Films That Changed My Life
An evolving film list with titles I believe have something profound to say.
I’ve previously made some of my book recommendations available to my paid subscribers, and this piece intends to do the same with films. Film, like other art forms, has the ability to speak to something within the human condition in a way that is uniquely its own.
Of course, delving into the topics of films may bring up the idea of “predictive programming” and deliberately creating and pushing certain films or ideas in order to sway a population into believing in certain ideas. It seems to certain to say that it definitely exists, but that doesn’t mean we have to completely abstain from all films for the fear that it may show its head and influence us. Instead, I will quite happily watch a film and sometimes even play a game with either myself or whoever is watching trying to work out if there are any predictive programming elements included. And, as is often the case, there are still many incredibly valuable lessons that a range of films can teach us.
Here are some films that I think can teach us some great things, in alphabetical order:
Contents
A Clockwork Orange
Arrival
Blade Runner
Brazil
Dead Poets Society
The Lighthouse
Metropolis
My Dinner With Andre
Network
The Truman Show
A Clockwork Orange
It took two attempts for me to watch A Clockwork Orange. The first time, I got five minutes in, but the person I was watching it with was too creeped out by the atmosphere to continue with it, so we switched to something else. I’m incredibly glad I returned to it though.
A Clockwork Orange is a commentary on youth whose upbringings have been destroyed by broken family structures and a decaying society. Now addicted to “ultra-violence” and sexual deviancy, the solution from the elders of society, rather than trying to reconnect and heal the relationship they have with their youth, simply aim to brainwash them and use mind control to try and fix the situation. Something tells me our current reality really isn’t too far away from this.
Arrival
Arrival was the film that got me back in to reading, ironically. It was the very first film that inspired me to read the short story it was based on. And - also ironically - I actually prefer the film version to the original story, with them adding in some really great elements that flesh out the exploration of language and how it is we communicate. I also think it’s one of the first films I can remember enjoying specifically because there’s no real action or fight sequences akin to other science fiction epics of the same era. Instead, there’s just great storytelling. Bonus points too for creating inventive alien designs that don’t just look like people.
Blade Runner
If I had to pick one film on this entire list as “my favourite”, this would probably be the one. Regarded as a sci-fi masterpiece for good reasons, Blade Runner examines a dystopian world, following Harrison Ford’s character as he’s tasked with “retiring” Replicants - or artificially-created humans - who have rebelled or no longer serve a purpose. It’s a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human, the rise of artificial intelligence, and whether the world we have created for ourselves has made us less human.
Brazil
From one dystopian film to another - albeit this one being far more satirical in nature. Terry Gilliam (of Monty Python fame) does wonders in creating a hybrid of Orwell’s “1984” with a laughably bureaucratic nightmare where everything requires a form. While it still has some exceptionally dark moments, I found the more humorous take on the dystopian technocratic society to be very refreshing, and has a lot to say on where many Western societies have found themselves.
Dead Poets Society
It might be unsurprising to see this film on a poet’s film list. However, this was actually a very recent watch for me, but I’m incredibly glad I did due to how deeply it resonated with me.
I do feel that poetry is something that can have ripples in all areas of life, and Dead Poet’s Society does a great job at exploring this. It spoke profoundly to my own experience with poetry, too, having discovered the power of poetry to evoke emotion thanks to my own English teacher. As coming-of-age films go, I’ve yet to find one better than this.
The Lighthouse
I enjoy my cosmic and Lovecraftian horrors a lot, and I played with having a few different options included for the initial list of films. I ultimately settled on this film from Robert Eggers, which explores the descent of two sailors on a remote island into madness. It’s also based on an unfinished story by Edgar Allan Poe - the mastermind behind one of my favourite poems.
I enjoy horror as an exploration of what can happen in the absence of positive influence in our lives. Here, the absence of community, nature, and safety push these men to their limits, both literally and psychologically. I know it’s been too strange of a film for some of my friends, but with some incredible acting and great pacing, it kept me hooked.
Metropolis
This will likely be an unsurprising inclusion for anyone familiar with my work. I am, after all, re-translating the novel version - by the same author as the screenplay - to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its release.
There’s good reason why the film is regarded as one of the greatest science fiction films of all time. A society where a working class slave away at machines to support a lavish lifestyle of the elites, only to have controlled opposition planted within the brewing rebellion to derail their plot? Sounds familiar.
My Dinner With Andre
Out of all the films on this list, this is probably the strangest one in terms of its premise. That being, two friends meet for dinner after not seeing each other in years. And that’s the entire film. What makes it one of my favourite films is because of how engaging and riveting they make such a premise, and it’s a fantastic display of what respectful dialogue between people with differing worldviews can look like. I think its very much a film that many more of us can learn something from.
Network
Exploiting the news to keep people hooked on television and media? If living through it in real-life wasn’t enough for you, then perhaps Network will satiate the need. It’s a great parable about the power of manufactured outrage and the use (and abuse) of media pundits by organisations wanting to push agendas and make a profit in the process. No wonder we’re all as mad as hell and can’t take it any more.
The Truman Show
And if using media to control the masses in Network wasn’t enough… well, then there’s The Truman Show, albeit very different to the former. Here, a baby grows up to have his entire life become a reality TV show - without him even knowing it. It gets to the extent that he lives his life inside a film set, completely unaware that he’s being watched by the entire world.
And then the illusion begins to fall apart.
I think it’s a beautiful allegory that, no matter how much we try to control other people or the world that they should live in, such attempts will ultimately never succeed. It is a film where the divinity of the human spirit triumphs, and it does it expertly. One of Jim Carrey’s finest roles, for sure.
UPDATE: I have since released a follow-up to this piece exploring even more films that changed my life. You can check those out at the article below:
