Films have the power to encourage us to reflect on our own lives and, in some cases, can even inspire real-world change and a switch in viewpoints or beliefs. Through thought-provoking stories of people overcoming adversity or inspiring films that make you want to give it all up and travel the world, movies can immerse viewers in different worlds and allow them to see life from different angles. As poignant stories of personal struggles demonstrate the resilience of the human spirit, audiences can take their message on board and apply it to their own lives.

Sometimes, a great movie is all that’s needed to push a person toward a decision they have long been considering. Whether it’s through uplifting biographical dramas or existential explorations of personal struggle, cinema truly has the power to change our lives and completely reshape the way that we look at life. While not everyone will have the same realization when watching an inspiring film, the right movie at the right time can truly transform the way you look at life, love, and the world as a whole.

10

Life as a House (2001)

Directed by Irwin Winkler

Life as a House told a heartwarming story of personal redemption as a terminally ill man attempts to repair his relationship with his ex-wife and teenage son. When George Monroe’s (Kevin Kline) cancer diagnosis means he only has a few months to live, he decides to use what time he has left to work on turning the shack left to him by his father into his own custom house. While repairing the home with his estranged son, the house acts as a thoughtful metaphor for George’s own broken family.

Through themes of redemption, healing, and accepting life’s hardships, Life as a House reminded viewers that it’s never too late to try and mend broken relationships. As this fractured family slowly starts to find new meaning, audiences can also use this story to reflect on their own damaged relationships and the people that they want to reach out to. While Life as a House received mixed reviews and was lambasted by some as a shameless tearjerker, its underlying message about the potential for second chances was truly inspiring.

9

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013)

Directed by Ben Stiller

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty was the kind of inspirational movie that makes you want to give it all up and travel the world. Starring Ben Stiller as Walter Mitty, this negative ᴀssets manager was fed up with humdrum life behind the scenes at Life magazine and yearned to give in to his chronic daydreaming and embark on an epic quest. This insatiable need became so great that Walter finally gave in to this undeniable call and went on a globe-spanning search for a missing negative pH๏τo print and an elusive pH๏τojournalist needed for the magazine’s final print issue.

With an inspiring premise, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty tapped into the universal human impulse to break free from the monotony of everyday life. With a fantastic mix of fantasy and surrealism, viewers were brought directly into Walter’s mind through spectacular displays of pure imaginative wonder. Through a powerful message that encourages viewers to seize the day, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty will inspire you to look at life through a new lens.

8

Captain Fantastic (2016)

Directed by Matt Ross

There are so many things about the manner in which we live our lives that are carried out just because that’s the commonly accepted way of doing things. However, Captain Fantastic highlights how social systems can be challenged as a father raises his children away from mainstream society in the mountainous wilderness of Washington State. With Viggo Mortensen as the bohemian patriarch Ben Cash, Captain Fantastic highlighted that life can truly be whatever you want to make of it.

While there were many positives to the unusual upbringing of Cash’s family, Captain Fantastic also addressed the negative consequences of raising your children off-grid. With a thought-provoking narrative that saw the family face legal consequences as they attempted to reintegrate into society, the most impressive thing about Captain Fantastic was the way it encouraged viewers to question the natural order of things. While the film could have offered a more nuanced, skeptical, or critical glimpse into these alternate parenting methods, the result was still a fascinating glimpse into those who attempt to eschew the status quo.

7

I, Daniel Blake (2016)

Directed by Ken Loach

For over 50 years, British director Ken Loach has encouraged viewers to rethink the way they look at life with thought-provoking films that highlight a socialist worldview. A prime example of this was I, Daniel Blake, the Palme d’Or-winning drama that told the story of a middle-aged man who was denied Employment and Support Allowance despite being declared unfit to work by his doctor. As a glimpse into the challenges faced by society’s most vulnerable members, this empathetic film will force you to reckon with how struggling people are cast aside by unfair economic and political systems.

I, Daniel Blake starred Dave Johns as the тιтle character who’s stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare that sees him left behind by the welfare system with no plausible way to support himself financially. Along the way, Daniel encounters the young mother, Katie, who found herself at a food bank because she was unable to feed herself or her children. As a moving and thought-provoking piece of filmmaking, I, Daniel Blake will have you rethinking the punishing way the world is constructed and campaigning for change.

6

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Directed by Charlie Kaufman

Few films have tapped into the all-encompᴀssing nature of everyday living better than Synecdoche, New York. With Philip Seymour Hoffman as Caden Cotard, this postmodern psychological drama saw this ailing stage director attempt to put on a play of his own life as the elaborate stage production continued to grow in vastness while the lines between fact and fiction started to blur. Writer and director Charlie Kaufman brought the same surreal energy as he did in the script for Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to this anxiety-inducing exploration of human experience.

With themes of death and decay, watching as Caden tried to find meaning in his faltering marriage and fractured relationship with his daughter was a lesson in the ethereal nature of life itself. As a film filled with missed opportunities and a deep sense of regret, Hoffman’s depiction of a man in crisis acted as a cautionary tale for viewers to hang onto the things that are important to them. While Synecdoche, New York may conjure anxiety in some viewers, it could also convince you to take charge of your life.

5

About Time (2013)

Directed by Richard Curtis

There’s not a person alive who hasn’t pondered the possibility of being able to go back in time and right the wrongs of the past. This fascinating concept was powerfully explored in About Time, Richard Curtis’s beautiful pontification on themes of destiny, love, and the need to accept life’s challenges and pain. Telling the story of Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson), a man from a family whose men can travel through time, it soon became apparent that this extraordinary ability was not without its consequences.

While About Time shared several similarities with other releases, such as The Time Traveler’s Wife, this thought-provoking movie addressed its themes with far more depth and intrigue. As Tim is forced to accept that he can’t make changes without causing irreparable damage, like undoing the birth of his own child, About Time highlights that it’s impossible to live a life with zero regrets in an unabashedly sentimental story. As a thoughtful depiction of an ordinary man’s out-of-the-ordinary life, About Time will have you appreciating the things about your life story that you wouldn’t change.

4

Into the Wild (2007)

Directed by Sean Penn

Sean Penn’s extraordinary biographical drama Into the Wild will have you looking at nature with new eyes and pondering the endless potential of life’s adventure. Telling the tragic true story of Christopher McCandless, also known as Alexander Supertramp, the young student who donated his college savings and gave it all up to embark on a journey through the wilderness of America, Into the Wild highlighted the insatiable tenacity of the human spirit. With an uncompromising way of living, McCandless’s journey was truly inspiring.

However, Into the Wild also acted as a cautionary tale, as McCandless sadly pᴀssed away in the Alaskan wilderness in the abandoned bus he had used as shelter. With an eventful but all-too-brief life that saw him die at just 24, Into the Wild was both a tribute and warning that highlighted the good and bad of attempting to give it all up and live a nomadic lifestyle. As a film that demonstrated the power of not being held back by societal expectations, Into the Wild was both beautiful and harrowing.

3

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

Directed by Gabriele Muccino

Life is categorized by struggle, and few movies captured the resilience of the human spirit in the face of great hardship better than The Pursuit of Happyness. As one of Will Smith’s most poignant and heartfelt roles, The Pursuit of Happyness saw him play the struggling salesman Chris Gardner and his difficult journey from homelessness to success. With Smith’s real-life son Jaden playing his young child, The Pursuit of Happyness addressed the infinite nature of a father’s love and unwavering belief that better times are ahead.

The Pursuit of Happyness was the kind of movie that could be totally life-changing if watched at the right moment, as Gardner’s universal struggles mimic the day-to-day challenges of countless citizens around the world. While audiences watched Gardner at his lowest ebb, the story of this film showcased a man who pushed back against all setbacks to carve out a better future.

2

The Truman Show (1998)

Directed by Peter Weir

We really have no choice but to accept life as it is and make peace with reality as it’s presented to us. However, The Truman Show questioned the very nature of existence and laid out a situation where everything that happens to a man, every persona he interacts with, and every aspect of his life was a carefully constructed lie within an elaborate reality TV show. Through an astounding performance from Jim Carrey, The Truman Show will have you taking a side-eyed glance at your life and wondering if there’s even the tiniest possibility that it’s all one big lie.

Watching as Truman Burbank slowly realized that everything he thought he ever knew was false was an inspiring reminder of the things we take for granted. As Truman pushed back against the people, producers, and even the elements that tried to stop him from escaping his reality TV prison, The Truman Show thoughtfully highlighted the importance of freedom and an individualist right to personal autonomy.

1

ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society (1989)

Directed by Peter Weir

While people are constantly learning and growing, it’s during adolescence when you are most prone to changing the way you look at life and discovering new aspects of yourself. This point of self-discovery and self-expression was powerfully explored in ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society, Peter Weir’s powerful love letter to life, literature, and living. With Robin Williams giving one of his career-defining performances as the inspiring English teacher John Keating, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society has inspired countless viewers to embrace the ethos of “carpe diem” and seize the day.

As Keating’s pᴀssionate teaching methods encouraged students such as Ethan Hawke’s Todd Anderson to embrace their individuality, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society helped viewers at home try and do the same. While some watch movies as a form of pᴀssive entertainment, for those paying attention, they can help guide and encourage viewers to live bravely. As one of the greatest school-set movies ever made, ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Poets Society was a thought-provoking and inspiring movie that surely changed countless people’s lives for the better.