
1985: Shoah
The unparalleled Holocaust documentary; cinema as testament,
warning, and epic act of humanity.
1986: Jean de Florette & Manon des
Sources
Shakespearian tragedy as an invitation to notice the humanity of
people we dislike.
1987: Babette's Feast
A film about finding home at a shared table.
1988: The Last Temptation of Christ
Jesus as more fully human - and therefore more follow-able - than
any previous cinematic interpretation.
1989: Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee's confrontation of racial tension, hope for a
multicultural future, and questioning of how to get
there.
1990: The Decalogue
Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski's series on the Ten
Commandments is not only an icon for deepening our sense of the
world, but was instrumental in the abolition of death penalty in
his home country.
1991: The Fisher King
The loveliest realistic fantasy of people healing their trauma by
being themselves in community.
1992: Unforgiven
The beginnings of an apology for how movies often make vengeance
seem like fun.
1993: Groundhog Day
The great comedy of personal transformation.
1994: The Hudsucker Proxy
A magical play on the triumph of good over evil, through taking
one simple step at a time.
1995: Smoke
Community made safe through truthful storytelling.
1996: Lone Star
Stories made safe through truthful community.
1997: Life is Beautiful
A child made safe through a lie more holy than the truth.
1998: After Life
Hirokazu Koreeda's magnificent fantasy of how to make a life: find
a memory that inspires gratitude, and live within it.
1999: Magnolia
An urban fog into which erupts the sacred.
2000: Amores Perros
We're all in this together, we all have regret, and every day the
story - of love or pain - is beginning for someone else.
2001: AI: Artificial Intelligence
Spielberg's film of Stanley Kubrick's dream project is unjustly
criticized - it's an astonishing warning about what happens when we
surrender our hearts to money and machines.
2002: September 11
Eleven short films reflecting on national trauma from international
perspectives; Sean Penn's New York-set contribution is a profound
lament.
2003: Angels in America
Made for television, but operatic in scale, a film about AIDs and
prejudice that illuminates religion, memorializes suffering, and
offers healing.
2004: The Village
As if Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut collaborated with Carl Jung to
write a story about how not to respond to threats, both real and
imagined.
2005: Into Great Silence
Cinema as an icon for meditation.
2006: The Fountain
An awe-inspiring science fiction of the heart, revealing the waste
of life in fearing death.
2007: The Visitor
A deceptively gentle drama, concealing righteous anger at
injustice.
2008: Wall-E
A cartoon for everyone, with tears of joy and a prophetic vision of
environmental stewardship.
2009: Where the Wild Things Are
How to befriend the monsters in your mind; an invitation to enjoy
the journey toward accepting every part of ourselves.
2010: Shutter Island
How not to befriend the monsters in your mind; a cry for sanity in
the post-9/11 era.
2011: A Separation
A story about an Iranian divorce that both opens up an often
demonized culture, and asks us to love before we demand to
understand.
2012: Stories We Tell
You may think that tragedy rules, but you can't outrun the mask of
comedy.
2013: 12 Years a Slave
A story that had not yet been so starkly told, a work of art that
mandates attention and action.
2014: Selma
The most honest biopic ever, because it portrays a heroic figure as
a real human being, whose actions can then be emulated rather than
merely admired.
2015: Shaun the Sheep Movie
Overflowing with joy, and welcome for anyone who feels
marginalized, it embodies the holy notion that the best criticism
of the bad is the practice of the better.
Runners Up: Close Encounters of the Third Kind;
Thelma & Louise; Apocalypse Now; Fearless; All That Jazz;
Schindler's List; The Assassin; Short Cuts; Inside Out; Three
Colors Trilogy; Spotlight; Babe: Pig in the City; Love & Mercy;
Limbo; Listen to Me Marlon; The Hurt Locker; Love is Strange; The
Thin Red Line; Calvary; Yi-Yi; The Muppet Movie; The Secret Life of
Words; Tess; In the Mood for Love; The Elephant Man; Hulk; The
Black Stallion; The Royal Tenenbaums; The Verdict; Revanche;
Koyaanisqatsi; Monsoon Wedding; Once Upon a Time in America;
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind; The Killing Fields;
Sideways; Hannah & Her Sisters; Downfall; Wings of Desire;
Stranger than Fiction; Rain Man; Letters from Iwo Jima; Crimes and
Misdemeanor; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert
Ford; Field of Dreams; The Act of Killing; Secrets and Lies; Holy
Motors; The Apostle; Cloud Atlas; Inception; The Great Beauty;
Quick Change; Hugo; The Guard; The Tree of Life; Brokeback
Mountain; Munich; The New World; A Serious Man; Cach.;
Your choice here! That's my hope for all criticism, and why it's
been such a pleasure to write for Third Way. Thank you for
reading.
Gareth Higgins is the author of Cinematic States; he is the
founder of the community making peace through story and image
atmoviesandmeaning.com