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Film and Religion in 20th Century Europa The article focuses on the conflict zones and compromises of the ambivalent relationship which developed between film and religion in Europe. European film production was more reluctant than Hollywood to treat Biblical themes; on the other hand, the Christian Churches oscillated between damning, controlling and producing their own films. Their censorship and criticism were frequently the occasion of stormy internal debates about Church strategy toward the decline of traditional religiosity. Subjects such as the position and role of the pastor in his congregation and the lives of the saints were made into films; specific religious themes, however, remained rare. For the historian, these films offer symptomatic indicators of sensitivities, complex problems and uncertainties concerning religious life at the time.

The 1950s were the heyday of cinema in Europe. Rather than competing with Hollywood studios, European film companies preferred to stick to old, well established recipes. Germany recycled one of its cultural traditions, Heimat. Despite the poverty of their plots and the weakness of their protagonists, the Heimatfilme succeeded by celebrating an unspoilt, soothing wilderness. The Italian counterpart of Heimatfilme was melodrama. If family dramas remained much appreciated in the Peninsula, the filmmakers were clever enough to shift their characters from an ill-defined epoch to the contemporary world. So, while urban Germany was pining for its wild, empty mountains, rural Italy was contemplating its domestic comforts to come. With the Carry On series, Britain was loyal to comedies, which filled the main part of the programmes. The plots – which merely dealt with private affairs – were humorous, harmless, always deprived of authentic social background. The European cinemas of the 1950s were directed towards large, mostly 'popular' audiences of people who used to leave their houses and gather in town centres on Saturday evenings. These cinemas did not produce any masterpieces but they were the most characteristic, and the most appreciated, form of entertainment in the middle of the century. It was not art, but it was 'popular' culture.