A friend recently asked “If you could watch only one movie, what would it be?” This is an incredibly hard question. In the end, my answer was the documentary Weapons of the Spirit, a story of the town Le Chambon that sheltered around 5,000 jews during the Nazi occupation. The cinematography isn’t amazing but the story is compelling. The story isn’t about a larger than life hero, but a conspiracy of goodness and the power of a community.
Hope
Life can be hard, and sometimes it seems like evil prospers while good suffers. I appreciate movies which remind me that love, goodness and truth can triumph over hate, evil and lies. The following movies can be tough to watch but have a message that it’s worth fighting for goodness, and what seems impossible, can be possible.
- Schindler’s List (1993)
- Hotel Rwanda (2004)
- Killing Fields, The (1984)
- One Life (2023)
- Lord of The Ring: Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Two Towers (2002), Return of the King (2003)
- Shawshank Redemption, The (1994)
- Ben-Hur (1959)
- Gandhi (1982)
- 12 Angry Men (1957)
- To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
- Hidden Figures (2016)
- Pay it Forward (2000)
- Thirteen Lives (2022)
- Bank of Dave (2023)
- The Rescue (2021)
Gentle
People are amazing, and the connections between people are precious. I can enjoy movies which capture the simple joys of family and friendship or humble excellence.
- My Neighbor Totoro (1993)
- Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993)
- The Road Home – Wo de fu qin mu qin (1999)
- Fabuleux destin d’Amélie Poulain, Le (2001)
- Toy Story (1991)
- Mission Joy (2015)
- Lion (2016)
- I Will Push You
- The Kindness Diaries
- Forest Gump
- Babette’s Feast (1987)
- Lunana: Yak in my Classroom (2019)
- Searching for the Sugar Man (2012)
- The Best Enemies (2019)
- Refuge (2021)
Guilty Pleasure
Movies which are just fun. Some have too much violence but you just want to cheer for some of the characters. Sometimes the plot is so ridiculous that the movie is hilarious.
- Princess Bride, The (1987)
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
- Die Hard (1988)
- Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
- Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
- Blazing Saddles (1974)
- Armageddon (1998)
- Star Wars (1977)
- Aliens (1986)
- Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
- Groundhog Day (1993)
- Catch Me If You Can (2002)
- Space Cowboys (2000)
- My Cousin Vinny (1992)
Classics
Movies that I saw multiple times growing up and just assume everyone has watched at one time or another.
- Vertigo (1958)
- Bridge on the River Kwai, The (1957)
- It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
- African Queen, The (1951)
- North by Northwest (1959)
- The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)
- Singin in The Rain (1952)
- The Sound of Music (1965)
- Miracle on 34th Street
- Wizard of Oz
- It Happened One Night
Our World
Movies or DVDs about the amazing world we live in.
- Blue Planet (2001)
- Planet Earth (2006)
- An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
- The National Parks: America’s Best Idea (2009)
- March of the Penguins (2005)
- The Biggest Little Farm (2018)
- Wild Life (2023)
Check Out
Recommended by trusted friends but not watched yet
- Sunshine (1999)
- The Seventh Seal
- Castaways on the Moon
