Gandhi.
it’s a wonderful film, looking at individual morality, group morality, nation-building, nation-breaking and one man’s influence.
Two scenes that are still with me, even though it’s been years since I watched it.
The fasting-unto-death Gandhiji, trying to stop the rioting and deaths. A Hindu man is brought to him - he’s mourning the death of his son in the riots and who has killed a Muslim in retaliation. The man says “I am in hell.” Gandhiji says: “I know the way out of hell.”
And then, the sequence of independence and partition scenes: the shot of the Indian flag being raised in Delhi, with pomp and ceremony; the Pakistan flag being raised in Karachi, with more pomp and ceremony; and then Gandhi’s ashram, with no flags at all.
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Oxbow Incident
Treasure of the Sierra Madre (not so much thought-provoking as it is just good film making) Of Mice and Men, with Gary Sinise, John Malkovich and Ray Walston
The Life of David Gale was a very thought provoking movie for me - Kevin Spacey stars as the eponymous character, a college professor and longtime activist against capital punishment who is sentenced to death for killing a fellow capital punishment opponent.
“The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.”
I don’t get much of an opportunity to offer this one up, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen it, so this might not be the right place, but how about Rabbit-Proof Fence.
I had a much longer post, but the hamsters ate it. Maybe, like you, they had an appetite for substantive films.
In any case, here are three movies you might like:
[ul]
[li]The Chess Players. This is the movie that first got Martin Scorcese interested in films, IIRC. The whole thing’s up on YouTube now, with subtitles. [/li][li]Brave New Land, a film that’s about colonialism, cultural identity, and brutality in the formation of Brazil. It’s also an exploration of how otherwise cultured, good, and sensitive people can do horrible things.[/li][li]Once Upon A Time in America IMHO, this is actually a much better film than The Godfather. It’s a mafia epic, but it’s also a critique of the American class structure, an acute observation of how everyone changes over time, and a meditation on the relationship between truth and memory.[/li][/ul]
For my money, the best science fiction movie ever: Primer. It will make you think and think and think and think again in order to get what actually happened.
I also really like The Machinist, which features a terrific performance from Christian Bale.
Green is another movie that requires thinking to keep up with what’s going on and will linger in the back of your mind for years.
I’m kind of surprised that nobody’s mentioned The Stunt Man yet; it’s one of my all-time favorites.
I could list lots more (I have several thousand movies in my collection), but I’ll give others a chance to post.
Two of my favorite films Traffic and Syriana, both written by Stephen Gaghan, are incredibly real and involved depictions of the war on drugs and the wars for oil, respectively. Neither give simple answers and both suggest that the problems are too complex for any single person to fully understand, let alone solve. The latter point is highlighted by the complete lack of exposition in either movie. There’s no character that explains what’s going on, you’re simply presented with the events as they unfold.
Agreed. Perhaps the best movie most people have not seen.
Saaraba, a film that’s about romance, social inequality, and post-colonial culture in Senegal. The plot and the people are much more complex than they seem.
The Kids Are Alright really had me discussing the characters and their possible future with many friends afterwards - a very moving, human story that just feels very “real” and raises a lot of questions without giving you the answers to go with it.
For head-scratching, “What was that?”-type amazement I recommend* Mulholland Drive*, what a rollercoaster! Beautifully shot, and also will make you think about what you just saw.
I’m actually watching White Dog at the moment, which is something I had never heard of and, seeing as how it’s on Netflix Instant, figured it wasn’t going to be great. I have to say, it’s a pretty good movie and might fit the OPs criteria.