S&P Awards
The Most Spiritually Literate Films of 2004
A Home at the End of the World
The emotional tale of a natural born lover who brings joy and sexual fulfillment to those lucky enough to be part of his extended family.
Feature
A Love Song for Bobby Long
A heart-affecting drama fashioned with love, care, and creativity.
Feature
A Very Long Engagement
A romantic film to take to heart with its incisive portrait of a determined young woman's unswerving love.
Foreign
Before Sunset
An enthralling love story that puts a capital S on Seduction.
Feature
Born into Brothels
An extraordinary documentary about a photographer who draws out the wonder and the creativity of some poor kids in Calcutta.
Documentary
Collateral
An engrossing thriller set in Los Angeles about an insecure and procrastinating cab driver whose life is transformed by his encounter with a merciless hit man.
Feature
Control Room
A riveting documentary that gives a behind-the-scenes look at the Middle Eastern news agency Al Jazeera's coverage of the second Iraq war.
Documentary
Divan
A lively documentary about one woman's quest to explore her Hasidic roots; it mixes fact, emotion, and religious tradition with the spiritual practice of questing.
Special Interest
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A fascinating psychological drama exploring the manifold complexities of memory, love, desire, and disappointment.
Feature
Fahrenheit 9/11
This illuminating documentary shows how the Bush Administration served the interests of the haves and the have-mores with unjust domestic polices and a terrible war.
Documentary
Finding Neverland
A convincing and tender depiction of the ties between imagination, play, and creativity.
Feature
Garden State
A spunky romantic comedy about an enthusiastic young woman who transforms her lover with the good medicine of her presence.
Feature
Goodbye, Lenin!
An intimate drama about nurturing love as well as a witty political parable.
Foreign
Hotel Rwanda
A heroic and compassionate story of a man African who gave sanctuary to both neighbors and strangers during the 1994 genocide in his country.
Feature
House of Flying Daggers
A triple threat as an amazing martial arts film, a sense-luscious drama, and a romantic love story that touches the heart.
Foreign
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
A rousing documentary about the radical historian and activist who has risked all to make a prophetic call for peace and justice in America.
Documentary
I Heart Huckabees
A playful comedy that embraces the spiritual uplift of our connections with others amidst the muck of human separation that characterizes our present-day adventures.
Feature
Lost Boys of Sudan
An excellent documentary about the struggles of two African youth to adapt to their new life in America.
Documentary
Maria Full of Grace
The compelling story of a courageous and adventuresome seventeen-year old Columbian.
Foreign
Million Dollar Baby
A powerful emotional drama about a woman boxer, a crusty old trainer, and the circumstances that draw them together for a journey of the heart.
Feature
Moolaade
A triumphant ode to the bravery of a visionary woman who leads a rebellion against the practice of female genital mutilation in her African village.
Foreign
Napoleon Dynamite
A quirky and appealing comedy set in Idaho about an oddball teenager who waits patiently until he gets his chance to shine on his own terms.
Feature
Osama
The harrowing tale of subjugated women in Afghanistan under the merciless rule of the Taliban.
Foreign
S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine
A chilling documentary that compels us to consider the terrible things human beings can do to one another because of fear, ideology, or just following orders.
Documentary
Sideways
A buddy movie that is a delight from start to finish: it offers a round-trip ticket to the rewards of friendship and the follies and frustrations of middle-age.
Feature
Silent Waters
A quiet and elegant film set in 1979 Pakistan that presents the shadow side of hospitality, a spiritual practice that honors all religions.
Foreign
Silver City
A profound film probing the warps of contemporary politics, the equation of big business with democracy, the wanton desecration of the environment, and the abuse of illegal immigrants.
Feature
Spider-Man 2
This entertaining film takes comic book action to a new level of possibility with its sensitivity to its characters' emotions.
Feature
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring
A luminous meditation on the wisdom of Buddhism and one of the best films of the year set on a floating raft monastery in Korea.
Foreign
Super Size Me
The revolutionary documentary that examines the link between the junk food industry and the obesity epidemic in America.
Documentary
The Corporation
A bold, creative, and prophetic critique of a beast that has grown too powerful and too dangerous to ignore any longer.
Documentary
The Door in the Floor
A mature treatment of sexuality, loss, and the emotional education of a young man.
Feature
The Motorcycle Diaries
An extraordinary drama about the spiritual transformation that turns an intense young man into a revolutionary.
Foreign
The Story of the Weeping Camel
A wonderful Mongolian film about the deep and powerful bonds that link human beings and animals together in a common need for nurturing.
Foreign
The Terminal
A light-hearted and thoroughly entertaining film about the joys that can be ours when we slow down, practice deep listening, and cultivate the art of patience.
Feature
The Woodsman
A complex tale that severely tests the limits of our empathy and compassion.
Feature
Two Brothers
An extraordinary film about two wild tigers and the human beings who are changed irreparably by their encounters with these magnificent and mysterious creatures.
Feature
Vanity Fair
An exquisite screen adaptation of Thackeray's novel about the poison of envy and the social climber in us all.
Feature
Vera Drake
A deft and sympathetic depiction of a good person whose compassion and kindness are the real thing.
Feature
