100 Movies Every Catholic Should See #11: The Sacrifice (1986)

Written and directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Starring Erland Josephson, Susan Fleetwood, Allan Edwall, and Tommy Kjellqvist.

“No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”  John 15:13

This passage from the Gospel of John encompasses the nature of Christian sacrifice, the willful laying down of one’s life for the sake of those for whom he cares most dearly. This ideal love is, and has always been, the heart of the Christian faith. But what does this type of sacrifice truly look like in the life of man? Is this something that can be achieved in man’s fallen state, or is this perfect love unattainable? Andrei Tarkovsky, arguably Russia’s greatest filmmaker, chose to answer this question and create, for his final film, a moving contemplation on the true nature of Christian sacrifice. At once a powerful Christian parable, a staggering feat of methodical filmmaking, and a culmination of Tarkovsky’s life and works, The Sacrifice stands as a monumental achievement from a profoundly spiritual artist, one who sought with each film to capture the good, the true, and the beautiful in every jaw-dropping frame.