Best Pilgrimage Movies & TV Shows

Every year, two million zebras and wildebeest thunder along the Serengeti plains on a pilgrimage to the grassy highlands. Witness the largest mass migration on the planet, a high-stakes journey fraught with danger and drama.

February 2013, Allahabad, India. Over the next 55 days, nearly a hundred million people will come here, to the Great Kumbh Mela. This incredible and awe-inspiring celebration of the world's oldest religion happens every 12 years at the place where Hindus believe two sacred rivers meet. For many Hindus this is their most important pilgrimage, and it happens at one of the most holy sites in India. Hindus come to cleanse themselves in the sacred waters of the river Ganges, to pray and emerge purified and renewed. This follows British pilgrims as they embark on a once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey. A journey that will take them into the heart of Hinduism - its philosophy, its beliefs and its traditions. A journey that will culminate in the largest ever gathering of humans in one place.

Pilgrim’s Progress: Journey to Heaven is a modern adaptation of John Bunyan’s beloved classic. It is the #1 Christian fantasy of all time! The novel has been heralded as a literary masterpiece around the world, as it has been published in over 100 languages and is the most read book other than the Bible. Amazing visual effects, beautiful locations and a wonderful cast bring to life the story that has inspired each generation for hundreds of years. Follow Christian and his companions on a great Journey from the City of Destruction to the gates of Heaven as they face obstacles large and small, man-made and demon-spawned. Beyond the gripping drama, Bunyan’s powerful allegory teaches us all the hazards and hopes of the Christian life, and it features the triumphant glory that awaits all who faithfully follow the King of kings!

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

In this film made over ten years, filmmaker Barbara Sonneborn goes on a pilgrimage to the Vietnamese countryside where her husband was killed. She and translator (and fellow war widow) Xuan Ngoc Nguyen explore the meaning of war and loss on a human level. The film weaves interviews with Vietnamese and American widows into a vivid testament to the legacy of war.

In 1917, outside the parish of Fátima, Portugal, a 10-year-old girl and her two younger cousins witness multiple visitations of the Virgin Mary, who tells them that only prayer and suffering will bring an end to World War I. As secularist government officials and Church leaders try to force the children to recant their story, word of the sighting spreads across the country, inspiring religious pilgrims to flock to the site in hopes of witnessing a miracle..

Tim Jenison, a Texas based inventor, attempts to solve one of the greatest mysteries in all art: How did Dutch Master Johannes Vermeer manage to paint so photo-realistically 150 years before the invention of photography? Spanning a decade, Jenison's adventure takes him to Holland, on a pilgrimage to the North coast of Yorkshire to meet artista David Hockney, and eventually even to Buckingham Palace. The epic research project Jenison embarques on is as extraordinary as what he discovers.

At a small border-post on the Yugoslav-Albanian border, yet another generation of soldiers suffering the usual amount of boredom awaits the end of their service, counting days to the moment when they should take their uniforms off for good. It is the spring of 1987 and the thought never even crosses their mind that they would, in fact, put them back on quite soon and go to war.

Hector has been living on the motorways for years. His once comfortable family life has been replaced by a never-ending tour of service stations that offer him shelter, anonymity, washing facilities and food. The story follows his journey south from Scotland on his annual pilgrimage to a temporary Christmas shelter in London where he finds comfort, friendship and warmth. Over the course of his Homeric journey, Hector decides to reconnect with his long estranged past. As his previous life catches up with him, the story of how he came to be leading a marginal life begins to emerge.

When his son dies while hiking the famed Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in the Pyrenees, Tom flies to France to claim the remains. Looking for insights into his estranged child’s life, he decides to complete the 500-mile mountain trek to Spain. Tom soon joins up with other travelers and realizes they’re all searching for something.

In 1858 Lourdes, France, Bernadette, an adolescent peasant girl, has a vision of "a beautiful lady" in the city dump. She never claims it to be anything other than this, but the townspeople all assume it to be the Virgin Mary. The pompous government officials think she is nuts, and do their best to suppress the girl and her followers, and the church wants nothing to do with the whole matter. But as Bernadette attracts wider and wider attention, the phenomenon overtakes everyone in the the town, and transforms their lives.

A Catholic priest fights against his colleagues' immediate acceptance of an ambiguous “miracle”.

Three close friends who have never left the outskirts of Dublin (much less Ireland) get the journey of a lifetime — a visit to Lourdes, the picturesque French town and place of miracles.

The aim: to select the ideal mode of transport for each leg of a pilgrimage from Venice, Italy to Pau in France – home to a legendary street circuit and the origins of Grand Prix racing. On the way we prepare by taking to the track at Monza – the home of Italian Formula One. We try to get noticed on the road course in Monaco in a Bugatti, a Lamborghini and a Model T Ford. After cruising the canals in Venice we take to the tarmac and things look good - thanks to the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta and Mercedes SLS Black. Throw in a Pagani Huayra, Porsche Cayman S and a GT3 as well as the Aston Martin Vanquish centenary edition, Bentley V8 convertible, Rolls Royce Phantom coupe and the face-bending BAC Mono all seems pretty perfect to us.

The year is 1938, and Mahatma Gandhi's groundbreaking philosophies are sweeping across India, but 8-year-old Chuyia, newly widowed, must go to live with other outcast widows on an ashram. Her presence transforms the ashram as she befriends two of her compatriots.

Three modern day pilgrims investigate a bizarre crime in a small town on the way to Canterbury.

A group of pilgrims lie down on the thin ice of the lake Svetloyar and begin to look for the city of Kitesh. According to the legend, God saved the city from the Mongolian prince Batyi's soldiers by letting it sink to the bottom of the lake. If you listen carefully you can hear the bells of the Kitesh cathedral toll deep down.

An adventurous young man goes off to find himself and loses his socialite fiancée in the process. But when he returns 10 years later, she will stop at nothing to get him back, even though she is already married.

George & Gwen Kellerman make a trip to New York, where George is going to start a new job, it turns out to be a trip to hell.

The events of the hajj have long remained veiled from non-Muslims, who are forbidden even to enter the holy city of Mecca. A team of Muslim filmmakers gained access to Islam's holiest place at the peak of the pilgrimage to document the holy event for National Geographic Television.

Harold Fry is an unremarkable man who has made mistakes with all the important things: being a husband, a father and a friend. And now, well into his 60s, he is content to fade quietly into the background of life. Until, one day – Harold learns his old friend Queenie is dying. Harold leaves home, walking to his post office to send her a letter. And out of the blue, Harold decides to keep walking, all the way to her hospice, 450 miles away.

With ruthless mobsters on her tail, a young woman with a split personality becomes entangled with a man on a pilgrimage across the country to scatter his brother's ashes.

In 1975, as the Vietnam War was ending, thousands of orphans and Amerasian children were brought to the United States as part of "Operation Babylift." Daughter from Danang tells the dramatic story of one of these children, Heidi Bub (a.k.a. Mai Thi Hiep), and her Vietnamese mother, Mai Thi Kim, separated at the war's end and reunited 22 years later. Heidi, now living in Tennessee - a married woman with kids - had always dreamt of a joyful reunion. When she ventures to Vietnam to meet her mother, she unknowingly embarks on an emotional pilgrimage that spans decades and distance. Unlike most reunion stories that climax with a cliché happy ending, Daughter from Danang is a real-life drama. Journeying from the Vietnam War to Pulaski, Tennessee and back to Vietnam, Daughter from Danang tensely unfolds as cultural differences and the years of separation take their toll in a riveting film about longing and the personal legacy of war.

The 20 year old Muslim religious law student Ibn Battuta (1304–1368), whose full name was Abu Abdullah Muhammed Ibn Abdullah Al Lawati Al Tanji Ibn Battuta, set out from Tangier, a city in northern Morocco, in 1325, on a pilgrimage to Mecca, some 3,000 miles (over 4,800 km) to the East. The journey took him 18 months to complete and along the way he met with misfortune and adversity, including attack by bandits, rescue by Bedouins, fierce sand storms and dehydration.

Documentary on Jean Dominique, Haitian radio personality and human rights activist.

A young boy who lives in an old folks' home strikes up a friendship with a retired magician.

Henry Poole abandons his fiancée and family business to spend what he believes are his remaining days alone. The discovery of a 'miracle' by a nosy neighbor ruptures his solitude and restores his faith in life.

His father a hardcore Southern Baptist, J.C. rebels during his teen years, joining a biker gang and becoming their leader. While day-tripping, he has a prophetic religious vision and leads an LSD-fueled pilgrimage back to his home town, where he challenges the local church leaders, even knocking down chairs and tables in righteous anger, just like ... you know. Is Jesus Christ born again on Earth?

In this modern-day vision of Mother Mary's pilgrimage, a woman crosses the American Southwest playfully deconstructing the woman’s role in a world of roles.

In the not-so-distant future, all drinking and drugs have been made completely illegal by the government, except for one night a year. High school seniors Griffin, Hags, and Andrew make a pilgrimage to get to the best party in town where all their dreams will come true. They will have to avoid their crazed principal, violent siblings, and the wild animals roaming the streets.

Both a journalist and a documentary filmmaker chase the story of a murder and its prime suspect.

Life and adventures of lord George Gordon Byron. BBC dramatization of the poet's final thirteen years

Accompanied only by music the film alternates between shots of pilgrims near the tomb of Saint Sergei in Sergiyev Posad, Russia and pilgrims at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico.

A small New Mexican village discovers a severed hand that is considered a miracle of God, when it actually belongs to a murdered spouse with a husband in search of it.

Mathieu is a brilliant neurosurgeon whose perfect life is falling apart. Impending divorce, job loss, substance abuse, and a mid-life crisis are all factors that can cause him to go off the rails. In addition, the sudden death of his father forces him to return home to Anishiinabe territory, a place he has tried to avoid since his youth. Nevertheless, Mathieu agrees to go and deposit his father's ashes in the heart of their ancestral territory and wishes to find himself at the same time. The break away from the city promises to be a nice getaway until Mathieu realizes that he is now the prey of an evil creature known as the Wendigo. Mathieu's pilgrimage quickly becomes an unimaginable nightmare that will change him forever. Like it or not, our vices always catch up with us eventually.

Animated adaptation of Chaucer's famous narrative poems, using a variety of groundbreaking animation techniques. On a pilgrimage from London to the tomb of Thomas Becket in Canterbury, a group of travellers from all walks of medieval society recount tales and stories to each other to provide amusement on the journey.

First broadcast on October 2, 1989, these 18 original 30-minute episodes provide a panorama of 2000 years of architecture, painting and sculpture, and studies the art masterpieces as reflections of the Western culture that produced them.

Light in the Darkroom is the story of two best friends whose faith is tested when their friends disappear during a religious pilgrimage.

A daughter's idyllic life is turned upside-down by immense tragedy. As she grows older, her cynicism and apathy towards her new reality is challenged by a reminder from the past that sets her on a pilgrimage that will define her.

A nun's eight-day adventure to resolve questions of doubt, unites her with a gentle teenager and a handsome drifter who will affect her heart and future as she makes a pilgrimage to the site of her sister's death.

Joba and Quincy are a wealthy Brooklyn couple who value charity above all. But when a friend returns from a country pilgrimage to challenge their bleeding hearts, they accept an invitation that will change their lives forever.

Some call them stadiums, or arenas, or pitches. We call them shrines. Come take a pilgrimage to some of the most famous soccer stadiums in the world as seen through the eyes of their devoted worshipers: the fans.

Lord Carlyle governs a province in India. Although he weds the beautiful Adrienne, he can't make her love him. And no wonder -- he's not only cruel, he's unfaithful. Adrienne leaves him and boards a ship with the intention of returning to England. But on the boat she meets Andrew Fabian, who is studying for the clergy. They fall in love, and he convinces her to accompany him on a pilgrimage to Damascus.

The fanatic beliefs of an internet mystic, a cult leader, and a rookie cop gone rogue are tested on the hunt for the "Hidden Man" -- an elusive forest-dwelling cryptid that terrorizes their idyllic suburb.

The second chapter in the story of John Bunyan's immortal classic Pilgrim's Progress. Christiana, who had earlier scoffed at her husband for leaving his family in the City of Destruction, truly repents of her sins. She is rewarded with a glowing faith and leads her daughter, Credence, and sons, Avail and Avow, plus her doubting neighbor, Mercy, towards the Celestial City. With the help of Greatheart, Christiana sets a wonderful example of a loving, but concerned mother who guards and guides her children through numerous dangerous adventures. At Doubting Castle, Mercy at last takes firm grip upon the promises of God's Word and is rewarded with deep faith. Then, at Pilgrim's Rest, the entire group discovers the meaning of the verse, "For me to live is Christ and to die is to gain."

This documentary presents an awakening inspired by the life of the Benedictine monk Henri Le Saux. After living in a monastery in Brittany for 20 years, he left for South India with the objective of bringing the best of Christian monastic life with him. To achieve his goal, he believed it important to first open himself to the spiritual heart of India. In doing so he encountered Ramana Maharshi, one of the great sages of his time, at the foot of the sacred mountain Arunachala. The impact of this meeting on him was so powerful that Le Saux’s initial plan was turned upside down. In the presence of this mystical mountain, and its Sage, Le Saux began a spiritual adventure that would lead to his own rebirth.

An American fugitive flees to Rome and tries to elude capture by masquerading as a priest.