Cinematic Invocation: Prayer on Film Quiz / Test | Movies

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. In this 2000 comedy, Greg Focker, played by Ben Stiller, is meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time and joining them for dinner. Despite being Jewish, Greg is asked to say Grace, and hilarity ensues, thanking God for the "smorgasbord you have aptly lain" and proceeding to diverge into quoting lyrics from the Broadway musical "Godspell". Which of the following movies contained this comedic gold?

Answer: Meet the Parents

This dinnertime Grace faux-pas is just one of many comical events Greg Focker has to overcome to win over his girlfriend's family, primarily the hard-lined father. His girlfriend Pam's father Jack, played by Robert De Niro, is an ex-CIA agent who uses some harsh interrogation techniques on Greg, but ultimately gives Greg his approval for his daughter's hand. "Meet the Parents" is actually a remake of a small independent film from 1992 that was shot on a low budget and was not widely distributed. The popular movie earned several awards and nominations, including the People's Choice Award for top comedy.

2. Supper is called in this 2006 comedy. Family patriarch and racecar driver Ricky Bobby, played by Will Ferrell, calls upon the "Lord Baby Jesus" to thank him for "this bountiful harvest of Dominoes, KFC, and always delicious Taco Bell" that his wife Carly supposedly slaved over for hours. Which comedy contains this Bobby family supper, with irreverence, vulgarity, fist bumps, and an argument over the fact that the "Baby Jesus" did grow up into an adult?

Answer: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Continuing the dinner scene:
Carly: "You know, sweetie, Jesus did grow up, you don't always have to call him baby."
Ricky: "Hey look, I like the Christmas Jesus best, and I'm saying Grace. When you say Grace you can say it to grown up Jesus, or teenage Jesus, or bearded Jesus, or whoever you want."
Carly: "You know what I want? I want you to do this Grace good, so that God will let us win tomorrow."
Ricky: "Dear tiny Jesus, with your golden fleece diapers..."

"Talladega Nights" also starred John C. Reilly as his teammate Cal Naughton Jr., and Leslie Bibb as Ricky's wife, Carly. The movie opened number 1 in the box office in the US, and is regarded as one of Will Ferrell's top films. Despite the call for divine intervention for the upcoming race, Ricky does not do well at all, as his car flips and Ricky runs out of the car thinking that he is on fire, in nothing but his underwear and helmet. It is all downhill from there, and Carly ends up leaving Ricky for Cal. However in the movie's finale, Cal and Ricky reunite their friendship, and Cal wins the Talladega 500 after Ricky crashes yet again.

3. TV reporter Bruce Nolan, played by Jim Carrey in this 2003 comedy, is down on his luck, and complains to God that God is not doing his job correctly. Bruce thinks God is deaf to his cries, but God's responses couldn't be more loud and clear. While driving, Bruce calls out, "OK God, you want me to talk to you? Talk back! Tell me what's going on. What should I do? Give me a signal!" His car passes an illuminated sign reading, "Caution Ahead." Bruce continues, "I need your guidance Lord, please, send me a sign!" His car approaches a truck with a bed full of road signs. In which sacrilegious farce is this exchange?

Answer: Bruce Almighty

In the movie "Bruce Almighty", the lead character is given a chance by God, played by Morgan Freeman, to stand in and take over God's job for a time to show Bruce it's not so easy after all. The film also stars Jennifer Aniston as Bruce's girlfriend, Grace, and Steve Carell as rival reporter Evan Baxter.

4. Captured fugitives Ulysses Everett McGill, Pete Hogwallop, and Delmar O'Donnell are facing the executioner, on the verge of being lynched by the rural Mississippi sheriff's posse. Always the doubter in God, Ulysses, played by George Clooney, has a change in heart and gets down on his knees, begging God for intervention. Out of nowhere, a giant wall of water engulfs the entire valley, and in the instant flood, the three men swim away to safety. Which 2000 Coen Brothers comedy flooded the box office?

Answer: Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?

Prior to incarceration and subsequent escape, Ulysses robbed an armored car of $1.2 million, which he hid in the valley, soon to be flooded. After their capture and subsequent escape via the gushing water, Pete and Delmar praised God for providing the means for deliverance. Ulysses, however, immediately regresses to his former doubt. Ulysses: "There's a perfectly scientific explanation for what just happened... Any human being will cast about in a moment of stress." The government had plans in place, Ulysses explains, to purposely flood the valley on that day for a hydroelectric plant.

The movie "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" set in rural Mississippi in 1937, features a highly acclaimed soundtrack with folk music from that period.

5. In one heart-wrenching scene from 1994's "Forrest Gump", Forrest and a young Jenny run into the cornfields to hide from Jenny's abusive father. While kneeling, Jenny prays and repeats, "Dear God, make me a bird, so I can fly far far, far far away from here." Forest as an adult was of course played by Tom Hanks, in this Oscar winning role. What is the name of the child actor who played young Forrest in this scene?

Answer: Michael Conner Humphreys

Despite portraying such a highly memorable film character in the film "Forrest Gump," Michael Conner Humphreys did not star in another major film until the relatively unknown and panned 2011 film "Pathfinders: In the Company of Strangers", a true story of an elite company of soldiers in WWII. Humphreys speaks with a strong southern accent naturally, and Tom Hanks modeled the accent that he used for adult Forrest after Michael's natural speaking voice.

Narration, by adult Forrest after this scene: "Mama always said that God is mysterious. He didn't turn Jenny into a bird that day. Instead, he had the po-lice say Jenny didn't have to stay in that house no more." "Forrest Gump" won six Academy Awards, including one for Best Actor, Best Director for Robert Zemeckis, and Best Picture. It was also nominated in seven other categories. It is the story of Forrest Gump, a mentally slow man growing up in rural Alabama. Portrayed from childhood through adulthood, Forrest finds himself as a witness to some pivotal moments in history. The movie depicts the relationship between Forrest and Jenny, friends since childhood, and eventually married. But it is quite the turbulent relationship from two vastly different people. Forrest had a loving mama, and Jenny was raised by an abusive father, as shown in this scene, and that influenced the adults they would both become.

6. In a dramatic scene in this 1946 Christmas classic, a drinking George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, calls out to God while at Martini's Bar, "Dear Father in Heaven, I'm not a praying man, but if you're up there, and you can hear me, show me the way. I'm at the end of my rope. Show me the way, father." He is kicked out of the bar after an ensuing fight, crashes his car, and steps out onto a bridge. But while contemplating jumping himself, he watches his guardian angel Clarence jump first, followed by a heroic rescue. In which Jimmy Stewart movie is this prayer?

Answer: It's a Wonderful Life

"It's a Wonderful Life" is the story of George Bailey, played by Jimmy Stewart, the owner of a Building and Loan in Bedford Falls, New York. After a run on the bank, his business is threatened. The townspeople, whom he has spent his career assisting through his bank, have turned against him.

After a competing bank, run by the antagonist Mr. Potter, turns him down for a loan, George heads to the bar to get drunk, and begins to pray in the scene depicted above. After crashing his car and meeting his angel, Clarence, George is shown what life in Bedford Falls would have been like without him.

He is shown a bleak and sleazy world. After his revelation and change of heart, the townspeople come to George's assistance. Frank Capra directed the film, which in 1946 was not a box office success.

But it quickly became a Christmas classic, shown on TV quite often throughout the month of December in the United States in modern times. It also starred Donna Reed as George Bailey's wife Mary, and Henry Travers as the angel Clarence.

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards.

7. Prayer is quite often an effective dramatic tool in war movies. In this 2002 Vietnam War drama, Colonel Hal Moore, played by Mel Gibson, joins a young lieutenant in a lonely chapel, comforting him before they are both due to be deployed. While kneeling at the church altar together praying, Colonel Moore acknowledges to God, "Before we go into battle, every soldier among us will approach you in each his own way. Our enemies too, according to their own understanding, will ask for protection and for victory." Which film is this, known for fairly portraying the humanity of both opposing American and Vietnam Armies?

Answer: We Were Soldiers

"We Were Soldiers", based on real life, focuses on Colonel Hal Moore, who retired as a lieutenant general after being awarded a Distinguished Service Cross among numerous other accolades. His memoir, "We were Soldiers... Once" was the basis for the film. Before praying together in the film, Lieutenant Geoghegan comments, "I know God has a plan for me. I just hope it's to help protect orphans, not make any." Chris Klein played 2nd Lieutenant Jack Geoghegan, fresh out of college, who was killed in the Battle of Ia Drang.

The Battle of Ia Drang, November 15, 1965, was one of the earliest engagements in the Vietnam War. Besides showing the American perspective, this film is noted for showing the human side of the Vietnamese soldiers, who were family men fighting for their country just like Colonel Moore and the young Lieutenant Geoghegan.

8. In one scene in this intense American Civil War drama, members of the all African-American Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry are gathered around a campfire the night before battle, knowing that some of them will die in their war against slavery. They are clapping their hands in praise, singing with soul, "Oh my Lord, Lord, Lord, Lord...," while taking turns offering up prayers in their own words. One young soldier stands up and petitions to God amidst calls of "Amen" from the crowd. "Tomorrow, we go into battle. So Lordy, let me fight with the rifle in one hand, and the Good Book in the other. That I should die at the muzzle of the rifle, die on water, or on land, I may know that you, blessed Jesus almighty, are with me. And I have no fear. Amen!" Which 1989 film, starring Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington, contains these soulful invocations?

Answer: Glory

"Glory" was nominated for five Academy Awards. It is the true story of the Massachusetts 54th Volunteer Infantry, the first all-black military unit in the United States, who fought for the Union against the slave owning South. Some of the volunteers were free black men, some former slaves, and some escaped slaves.

As such, they were often discriminated against by other members of the military. The regiment was commanded by Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, played in the movie by Matthew Broderick. After this campfire prayer scene, the regiment led an assault on Fort Wagner, in South Carolina, July 18th 1863, resulting in a Union victory.

But despite being recognized for its valor, the regiment suffered 272 casualties out of 600 men, including the death of Colonel Shaw.

9. Sometimes, no words are required to call out to God in prayer. As the water is pouring into the sinking ship in this 1997 James Cameron directed film, the string band, surrounded by terror and screaming passengers, knowing death is soon to come as well, strikes up a reverent "Nearer My God to Thee". In which film does this hymn serve as the musicians' final prayer?

Answer: Titanic

The 1997 film "Titanic" is a dramatic fictionalization of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, which sunk in the North Atlantic on April 15th, 1912, after striking an iceberg. As the ship was sinking, the terrified passengers were running and fighting for spots on a lifeboat, of which there were too few. But, in the midst of the scramble and resigned to their fate to go down with the ship, the band simply uses their musical talent to cry out to God with a reverent hymn. From all accounts, the scene in the movie is a fictional depiction of the real actions of the band during that fateful submersion. "Nearer My God to Thee" was written by Sarah Flower Adams, an English poetess, in the 19th century.

The movie, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, was a huge success.

It was nominated for 14 Academy Awards, and won 11.

10. In the pivotal scene in this 2004 Mel Gibson produced drama, Jesus, in his final words before death upon the cross, covered in blood, fresh with wounds, and writhing in pain, utters his final words in prayer. As recorded in the Bible in Luke 23:46, Jesus calls out to God, "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Which 2004 epic film, based on the Biblical account of Jesus' death and resurrection, is this?

Answer: The Passion of the Christ

The film "The Passion of the Christ" ends in a brief scene showing Jesus' resurrection and ultimate power over death. But the majority of it is a gruesome and violent depiction of the crucifixion. On top of Latin, the script stays true to the ancient languages of the time, with much of the dialogue being spoken in ancient Aramaic. Fortunately, for those of us who don't speak the language, "The Passion" was translated and captioned with multiple modern languages.

Source: Author mcdubb

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor jmorrow before going online.
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Cinematic Invocation: Prayer on Film Quiz

Some are comic and irreverent and others are dramatic and sincere, but Christian prayer has been used by filmmakers to record some highly memorable scenes. Let's explore some of these!

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