the whole world of personal development and cell discovery is very often associated with books which makes sense in a way ,since there are just a lot of great books written through out the years, but there are so many movies that also hold great stories and can teach you some very valuable life lessons
so i wanted to take the time to share which movies that i've ever seen in my entire life so far had the biggest impact on me and in a certain way change the way i look at some things now or think about certain things i'm going to do my best to share
why these movies in specific stood out for me from the rest and why you might want to watch these for yourself as well
5. the pursuit of happiness (2006)
this is the story of an entrepreneurial man who's forced to live on the streets with his son when he's struggling to sell his bone density scanners until one day he gets an opportunity to start a career as a stock broker,
only there are many applicants for a job and there's only one position available, so he does everything in his power to be that chosen person for a better life for him and his son. despite the position he's in overall. it's quite a sad story with a couple of hard-hitting scenes in it, but it doesn't go over the top which makes it still feel very real
what this movie still makes me think of every time i think of it is that when we see people, we always only see a glance of them. most likely their best side but there are always things going on that we don't know about that people don't want us to see.we're all so much more alike than we might think sometimes and we all go through times of uncertainty and desperation, we just really like to hide this
besides that and the perseverance of the character that will smith plays so well with the fact that the movie is based on a true story makes this one to me stand out as much as it does you
4. Life of Pi (2012)
life of pie tells a story about the journey of an indian boy who has to survive in a lifeboat with a male bengal tiger as its only company. the movie itself is about a writer who visits, the man who lived this story because it's told that it could make him believe in god, and although it's definitely partly centered around faith, it shares way more than only that,
because there is hidden meaning in just about everything through out the whole movie from the actions of the characters to the colors of objects and scenery.
to me it teaches a lot about our perception on things in general, and that it's always our very own choice how we look at things.
but besides that it's a story about never losing hope, about gratitude, about the way we look at things, that at first might seem as threats because they push us out of our comfort zones, but are sometimes way more valuable and needed than we might think even if you're not religious at all in.
my opinion this movie is one to watch for everyone because it's so deeply layered and on top of that, besides all valuable lessons that it shares to me the visuals alone, already make this one worth watching
3. Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
i'm gonna be honest, this one exceeded all my expectations. i think partly because it's an anime and i haven't seen a lot of anime movies in my life because, to be honest i somehow always associated, them with over-the-top fight scenes but grave of the fireflies is almost the exact opposite of that, without giving away too much of the story, it's about a teenage boy who is giving everything, he has to keep himself and his younger sister alive, during the final months of the second world war.
it's truly a masterpiece when it comes to showing the value and fragility of life, and how short and painful it can be, and it makes you think about a lot of things.
it shows that no one knows what tomorrow will bring, that you should be grateful for what you have and don't take everything you have for granted, how the little things can and maybe should become the big things, that we should be kind to others in need, because the story is based in the second world war it shows very clearly that the suffering goes way beyond only the soldiers directly involved
2. Forrest Gumb (1994)
forrest gump is about a mentally disabled man who goes through life in his very own way, and that's where all the magic is hidden in this movie. it's essentially about two philosophies, to believe in a destiny and they believe that you make your own destiny . it makes you think about how we can deal with the chance elements, that come into our lives at any given moment, about how many people have fixed ideas about how things are supposed to go, and the story really highlights the contrast of the people in this movie with this mindset, the might set a forest who's open to everything that comes onto his path.
the movie in general and especially the main character teaches about the importance of being present, about curiosity and generosity about not taking yourself too seriously, but just as well about staying optimistic and about treating everyone equally.
overall i think this movie has the power to make a lot of people rethink their approach to life.
before we go to my number one i want to share a few honorable mentions who are in my opinion still too good to be left unmentioned
The Truman Show (1998)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Goodwill Hunting (1997)
Soul (2020)
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
at last my number one
into the wild is based on the true story of christopher mccandless aka alexander supertramp whose dream is to go live in the wilderness of alaska, all by himself, when he finds no place in the society and family he grew up.
the reason why into the wild is as of today still my number one is because of the relatability of chris on a level that i've very rarely seen on screen, i've seen his decision to approach this big adventure being debated on a few places, but the core essence of his thoughts and his why is i think relatable to so many people, including me
as much as i love deeply layered movies, this one shines to me in its simplicity everything that's going on in chris's head is well explained by himself or by other characters, which makes it in some way very approachable and easy to see yourself in chris's place, i don't want to go too deep to expose what the story really wants to tell but even if i did i think no summary can do this nearly as good as the whole movie itself
lastly i just want to say that some of these movies are not directly my favorite movies of all time when it purely comes to entertainment, but when it comes to delivering a certain message or making you really think about something these five do it for me still better than anything i've ever seen so far now