Most Significant Exploration of Spiritual Themes

Winner: Silent Light
Cycling image by image through the idea of things being revealed and unveiled, the time-lapse Genesis imagery that sets the film in motion culminates in a theologically rich network of visual and thematic allusions – as if Regygada’s natural cinematography needs an additional shove towards the transcendental. (M. Leary, Think-Film)




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Runner-up:
Doubt

Also nominated:
The Dark Knight
In Bruges
Slumdog Millionaire
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Best Narrative Film

Winner: Slumdog Millionaire
The story explores the deepest themes of life, from loyalty and love to betrayal and despair.  The redemptive nature of the film is seen in the title itself as Jamal travels an unexpected road which prepares him for the questions he will be asked on the television show.  That love is possible in even a “slumdog’s” life is a message of hope that speaks to a world where the majority of humanity lives in poverty. (Hal Conklin and Denny Wayman, Cinema in Focus)

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Runner-up:
Silent Light

Also nominated:
Happy-Go-Lucky
Paranoid Park
WALL-E
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Best Documentary

Winner: At the Death House Door
Pickett's odyssey makes for an incredible story. One of the executions he had to preside over was of a man who killed a popular parishioner during a prison riot. Watching Pickett negotiate, even in memory, the complex of emotions that his job has forced him to reconcile, I was struck by how the film begins with the political and moves to the spiritual. Like Plato's Republic, which cannot answer the question "What is Justice?" without describing the perfect society, At the Death House Door begins with a seemingly simple, direct question and shows how hopelessly complicated the simplest questions can be. (Kenneth R. Morefield, from his 2008 top 10 list)

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Runner-up:
Man on Wire

Also nominated:
Encounters at the End of the World
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Young@Heart
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Best Film for the Whole Family

Winner: WALL-E
While the film’s themes of consumerism and environmental carelessness are unmistakable, unduly political spin on the film is probably more related to election-year hypersensitivity than the film itself. WALL‑E is not about left or right, liberal or conservative. Rather, it is about living thoughtfully, about what traditional Christian language calls good stewardship of resources and the environment. (Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films)


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Runner-up:
More Than a Game

Also nominated:
City of Ember
Horton Hears a Who
Kung Fu Panda
The Spiderwick Chronicles
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