BDSM Movies with a Spirituality Theme

 

 

 

 

  

These are films that show elements of submission and masochism in the context of spirituality.

 


Billy Jack

From www.netflix.com:
Billy Jack, a half-breed Native American and ex-Green Beret, returns to Arizona. When tensions flare between the progressive local students and narrow-minded bigots, he becomes the school's protector.

 

Note from Sadie: This classic 1971 film holds up very well as a film reflecting the mores of it's time. There are two key scenes of interest to us BDSM folk. One is where Billy Jack goes through a traditional Native American snake ceremony where he is bitten multiple times by a rattler and experiences both great pain as well as a spiritual experience. The second is a rape scene where the woman is tied down to the ground. Although this scene is non-consensual, I mention it because it was my first awareness of bondage and one of the reasons I watched this film many times as a young girl.

 


The Da Vinci Code

From www.netflix.com:
Based on Dan Brown's best-seller of the same name, Ron Howard's gripping film stars Tom Hanks as Harvard professor Robert Langdon and Audrey Tatou as cryptographer Sophie Neve, who must untangle a web of deceit when the curator of the Louvre, a member of a secret society and a relative of Neve's, is found murdered in the famed museum's hallowed halls. To crack the case and arrive at the truth, they must look to the works of Leonardo da Vinci.

Note from Sadie: While this movie doesn't hold a candle to the original book, it's still a reasonably exciting and fast paced adventure film. The key scenes of interest here are when the albino monk self flagellates himself. Director Ron Howard (yes, that's little Howie!) could easily have softened these scenes but instead he chose to let us see it in all it's violent and intense glory. Not for the faint of heart.

 

A Man Called Horse

From www.netflix.com:
Move over, Dances with Wolves! In perhaps his greatest role, Richard Harris plays an English aristocrat who's captured by Dakota Sioux in 1825 and eventually becomes their leader. The most famous scene has Harris undergoing a bloody initiation ritual that involves being suspended in the air by blades inserted beneath his pectoral muscles. Part of the revisionist view (prevalent in '70s movies) of American Indian life on the Great Plains.

Note from Sadie: This film is quite long and not all that interesting from my perspective, although it's considered a great classic. The scene that is famous as mentioned above is the Sundance Ceremony which was filmed both with great detail and respect to validity. The cinematography of this part is incredibly moving and if you haven't seen what this looks like, it's worth renting just for this. The DVD includes a scene index so you can skip to it if you wish.