A Week of Movie Recommendations: Movies of Hope
Ever since shelter in place began in March, on my Facebook page, I have been recommending a film daily. Several people have asked if I could compile those recommendations. So this begins a series of recommendations where each day I recommend a movie based on a theme.
The theme for this week is Movies of Hope. During this difficult time, I thought it wise to watch and recommend movies that evaluate the human spirit and soul. Not all are happy, but all lift us up.
Movies of Hope
Day 1 Movie Recommendation
This week's movie recommendations will be focusing on films that illustrate humanity at it's best. That doesn't mean there isn't conflict or struggle, in fact, it is so often during those dark times that humanity can shine a light through the darkness.
"Casablanca" ****
I had to begin this recommendation list with perhaps the most hopeful film ever made. A film that demonstrates humanity lost through it's main character Rick. Rick was once a man who cared about the world, fighting with the underdog against enormous opposition like in Ethiopia against the Italians; but, heartbreak, depression, and loneliness have turned Rick to apathy. "I stick my neck out for no man." Reclusive and miserable, he hides in a remote corner of the world, Casablanca, where he runs a cafe.
Rick is all of us. At some point in our lives, we have experienced loss, the end of a meaningful relationship, the loss of dreams, or perhaps become disillusioned with the world; however, the film "Casablanca" shows us how Rick rediscovers his humanity and realizes the importance of sacrifice. When able to rekindle that love that was lost, something he has desired for years, he instead makes the noble sacrifice to let her go and joins the war against the Nazi's himself.
Throughout this film, there are so many moments of humanity exerting the best of itself: whether it is Rick aiding a young couple in getting enough money for an exit visa, or Victor singing "La Marseillaise" over the voices of the Third Reich, or the slimy Captain Renault tossing the bottle of Vichy water into the trash and joining the resistance himself, to, of course, Rick's final monologue. These scenes remind us of the importance of fighting for our beliefs, the need to care for each other in our common humanity, and for the importance of sacrifice during trying times.
No wonder, "Casablanca" remains of the great films of all time.
Rather than the trailer, here is the "La Marseillaise"'s scene from "Casablanca"
Day 2 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"In America" ****
Just about all of Jim Sheridan's films could be in this category, but for me, the one that stands above the rest is "In America".
A family has lost a child. They are struggling emotionally to simply get by. When the youngest daughter remarks "you don't play with us anymore" to her father, he says, "I do plays with yas" and she reminds him "not like you used to." Indeed, not like when Frankie was alive.
To try and start over, they sneak across the border into America. Life is not easy and yet even within these difficult times, there is magic. They move into a rundown apartment where a lot of drug addicts live. And there is a frightening room that has painted all over it "Keep Away" from which they can hear a man screaming. But through this family's courage and love, they get through it. One Halloween night, the two daughters go trick-or-treating and knock on the door that says "Keep Away". There they meet the screaming man, Mateo, who becomes the family's best friend.
Through all of this, the movie is narrated by one of the most incredible characters I've ever seen placed on screen. The eldest daughter, who is 12, narrates the story to her brother, Frankie, who is in heaven. She is indeed the rock that has carried this family. The moment at the end that brings forgiveness, hope, and ability to move is because of her brilliant insight. The gift of her wisdom allows everyone in the family to heal.
The film was written by Jim Sheridan and his two daughters, combining Jim's loss of his brother when he was a child, with moving to America with his daughters into one magical story.
If you have not seen this one, please watch it and let the magic of this film carry you away.
Day 3 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"Groundhog Day" ****
When I was too young to understand "Groundhog Day", my father took me to see it in theaters I wanted to go because it was a Bill Murray comedy and there were some funny moments, but there was also so much sadness. I didn't understand. Seeing it again a couple years later, the movie moved in a way that few since have. The Dalai Lama once said that he thought "Groundhog Day" was the most spiritual film ever made. I agree.
Here we have a story about a man in the middle of his life: Phil Connors. He is a weather man who sees himself as a celebrity. He struts out his ego, cannot understand why any woman would not fall for him, because inside, he hates his life. Then, by a circumstance of fate never explained, Phil begins to relieve the same day over and over. While for Phil this is a reality, for us, it is symbolically true. We are creatures of patterns and behavior. It takes a lot to get us out of our limited selves.
Phil at first confronts this realization as he does everything else in life: "why me?" But after a night of drunken driving on railroad tracks that leads to prison, he wakes up to find himself living the same day again, back in his bed at a bed and breakfast. He is now ecstatic. He uses his new found realization of a life "without consequences" to satisfy his desires and selfish pleasures. But as the months and years wear on of doing this, he grows into despair. Eventually, he tries to kill himself in multiple ways increasingly both humorous and horrific.
Finally, Phil changes. He starts to do things to better himself, to learn to play the piano, to help a lady whose tired has blown, to help a man choking, all of this stems from a seminal moment in the film when Phil takes a homeless man whom he has passed by for years while living this day over and over to the hospital. At the hospital, the old man dies. Phil cannot believe this. While he has been living it up, this old man has been dying on the streets by himself every night. When the nurse tells him "it was just his time to die" Phil responds "not today". We then see him care for the old man, trying to save him time and time again. And it is here, that Phil comes to a remarkable spiritual awakening, even with this new found power, there are some things he cannot do.
Eventually, he lives the life of a good person and he wakes up the next morning and it is tomorrow. The journey for him was literal, for us, it is metaphorical. We all go through this and it reminds us to live in the present moment, to be the best person we can. It is the best explanation of Karma and reincarnation ever put on screen. No wonder the Dalai Lama thought so highly of this film.
Day 4 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"Wings of Desire" ****
Alright, I will admit, this is not an easy movie. It is "slow" and not driven by "plot", but what a beautiful film. "Wings of Desire" is a meditative piece following two angels. These angels are not angels in the traditional sense of beings with wings who have God given powers. Instead, these angels, and their roll in the universe, is to be witnesses. They bare witness to the incredible and emotional lives of people. They listen to a holocaust survivor's memories, and the fears of a trapeze artist who is afraid she will fall, and a woman who has hopes to earn enough money to move south.
We follow two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) whose existences are lonely. They may only observe human life, but cannot participate in it. As a result, we, like the angels, bare witness to the complexity and beauty of human life. The angel's point of view is shot in a bluish tint or merely monochromatic, representing the lack of color and emotion in their existence. Yet, human life is shot in color, showing the vast array of human emotions and experiences.
Eventually, Damiel decides that he wants to become human. He has fallen in love with a woman. By becoming human, he moves from merely being a witness to being a participant and this is where he experiences the joys and follies of being alive.
Ultimately, Win Wenders' film meditates on the incredible gift that human existence is. It is not a plot driven movie, but rather one where you feel the angels isolation and separation, before being plunged into our world to see it with new eyes. It is a remarkable achievement.
Day 5 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"Cinema Paradiso" ****
A filmmaker, Salvatore, returns home to find out from his girlfriend that someone named Alfredo has died. Thus begins a journey into the past when the filmmaker was a boy and movies were magic.
"Cinema Paradiso" crafts a traditional coming of age story, but does so with a palpable love of cinema that elevates this story to something special and beautiful.
A young Salvatore, whose home life is not great, finds the local movie theater as a safe place. There he meets Alfredo, the older film projectionist for whom projecting films is a religious calling. Part of that job includes censoring films. Every time a new film arrives, the local priest comes to the cinema, carrying a bell. As he watches the film, each time something objectionable occurs, the priest rings the bell and then Alfredo must cut that moment from the film. Collecting the trails of censored images and memories on the floor. The priest objects to anything of a carnal nature including a mere kiss. Yet, Alfredo knows that this is the price that he must pay in order to bring these important images to the town.
At first, Salvatore is considered a nuisance to Alfredo but slowly they develop an important bond. Alfredo trains Salvatore as an apprentice, but more than that, he becomes a missing father figure. Here though is where the film becomes something magical. There is a sense the the films are his mother, providing the nurture and love that Salvatore needs.
Even in the face of tragedy, Alfredo and Salvatore's relationship grows closer and their bond is forever linked to the theater. It is indeed a heavenly paradise.
"Cinema Paradiso" celebrates a love for film and thus life like few other films. It is beautiful and moving. The score is one of the greatest cinema has ever heard. This is why I love film.
Day 5 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"Ikiru" ****
Mr. Watanabe is dying, though he doesn't know it. "Ikiru" begins with an x-ray of his stomach and an unknown narrator informs us that "he has gastric cancer, although he doesn't know it yet...He just drifts through life. In fact, he is barely alive" At the midpoint of "Ikiru" there could not be a more depressing film. Told through flashbacks from Mr. Watanabe's funeral, the film listens to his colleagues remember him, before taking us back to see the man as he really was.
Mr. Watanabe has worked at the same government department for 30 years. He has accomplished nothing. In a telling visual, he sits at his desk supervising with a pile of papers on one side to do and another that is done, they are the same size.
He first learns about his diagnosis in the worst way. He hears someone in the doctor's office describing his symptoms nonchalantly. The stranger says if they tell you you can eat anything you want, you know you have a year left. That is precisely what his doctor says to him a few moments later.
Forced to reflect upon his life, he realizes that his life has been a waste. Taking an absence from work, he asks a female coworker to spend the day with him. They go to the movies where they talk about the nicknames everyone is given in the office. His is "The Mummy". She is worried she has offended him, but he responds: "I became a mummy for the sake of my son, but he doesn't appreciate me." He and his son do not really speak anymore.
But then something happens, Mr. Watanabe decides that he is going to accomplish something before he passes. He dedicates himself to building a children's park. The symbolism of this is amazing. The scene of him going in the snow to the park he has built, sitting in a swing next to an empty one but being totally content is one of the most hopeful shots in history.
The psychologist, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, who created the stages of grief, collected stories from those who were experiencing death. She belived that the nearness of death forces a certain perspective and reflection that causes great wisdom. She asked why can't we learn from this before that moment. In her final work, which was co-written as she passed away, "Life Lessons", she explores just that. In the end, Mr. Watanabe finds joy, contentment, and peace with his life.
Day 7 Movie Recommendation
Continuing our recommendations for movies that inspire hope for humanity.
"Hoop Dreams" ****
On the surface, "Hoop Dreams" is a documentary of two teenagers, Arthur Agee and William Gates, who are in 8th grade when this film starts, who are scouted as basketball talents and recruited by St. Joseph's High School in west suburb Westchester, just outside of Chicago. William lives in the Cabrini Green Project and Arthur on the lower east side. What started as an idea for a documentary short that ends up spanning six years in these two families' lives as their children go through 8th grade and eventually on into their first year of college. Although both kids begin with dreams of being the next Isiah Thomas who also graduated from St. Joseph's, or even Michael Jordan, the reality is that so few people ever make the NBA.
Even though their dreams do not come true, and even though the families face untold hardships that are captured in a documentary that truly seems to understand the ebb and flow of real life, what is remarkable and so hopeful is that neither family ever gives up. When one child's father relapses into drug addiction, or one family can't pay the bills and the power is shut off, there is always someone who jumps in to help. The families sacrifice to ensure their children receive this opportunity. The kids themselves commute 90 mins each way to school. A mother secretly is going to night class on top of her job and being a mother and graduates near the end of the film with a degree in nursing in order to be able to give more to her family.
In these poor communities, there is a sense of community, love, sacrifice, that permeates these two families. giving all of us hope.
