Inspirational films/documentaries

[edward126]

Like most forums there is always an abundance of threads for films/movies but they are usually about which are the most gross, violent, crap, overrated etc. I wanted to start a thread about films or documentaries that are good, inspirational even, stuff that has you thinking and gives you a warm happy feeling that makes you glad that you watched it. They may even make you cry a little. No matter how crap i feel i know that somewhere someone has documented people who are completely worse off then me. They then through a cinematic journey put my life into complete perspective and make me realise that i really don't have it so bad.

This happened last night when i watched the documentary The Horse Boy.
Formally known as. A father's journey to heal his son.

The documentary follows Rupert Isaacson, his wife and their Autistic son Rowan as they journey across Mongolia in search of a cure or some relief for Rowan's Autism amongst the people of Mongolia. The reason why they went to Mongolia is all down to a neighbours horse called Betsy. Rowan escaped from his father one day and ran into the neighbour's paddock where Betsy was, instead of shying away Betsy stood her ground and a deep rooted relationship developed between the boy and the horse. Rupert has been around horses all his life and began to ride Betsy with Rowan.

He instantly saw an improvement in the behaviour of Rowan and began to notice how different Rowan was around other animals but especially around Betsy. Rupert is a travel writer and journalist and has travelled throughout Africa and met it's people including tribal Shamans and according to him has seen some remarkable healing done by the Shamans. He then came up with a crazy idea to combine horses with Shamans to see if they could in any way help Rowan. Hence the journey through Mongolia.

This is a remarkable story, it is more than a chronicle of Rowan and his family's journey across this vast, wild landscape. It delves into the strange world of autism itself, the relationship between humans and animals, between different cultures, different ways of being (autistic versus normal) and the nature of healing.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1333668/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1lbDuQyydU

[maildude]

I just added the film on my Netflix queue.

[anklebiter]

Pretty obvious, but I love Christmas movies.I'm fairly devout, and very faithful, and stories about people's faith, and embracing the good in humanity always choke me up.it's a wonderful life get's me every time.

[Estreeter]

From The Earth To The Moon


A bit of history goes a long way too expand your general knowledge,
Great Mini Series

[Giacson]

Cinderella Man


The story of boxer Jim Braddock and his struggle to overcome poverty and keep his family together in 1930's depression.

[Giacson]

Before The Music Dies


Earned a 7.9/10 here
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0760307/

This documentary discusses how certain genres of music arent getting a fair chance at being heard on public radio. It makes you appreciate those that continue to struggle to be heard but saddened, even a little angry, at those kept down because they dont fit into todays mainstream. I had never heard of the Clear Channel broadcasting corporation before seeing this and just how powerful they've become.

[sydney1]

There's one on right now on channel 4 in Great Britain, it's called, "Mad hot ballroom".
A documentary about young kids dancing in New York. Watch it, it's brilliant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Hot_Ballroom

[elton dong]

Nijushi no hitomi AKA Twenty-Four Eyes (1954)




Schoolteacher Hisako Oishi struggles to imbue her students with a positive view of the world and their place in it, despite the fact that she knows full well that most of them will die in the war. One of the most moving films I have ever seen, a Masterpiece imho.

[scoundrel]

It depends what sort of inspiration you mean.



To take me back to my childhood and how it felt to look forward innocently to Christmas, the 1947 classic, Miracle On 34th Street.


For a sense of romantic love in its purest form, I think of Ava Gardner as the Goddess Venus, walking the earth to restore real love to its rightful place in the modern world in the 1948 film One Touch Of Venus, only she falls in love with a mere mortal herself.


For the film which can still invariably make me cry, even today, it has to be Dumbo, the 1941 Disney cartoon, specifically the scene where Dumbo's mother has been chained and labelled a 'Mad Elephant' because she stood up for Dumbo when the other mean, nasty elephants were bullying him. He visits her in her prison, but she is chained down and when Dumbo cries to see his mother treated like this she cannot reach her baby to comfort him. Never be ashamed to cry if you witness such cruelty as this.

[scoundrel]

There's another one I just thought of, a made for TV film with some very indifferent acting here and there but a wonderful (and true) story. To save the future of an endangered species of goose in Canada, a man hatched an abandonned clutch of eggs and taught the goslings to fly by making them follow him when he took to the air in a motorised microlight hand-glider thing. The big problem with the geese wasn't only population: development of land in the States meant that the survivors were down to one migration route south because all their ponds were being drained and all their feeding grounds being built on. So the man searched out a viable migration path with ponds and feeding ground, then when winter came he flew the route south and the geese followed him to join the other flocks in their final winter home. A simple, ingenious and utterly delightful thing for an honest man to do, and I do find this little story inspiring.

I'm very sorry that I don't remember the name of the film.