Best movies like Francis of Assisi

Don Giorgio, a handsome young priest and teacher in a convent, is involved with two lovers: Orchidea and Giulia. When he repents and vows to return to the Church, he is savagely beaten to death. Not long after, Giulia has her throat slashed. Inspector Boito falls in love with and prepared to marry Orchidea, who is also the main suspect. The key to solving the case seems to lie with an inquisitive boy called Ferruccio, who is kept locked up and drugged. He witnessed one of the murders, but will anyone believe his story?

A young British photography student travelling in France meets up with a free thinking, working-class French man, a dramatic change of pace from her staid British boyfriend. (TCM)

Renato, a depressed man with a troubled past, thinks his luck has finally changed when he meets the wonderful Monica. Unfortunately, Monica currently occupies a home she believes is haunted by the malicious spirit of her dead grandfather. This psychological horror / drama was a flop in theaters and, to date, has only been issued a single time on a home viewing format (a VHS release in Italy).

Joan of Arc is being burned alive for heresy. In a kind of dream state, she departs from her body and begins to look back upon her life. She begins this journey in a depressed and demoralized state. However, a priest appears to help guide her. First, he shows her those that accused her in the guise of animal characters, in order to show her their true nature. Then, he shows her the good that she has performed for people. In the end, she is proud of what she has done and is ready to face the flames.

Journey into Self is a 1968 documentary film introduced by Stanley Kramer, and produced and directed by Bill McGaw. The film portrays a 16-hour group-therapy session for eight well-adjusted people who had never met before. The session was led by psychologists Carl Rogers and Richard Farson. The participants included a cashier, a theology student, a teacher, a principal, a housewife, and three businessmen. It won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1968.

In his delirium from his return from war, Francesco Bernardone goes back in his memories to the days when he lived for parties and carnal pleasures. He slowly recovers, but after the illness he is no longer the Francesco that everybody knew. Instead of spending hours in taverns, he meditates on the beauty of God's creatures, soon renouncing his riches and his family with plans to rebuild an abandoned church and his life.

On the streets of a damp metropolis lie the corpses of hundreds and hundreds of boys and girls. No one can give them a resting place because of a law enacted by a repressive State. But the young Antigone, with the help of a foreigner, Tiresias, violates this rule in the name of pietas, undermining the established order.

This biblical drama from the Catholic Marxist director focuses on the teachings of Jesus, including the parables that reflect their revolutionary nature. As Jesus travels along the coast of the Sea of Galilee, he gradually gathers more followers, leading him into direct conflict with the authorities.

In a series of simple and joyous vignettes, director Roberto Rossellini and co-writer Federico Fellini lovingly convey the universal teachings of the People’s Saint: humility, compassion, faith, and sacrifice. Gorgeously photographed to evoke the medieval paintings of Saint Francis’s time, and cast with monks from the Nocera Inferiore Monastery, The Flowers of St. Francis is a timeless and moving portrait of the search for spiritual enlightenment.

Mary and her friend, Rachel, are new students at St. Francis Academy, a boarding school run by the iron fist of Mother Superior. The immature teens grow bored and begin playing pranks on both the unsuspecting nuns and their unpleasant classmates, becoming a constant thorn in Mother Superior's side. However, as the years pass, Mary and Rachel slowly mature and begin to see the nuns in a different light.

This feature film is a portrait of John Grierson, the first Canadian Government Film Commissioner and founder of the National Film Board in 1939. Interweaving archival footage, interviews with people who knew him and footage of Grierson himself, this film is a sensitive and informative portrait of a dynamic man of vision. Grierson believed that the filmmaker had a social responsibility, and that film could help a society realize democratic ideals. His absolute faith in the value of capturing the drama of everyday life was to influence generations of filmmakers all over the world. In fact, he coined the term "documentary film."

A man and his son take an allegorical stroll through life with a talking bird that spouts social and political philosophy.

An eccentric family is re-united during the 1968 general strike in France, after the death of the grandmother.

All eyes focus on the Vatican, watching for the traditional puffs of white smoke that signal the election of the next Pope. This time much more is at stake. The new pontiff may be the only person who can bring peace to a world on the brink of nuclear nightmare.

The film consists of six short stories created by different directors, but all the stories share one thing: a warm irony to current events.

"The Work and The Glory: American Zion" sets the story of the fictional Steed family against the historically factual backdrop of the Mormon people's move into the West. Divided by their diverse reactions to a nascent ideology, the Steeds struggle to hold together as the strength of their convictions and their filial bonds are tested. The stirring narrative of the faith that led a persecuted people to Missouri and beyond is one of the most poignant untold tales of American history. It is the account of a valiant struggle to exercise the rights promised by a fledgling nation. "The Work and the Glory: American Zion" unearths the story of the passion behind the movement which eventually launched the largest American migration and the colonization of the West: the vision of a promised land in America.

This film sheds light on the role of the Catholic Church and the people of Assisi in rescuing Italian Jews from the Nazis in 1943.

Fabrizio finds refuge from thugs in a convent, and passion in the arms of Lucrezia Borgia.

In 13th century Italy, Francis Bernardone, the son of an Assisi merchant, renounces a promising army career in favor of a monastic life and starts his own religious order, sanctioned by the Pope.

Rasputin, a crazed and debauched monk wreaks havoc at the local inn one night, chopping off the hand of one of the drinkers. As the bitter locals plan their revenge, the evil Rasputin works his satanic power over the beautiful women who serve at the Tsar's palace. Even the Tsarina herself is seduced by his evil ways and, as his influence begins to dominate government policy, there is only one course of action left... to destroy him before he destroys them all.

An expressionist biography of Edith Stein, who converted from the Jewish faith to the Catholic one and became a Carmelite sister. She would die in a German concentration camp.

"Marx can wait" was something Camillo Bellocchio said to his twin Marco the last time they met before the former died at a young age in the heated days of 1968. This documentary is dedicated to his memory.

Depicts various periods in the life of Saint Francesco: Youth and the first conversion in 1206, the process that inflicts his father, the birth of the historical nucleus of Fraternitas and the departure for the Holy Land up to the writing of rules and death, addressing the problem of the legacy of his message in the different interpretation that Chiara and Elia will give it.

The television crew of the "Scary Antics" hidden camera show sets up a disturbed young man for a practical joke, but the joke is on them when heads roll.

Four short films by four different directors dealing with the principles of modern life.

A biopic of Martin Luther, covering his life between 1505 and 1530, and the birth of the Protestant Reformation movement.

An enterprising reporter takes along four willing adventurers to interview and photograph a young Sardinian criminal in hiding. Under intermittent gunfire, they make their way to the mountain hideout of the bandit. After a leisurely conversation and photo session, the encampment comes under fire from a group of armed citizens acting as police. Bullets fly and violence overtakes the criminal's two henchman, as the thrill-seeking group and the wanted criminal find themselves under attack.

The life of St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) as related by followers who gather after his death to tell stories so that Leone can record them: a privileged and virile youth, a prisoner of war, an heir who turns away from his father and gives all to the poor, a beggar for others, and an inspiration to friends who accept the Gospels' life of poverty.

The inspirational portrayal of Mother Teresa, a simple nun who became one of the most significant personalities of the 20th Century. Armed with a faith that could move mountains, Mother Teresa followed her calling to help the poor, the lepers, the dying and the abandoned children in the slums of Calcutta, challenging many authorities - including the church - along the way.

Five short stories with contemporary settings. In New York, people are indifferent to derelicts sleeping on sidewalks, to a woman's assault in front of an apartment building, and to a couple injured in a car crash. A man, stripped of his identity, dies in bed with actors expressing his agony. A cheerful, innocent young man walking a city street in a time of war pays a price for this innocence. A couple talks about cinema while it watches another couple talk of love and truth on the eve of one character's return to Cuba. Striking students take over a university classroom; an argument follows about revolution or incremental change.

A forty year old woman, who has been in an asylum, goes to live with her brother's family. She proves incapable of adapting herself to family life, takes refuge in the country alone with her memories, and is later returned to the asylum.

A humble scientist from Padua proves that the Earth revolves and that it is not the center of the universe.

Italy, XIII century. The story of friendship between two young people who dedicated their lives to God and others: St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi. Children of the bourgeoisie and the nobility, respectively, gave up their lives accommodated by a life of sacrifice, humility and proselytizing ...

One Night More is a story of inner-city romance set in modern day London and how two people can meet and change each others lives to make them think differently about themselves and how change is an inevitable thing and also a constant. We explore the complex, albeit brief, relationship between Rose, an aspiring photographer, who meets Khrisna - a dancer. The film gives an unique, negative and perhaps melancholy perspective on love and attraction and how people at the end of the day just might not be attracted to one another, and must simply learn how to move on to the next thing, whatever that might entail. The story isn't trying to say anything big or new in regards to romance other than subverting 'the teenage ideal' of being in a relationship which sees no lasting potential just for the sake of fitting in.