52 Weeks, 52 Religious Films“My eyes are filled with you.”*
Frank Borzage’s 7th Heaven *is a 1927 romantic drama silent film following Chico (Charles Farrell), a man who’s very vocal about his atheism, begins to believe in God when he falls in love with a woman named Diane (Janet Gaynor). It’s an interesting look at Faith and free will. It’s easy to believe in God when everything in your life goes right. But it’s when God gives you tough battles that really shows your true faith in Him.
I grew up being a people pleaser. Someone who loved everyone, and I hope that can be noticed on social media like Letterboxd as well. But while I try to live life La Vie en Rose, and people could say I’ve been fed by the silver spoon, I’ve had my hardships, specifically when it comes to romantic loss. Our main character, Diane, is in love with Chico, and they get married before he goes off to war. His departure from her, along with her thoughts of Chico’s danger, makes her begin to question God’s will. I recently went through a heartbreak; someone made me feel special, unlike anything I thought I was, and God decided that had to come to an end. Still, nearly three months later, I’ve never been close to as happy as I was during that time, and it stinks to hear your mom tell you “I miss seeing you like that”. It’s where I started to ask, “why God?”. We’ve all heard the saying “everything happens for a reason”, but it’s easier to say than to understand. But without spoiling too much, let’s just say both Chico and Diane’s prayers were answered, when they both were at their very lowest.
7th Heaven won three Academy Awards at the first ever Oscars ceremony. The Oscars were set up a little different for the first ceremony. Janet Gaynor won Best Actress for three roles, including this one. Frank Borzage won Best Director for a Drama Picture, and Benjamin Glazer won for Adapted Screenplay. Janet Gaynor is really the highlight of these wins, she really gives an incredible performance for a silent film. If you remember the line in
Sunset Boulevard, “We didn’t need dialogue, we had faces”, no performance perfectly represents that than Gaynor in this film.
This marks the end of my romance miniseries of this religious film series for the month of February. I don’t have any other monthly themes planned until October, so hopefully March-September isn’t too all over the place.
Today at church, my pastor talked about joy and thanksgiving. And I wanted to quickly say thank you to all of you that read these reviews or even just like the review. It means the literal world to me, I’m so blessed to have such a second family on here full of film lovers.**
52 Weeks, 52 Religious Films (February):****
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2/1: Magnificent Obsession2/8: The Miracle Woman2/15: Léon Morin, Priest 
