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The most powerful films

I think it is a pretty powerful thing to say that a movie "changed" you.


The only movie I can think of that had a profound effect on me is Porky's II.
 
The Matrix and 28 Days Later both had an impact on me- but more one of thought-provocation. Emotionally impacting movies for me include Love Actually, Dances With Wolves and Rob Roy
 
I remembered another one over the weekend: Hotel Rwanda. I saw this back in February, and this is what I wrote about it.

Do you recall the Whitlams song about East Timor?

--
Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight
Kept driving on quietly home
Left the Timorese alone
--

Well, that's what it was like watching this movie. How could such genocide happen in our lifetime? It also showed what the fighting was about. There are two groups in Rwanda - the Hutus and the Tootsies. I always assumed that they were different tribes, but in fact they were segregated back in colonial times by the Belgians. When the Belgians left, the Tootsies were selected to run the country, and people were placed in that groups due to their lighter skin, thinner noses (they actually measured them to decide) and other characteristics that made them 'nearer to whites'. The rest were Hutu. Everyone was either of these groups - about 84% of Rwandans were Hutu, and 14% were Tootsie. Obviously the Tootsies were treated better as their people were in the government.

The Hutus overthrew the Tootsie government a few years later (like that was unforeseen when you have such an imbalance in power and population like that). Conflict continued until 1994, when the President of Rwanda (a Hutu) was shot down in his plane on the way to peace talks with the Tootsie rebel army. All hell broke loose, leading to the massacre of over a million Tootsies. Hutu people had to either kill or be killed for being traitors to the 'Tootsie cockroaches'.

I strongly recommend watching this movie. It's sad in many ways because it has happened, but my understanding is that this genocide continues and still nobody is looking in Rwandas direction. It's a shame they don't have any oil in that country, or perhaps the Western governments might care a little more and do something to stop such atrocities.

----------------------
400 MILES FROM DARWIN
We pay to shed a sombre tear in the darkness together here
One among the hundreds, crying for the millions
And when the house lights break the trance
Only then unclasp our hands
Compose ourselves and fix our hair
"We would have all been Schindler there"
Drive in silence slowly home
Now horror's more than skin and bone

And can you see in twenty years
We'll pay to shed the same cheap tears
In a film about an island, watch our hero take a stand
Pay our money gladly to wash our hands

Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight
Kept driving on quietly home
Left the Timorese alone - 400 miles from Darwin

The two-minute hate is now the three-hour love
With any action left to up above
Those people then could turn their heads
Now all the same we sleep instead
While 400 miles from Darwin
East Timor is dying

Watching the movie we'll ask how the people might have known
Let it happen there without a fight
Kept driving on quietly home
Left the Timorese alone - 400 miles from Darwin
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What about Midnight Express. It's definitely one of my top three movies; the ending made me want to jump up and cheer, punch the air etc.
 
I agree with you Kook and Ronny, American History X was one amazing film that I really don't ever want to see again. Same with The Ring, I have never been so scared by a movie and I would be delighted to never see or hear of it again... it lives too powerfully for me still at 3 a.m.

But, on the lighter side, I also have to list Amelie. I never thought someone could so perfectly capture the joy that can be found in everyday life on film. It's stunning.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy was also fantastic. It combined spectacular visual effects with the best parts of Tolkien's books and philosophy.

And, I also feel compelled to mention Jurassic Park. I saw it at a fairly young age in the theater and again, the visual effects made the movie an unforgettable experience for me.
 
Libra6Poe said:
Chasing Amy
Dogma
Stigmata
Shawshank Redemption
Those have had a strong impact on me.
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Dogma was quite an interesting movie. I don't know if it rocked my world, but it was enjoyable nevertheless. :)
 
The Quiet Man

I don't think it's profound but I do love that film. For a little while I am swept away to the Emerald Isle until I hear a car honking outside. :p
 
raffaellabella said:
The Quiet Man

I don't think it's profound but I do love that film. For a little while I am swept away to the Emerald Isle until I hear a car honking outside. :p
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Definitely not a typical John Wayne flick, but good. I like it,too.

Has it been colorized, or is the "painted on" look just a product of the technology of the day?
 
raffaellabella said:
The Quiet Man

I don't think it's profound but I do love that film. For a little while I am swept away to the Emerald Isle until I hear a car honking outside. :p
Click to expand...


You have got to be kidding. How do you like the scene where he beats his wife with a stick while the whole town cheers him on? Think he taught her a good lesson there? John Wayne was the most pathetic cowardly sack of shit to ever work in Hollywood, and that movie is a giant misogynistic suckfest.
 
Do you remember an earlier scene where MaryKate goes to slap Sean and Micheline says, ""Is this a courtin' or a donnybrook? Have the good manners not to hit the man until he's your husband and until he can hit you back."

There is also another scene where MaryKate says to her brother "do that and there'll be a fine wake in this house tonight.", all while she's holding a huge ceramic jug to hit him with.

It's a cultural thing. It was very common in Europe amongst the small town people for them to be very passionate and hot tempered, and both men and women would take to putting their hands on each other.

As for John Wayne, I'm not a huge fan of his work or of him as a person because of his political beliefs and homophobia, but I do like him in this film and thought he did a good job of playing the part of Sean.
 
raffaellabella said:
The Quiet Man

I don't think it's profound but I do love that film. For a little while I am swept away to the Emerald Isle until I hear a car honking outside. :p
Click to expand...

This is one of my favorite movies!
 
novella said:
John Wayne was the most pathetic cowardly sack of shit to ever work in Hollywood, and that movie is a giant misogynistic suckfest.
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So, not a Duke fan, huh?
 
These made me re-evaluate life:
Simon Birch (I was crying for 15 minutes after the movie ended)
Pay It Forward
Five People You Meet In Heaven

These made me love life:
American Pie (Series)
Dirty Dancing
 
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