Movies with Epigraphs
ep·i·graph
/ˈepəˌɡraf/
noun
1. an inscription on a building, statue, or coin.
2. a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.
Epigraphs are common in books either at the beginning of the book or the beginning of a chapter. Sometimes epigraphs can be found in movies, too. Usually at the beginning, but sometimes at the end of a film. Here are some films that have epigraphs either at the beginning or end.
/ˈepəˌɡraf/
noun
1. an inscription on a building, statue, or coin.
2. a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.
Epigraphs are common in books either at the beginning of the book or the beginning of a chapter. Sometimes epigraphs can be found in movies, too. Usually at the beginning, but sometimes at the end of a film. Here are some films that have epigraphs either at the beginning or end.
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- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsBrad PittSean PennJessica ChastainThe story of a family in Waco, Texas in 1956. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence and struggles with his parents' conflicting teachings."Where were you when I laid the foundations of the Earth?….When the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?"
--Job 38: 4, 7 - DirectorMel GibsonStarsJim CaviezelMonica BellucciMaia MorgensternDepicts the final twelve hours in the life of Jesus of Nazareth, on the day of his crucifixion in Jerusalem."He was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our inequities; by His wounds we are healed".
--Isaiah 53. 700 B.C. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsWillem DafoeHarvey KeitelBarbara HersheyThe life of Jesus Christ, his journey through life as he faces the struggles all humans do, and his final temptation on the cross."The dual substance of Christ--the yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God...has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flesh...and my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met."
--NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS
From the book
"The Last Temptation Of Christ" - DirectorMel GibsonStarsGerardo TaracenaRaoul Max TrujilloDalia HernándezAs the Mayan kingdom faces its decline, a young man is taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression."A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."
--W. Durant. - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsRobert De NiroCathy MoriartyJoe PesciThe life of boxer Jake LaMotta, whose violence and temper that led him to the top in the ring destroyed his life outside of it."So, for the second time, [the Pharisees]
summoned the man who had been blind and said:
'Speak the truth before God.
We know this fellow is a sinner.'
'Whether or not he is a sinner, I do not know.'
the man replied.
'All I know is this:
once I was blind and now I can see.'
--John IX. 24-26
The New English Bible" - DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsJeff BridgesMatt DamonHailee SteinfeldA stubborn teenager enlists the help of a tough U.S. Marshal to track down her father's murderer.The wicked flee when none pursueth. . . . "
--Proverbs 28:1 - DirectorTerrence MalickStarsAugust DiehlValerie PachnerMaria SimonThe Austrian Franz Jägerstätter, a conscientious objector, refuses to fight for the Nazis in World War II.“For the growing good of the world is partly dependent on unhistoric acts; and that things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been is half owing to the number who have lived faithfully a hidden life, and rest in unvisited tombs.”
--George Elliot, "Middlemarch." - DirectorGeorge MillerStarsTom HardyCharlize TheronNicholas HoultIn a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max."Where must we go… we who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?"
--"The First History Man.
(The First History Man is from within the Mad Max universe, which means the director George Miller created this quote for the film.). - DirectorMark HermanStarsAsa ButterfieldDavid ThewlisRupert FriendThrough the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a German concentration camp, a forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences."Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights, before the dark hour of reason grows."
--John Betjeman - DirectorOliver StoneStarsCharlie SheenTom BerengerWillem DafoeChris Taylor, a neophyte recruit in Vietnam, finds himself caught in a battle of wills between two sergeants, one good and the other evil. A shrewd examination of the brutality of war and the duality of man in conflict."Rejoice O Young Man in your Youth"
--Ecclesiastes - DirectorOliver StoneStarsAnthony HopkinsJoan AllenPowers BootheA biographical story of former U.S. President Richard Nixon, from his days as a young boy, to his eventual Presidency, which ended in shame.“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, but lose his soul?"
--Mark 8:36” - DirectorTom TykwerStarsFranka PotenteMoritz BleibtreuHerbert KnaupAfter a botched money delivery, Lola has 20 minutes to come up with 100,000 Deutschmarks.At the end of our exploring we shall not cease from exploration . . . and the end of all of our exploring will be to arrive where we started. . . and know the place for the first time.“
-- T.S. Eliot
“After the game is before the game.”
-- Sepp Herberger - StarsLeelee SobieskiChad WillettPeter O'TooleSpurred by divine voices and visions, fifteenth century teen Joan d'Arc leads French forces against the English."France will be lost by a woman and saved by a virgin from the oak forests of Lorraine."
--Attributed to Merlin (yes, Merlin the Magician of Arthurian legend). - DirectorDan CurtisStarsTed DansonChristopher PlummerBrian DennehyA dramatized account of the hidden sexual abuse and scandal that shook the foundation of the Catholic Church, and the characters, events, and policies that brought the abuse and scandal into existence."For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad."
--Jesus to his disciples.
--Luke 8:17. - DirectorTerry GilliamStarsBruce WillisMadeleine StoweBrad PittIn a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet."...5 billion people will die from a deadly virus in 1997....The survivors will abandon the surface of the planet....Once again animals will rule the world."
--Excerpts from the interview with clinically diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, April 12, 1990.
--Baltimore County Hospital.
(Epigraph created for the film.). - StarsGary SiniseMolly RingwaldJamey SheridanAfter a deadly plague kills most of the world's population, the remaining survivors split into two groups - one led by a benevolent elder and the other by a malevolent being - to face each other in a final battle between good and evil.This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but with a wimper.
--T.S. Eliot. - DirectorMichael RadfordMassimo TroisiStarsMassimo TroisiPhilippe NoiretMaria Grazia CucinottaA simple Italian postman learns to love poetry while delivering mail to a famous poet, and then uses this to woo local beauty Beatrice.And it was at that age... Poetry arrived
in search of me. I don’t know, I don’t know where
it came from, from winter or a river.
I don’t know how or when,
no, they were not voices, they were not
words, nor silence,
but from a street I was summoned,
from the branches of night,
abruptly from the others,
among violent fires
or returning alone,
there I was without a face
and it touched me.
--Pablo Neruda. - DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsMichael StuhlbargRichard KindSari LennickLarry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking."Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."
--Rashi - DirectorCarroll BallardStarsCharles Martin SmithBrian DennehyZachary IttimangnaqA government researcher, sent to research the "menace" of wolves in the north, learns about the true beneficial and positive nature of the species.I think over again my small adventures,
... My fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big.
For all the vital things I had to get and to reach.
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing.
To live to see ... the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world.
--Old Inuit song - DirectorJean-Jacques AnnaudStarsTchéky KaryoBart the BearYouk the BearAn orphan bear cub hooks up with an adult male as they try to dodge human hunters."The greatest thrill is not to kill but to let live."
--J.O. Curwood - DirectorGreta GerwigStarsSaoirse RonanLaurie MetcalfTracy LettsIn 2002, an artistically inclined 17-year-old girl comes of age in Sacramento, California.“Anybody who talks about California hedonism has never spent a Christmas in Sacramento.”
--Joan Didion. - DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsUma ThurmanDavid CarradineDaryl HannahAfter awakening from a four-year coma, a former assassin wreaks vengeance on the team of assassins who betrayed her."Revenge is a dish best served cold."
--Old Klingon Proverb - DirectorJohn MiliusStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerJames Earl JonesMax von SydowA powerful warrior seeks to avenge the genocide of his people and the murder of his parents at the hands of a snake cult."That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
--Fredrick Nietzche - DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyDuring the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.The rush of battle is often a potent and lethal addiction, for war is a drug.
– Chris Hedges - DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.....And these children
that you spit on
as they try to change their worlds
are immune to your consultations.
They're quite aware
of what they're going through...
– David Bowie