Just believe: 10 faith-based movies to stream

Life can be cruel, with nasty surprises around every corner waiting to hold you down. But in that moment of crisis, streaming platform Showmax has a number of inspirational faith-centric movies that will give you clarity, inspire you and bring peace to your life as you tackle your obstacles head-on.

Quick links

1. The Unbreakable Boy

2. The Forge

3. Nacho Libre

4. Conclave

5. Redeeming Love

6. The Miracle Club

7. Playing God

8. Noah’s Ark

9. Pete Holmes Dirty Clean

10. Dominee Tienie

Fun with 10 faith-based movies

1. The Unbreakable Boy

Biographical drama based on the memoir The Unbreakable Boy: A Father's Fear, a Son's Courage, and a Story of Unconditional Love by Scott Michael LeRette and Susy Flory. Scott (Zachary Levi) and Teresa LeRette’s (Meghann Fahy) marriage is tested when their newborn son Austin is diagnosed with osteogenesis imperfecta (brittle bone disease). His care becomes even more complicated as he grows, and Austin (with Roy Jackson Miller as child Austin, and Jacob Laval as teenaged Austin) battles at school, in public, and at home thanks to undiagnosed autism. The birth of a second son and the family’s growing financial difficulties strain Scott and Teresa to breaking point, and Scott turns to alcohol abuse. But down-to-earth priest Preacher Rick (Peter Facinelli) manages to help guide Scott back onto the right path, as he shifts his focus from suffering, to joy and gratitude.

2. The Forge

The Kendrick brothers’ follow-up to their acclaimed movie War Room centres on 19-year-old Isaiah Wright’s (Aspen Kennedy) steps into adulthood when his mom Cynthia (Priscilla Shirer) insists that he get a job. Isaiah’s couldn’t-care-less attitude starts to shift when Joshua Moore (Cameron Arnett), the owner of Moore Fitness, takes him under his wing. While Cynthia turns to community member Miss Clara (Karen Abercrombie) for support in prayer, Joshua gets Isaiah into bible study and volunteering. As Isaiah joins Christian Men’s Group The Forge, Joshua’s wife Janelle tells him that he’s not the only one getting a second chance, and she opens up about how she and Josua lost their own son. 

3. Nacho Libre

This comedy is loosely based on the story of Mexican Catholic priest and orphanage director Sergio Gutiérrez Benítez’s 23-year career as the masked luchador (Mexican wrestler), Fray Tormenta (Friar Storm). Jack Black plays Catholic friar Ignacio, who works as a cook for the Oaxaca monastery orphanage, where he was raised after his parents died when he was a baby. Ignacio is secretly obsessed with lucha libre wrestling, but his church has banned wrestling from the monastery, believing it promotes the sin of vanity. When Ignacio sees the orphans suffering because there’s so little money to feed them, though, he persuades a street thief named Steven (Héctor Jiménez) to become his secret wrestling tag-team partner. And as Nacho and Esqueleto, they start to rise through the ranks and thrill crowds.

4. Conclave

Premiering in August 2024, this political thriller and Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar winner predates the death of Pope Francis in April 2025. The Dean (Ralph Fiennes) of the College of Cardinals assembles church leaders to elect a new pope, and to investigate the four radically different cardinals – progressive American Cardinal Aldo Bellini (Stanley Tucci), Canadian moderate Cardinal Joseph Tremblay (John Lithgow), Conservative Nigerian Cardinal Joshua Adeyemi (Lucian Msamati), and Italian traditionalist Cardinal Goffredo Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto) – who emerge as frontrunners. The investigation turns up shocking secrets including broken vows, vote rigging, and a mysterious cancelled medical appointment. 

5. Redeeming Love

Filmed in South Africa, this historical drama is based on the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. During the 1850s California Gold Rush, a sex trafficking victim named Angel (Abigail Cowen) gets a second chance at life when a farmer named Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis), who’s been praying for a wife, falls in love with her at first sight. The film explores Angel’s life of abuse, from her difficult childhood as Sarah, who was born out of wedlock thanks to her cheating father’s affair with his mistress, Mae (Nina Dobrev), and his abandonment of Mae and Sarah, which saw Mae turn to prostitution to support them. Michael works with patience and understanding to prove to Sarah/Angel that he can be trusted, while Duke (Eric Dane), the pimp who “bought” Sarah and turned her into Angel, continues to wreck her life. 

6. The Miracle Club

We’re going to France! But think less cheese and wine, and more church and signs. In 1967, three Irish women, who form a band called The Miracles, win a talent show organised by the Catholic Church. Their prize? A some-expenses-paid trip to exotic Lourdes in France! Each has a secret miracle they’re hoping for and despite their husbands’ protests, off they go, along with the estranged daughter of one of their friends who’s in Ireland for her mother’s funeral. Strap in for pregnancy drama, freezing cold holy water, sins, secrets, forgiveness, and reconciliation. With Dame Maggie Smith (in her final role before her death), Kathy Bates, Agnes O’Casey, and Laura Linney.

7. Playing God

Twin brother and sister con artists Rachel (Hannah Kasulka) and Micah (Luke Benward) persuade their mentor, Frank (Michael McKean), to pretend to be God, after they tell grieving self-made billionaire Ben (Alan Tudyk), who recently lost his daughter, that they can set up a face-to-face meeting between him and the Almighty. It’s so crazy it just might work! There are two problems, though. Rachel is feeling the twinges of a conscience, and has only agreed to the mad scheme to help Micah to pay off a debt to the vicious Vaughn (Marc Menchaca). And Ben might be desperate, but he’s no dummy. He insists on seeing more than some cold reading tricks before he’ll believe that Frank is actually God. And he has a lot of twisty theological questions to ask. 

8. Noah’s Ark

This child-friendly musical animation, inspired by poems written by Brazilian musicians Vinicius de Moraes and Antônio Carlos Jobim, follows brother mice Tom (Marcelo Adnet) and Vini (Rodrigo Santoro) as they plot to sneak aboard Noah's Ark with the help of Alfonso the Mexican cockroach (Christopher Corey Smith) after overhearing God talking to Noah (Ian James Corlett) about the coming flood. Meanwhile aboard the ark, the carnivores are throwing their weight around, and the hyenas are helping themselves to the stores of food. 

9. Pete Holmes: Dirty Clean

American standup comedian, husband and father to a newborn baby (at the time of filming this comedy special), Pete Holmes draws on his Christian upbringing and faith to connect with audiences on both big questions about the afterlife (and why the life we live is infinitely stranger than any afterlife we have ever imagined) and the nature of heaven and hell. On the sillier side, he also shares his dream of opening a buffet restaurant named “God Helps Those Who Help Themselves.” A king of observational comedy, Pete also pokes fun at regular life, congratulating his audience for leaving the house at all, and telling us that if the best part of sleeping is falling asleep, you’ll love having a baby, because you get to enjoy that part (and only that part) about 22 times a night!

10. Dominee Tienie

After 16 years tending to a rapidly dwindling flock, ultra-conservative Dominee Tienie Benadé (Frank Opperman) is at a crossroads. Tienie starts alienating his wife and children next, as he grouchily tries to get to grips with the times. After an incident with a dying homeless man acts as a real-wakeup call, though, Tienie becomes more determined than ever to become the guiding light in his community that he once was … by actually getting to know the community and their needs, rather than setting himself apart.