# The top 5 movies that have moved you **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438 "2005-08-17T14:51:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/41 "2005-08-22T02:47:04Z")
1. **12 Angry Men.** 2. **Crooklyn.** 3. **Boyz In the Hood.** 4. **Auntie Mame.** 5. (Tie) Parts I and II of the mini-series, **Eyes On The Prize.** ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/42 "2005-08-22T02:48:32Z")
> [@Phlosphr](#): > > **Rivers and Tides** (Andy Goldsworthy - because that’s me) You’re Andy Goldsworthy? I love your work. ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2005, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/43 "2005-08-22T03:09:20Z")
Hi, I’m a sucker for working/competitive animals- so _Seabiscuit_ was very moving for me (I once was reduced to sobbing watching the show jumper Big Ben run a winning course at one of his last competition in torrential rain). _Immortal Beloved_ has , IMHO, the most moving scene ever in a movie. They are performing the “Ode to Joy” and it flashes back to Beethoven’s abusive childhood and it just really hits you at what this man was able to accomplish despite having a horrible father and being almost completely deaf. Its amazing… Most of the movies based on Jane Austen’s writings move me just based on the beauty of the language. So does the movie _Trainspotting_ - the dialogue is just gorgeous. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Big\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8baadc/32.png) [@The\_Big\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Big_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/44 "2005-08-27T01:20:44Z")
Nice thread… I like foreign movies, they take me to that part of the world in a way, and it’s easier to ‘move’ me. **Before The Rain**. It’s a Macedonian movie. Opens your eyes to things in that part of the wolrd during war, and everything is not as it seems. If you liked Underground, see this. My favorite. **Love Actually** - Makes me laugh, cry and wish I was in love, actually. **American Beauty** - Seemed so similar in some ways to my life, but not all thankfully. \*\*Europa Europa \*\*- How easy my life is compared to others… **Ponette** - the French movie someone else mentioned, that poor kid went thru so much, and what her mother says at the end is what makes me remember it…won’t spoil it. She was amazingly good actress for a kid, and all the kids were. I always wonder how they filmed that with them. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/45 "2005-08-27T02:47:02Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > **To Kill a Mockingbird** > > He’s not a hero… Oh, yes…he is. No offense intended. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2005, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/46 "2005-08-27T03:23:32Z")
I cried like a baby at the end of **A River Runs Through It**. It was an absolutely beautiful movie. ---
**Author:** ![Avarie537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/48db29/32.png) [@Avarie537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avarie537)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/47 "2005-08-28T23:50:25Z")
Mulan - I have father issues What Dreams May Come - Just wow Those are the only two that come to mind right now. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/48 "2005-08-29T02:14:06Z")
Moved me, eh? In no particular order: **Adaptation** : Kaufman managed to avoid adapting _The Orchid Thief_ by grasping onto the central theme (the pursuit of passion and meaning) and satirizing his own life. It _could_ have been a gimmick–screenwriter writes himself into own story–and if that were all it had been it wouldn’t have been either that enduring or original. Instead, he made it a treatise on…well, every fear and insecurity that holds one back from pursuing some dream, including the recursive nature of chronic negativity, the fear that what one is doing isn’t “good enough”, and the love/hate relationship with success and formula. **Rear Window** : Hitchcock’s best film; nominally about a man who may or may not have killed his wife and disposed of the body; really, a deconstruction of human relationships and our trust and empathy for each other. Jeff and Lisa’s reactions to the behavior of various neighbors all serves to highlight their own differences with each other, and Stella Ritter gets some of the most perversely amusing lines ever scripted. (“Must 'ave splattered a lot.”) There are more layers to this story than any film I can think of, save perhaps for the Mamet-penned _Ronin_. **The Bicycle Thief** : Just a very simple, neorealist film about a man struggling to provide for his family in post-war Rome and coping with the endless cycle of poverty as his prize possession (needed to maintain employment) is casually stolen by another impoverished man. The most heartbreaking scene is where he takes his son into a restaurant and they “splurge” on pizza and wine, but the boy envies the people at the next table who are eating pasta (which they can’t afford) and the meal loses all appeal. Antonio’s attempt to steal a bike in the end (to replace the one that was stolen from him) perpetuates the cycle of impoverishment and self-predation. **Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb** : There is virtually no single line in this film that hasn’t, in some context, been used to justify the post-WWII buildup of the defense industry, the stockpiling of nuclear weapons, and the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction. Although the screenplay is nominally based upon the _Fail-Safe_-esque novel _Red Alert_ by Peter George, significant plot points and concepts seem to be drawn directly from pogroms of the John Birch Society, statements of General Curtis LeMay, and Herman Kahn’s (in)famous tract on nuclear deterrence and survivability, _On Thermonuclear War_. Kubrick even reportedly consulted with Kahn, and Dr. Strangelove’s critique of the “Doomday Device” and plans regarding mineshaft shelters are only slightly exaggerated from Kahn’s book. _Threads_ and _The Day After_ might have painted a horrifying picture of nuclear war, but Kubrick’s satire shows just now narrow the line is between “sane” strategic policy and dangerously absurdist bombast. And, well, I guess I’m just going to have to pick a final one: **Roman Holiday** : The film illustrates that everyone, even the supposedly powerful, are subject to obligations, and have to make choices that result in sacrifice. The end scene, where Peck communicates to Hepburn that he’ll keep the story and pictures private, and where she has to bid him (and the carefree anominity she knew for a single day) farewell is bittersweet perfection, and the last shot, of Peck walking alone through the empty hall, is one of the greatest in motion picture history (along with the end of _The Third Man_, _Citizen Kane_, and _Raiders of the Lost Ark_). There are too many more to list here, but I agree with several choices above, and would add as honorable mentions: _The Wild Bunch_, _The Godfather_, _Bladerunner_, _Das Boot_ (certainly the best naval movie, and perhaps the best war movie ever made), _All Quiet On The Western Front_, _The Return_, _Ronin_, _Yojimbo_, _Rashomon_, _Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind_, _Being John Malkovich_, _Best In Show_, _The Fog Of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara_, _Brazil_, _Chinatown_, _Sideways_, _Raging Bull_, _Taxi Driver_, and _The Third Man_. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Bomzaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Bomzaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bomzaway)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/49 "2005-08-29T03:18:10Z")
The Shawshank Redemption - “Get busy livin’, or get busy dying. That’s damn right.” Saving Private Ryan - The first 20 minutes is amazing, but I am most moved by the reciting of the letter from Abe Lincoln. Shakespeare in Love - it really is an excellent movie. Many think Shawshank was ripped off for the Oscar that year, but I think SIL just edges out SR. Why? I don’t know. It’s a mystery. War of the Worlds - “moved” in this case would refer to the tension that this film inflicted on me throughout. I’m not affected by horror films much, but this one knotted me up pretty well. Speilberg is a master manipulator of emotion, and I can usually resist his tricks, but he got me good on this one. That train scene. Damn. To Kill a Mockingbird - I think this one actually tops my list, and the reasons for it are obvious. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/50 "2005-08-29T04:03:18Z")
> [@Avarie537](#): > > Mulan - I have father issues I’m going to [start a thread for us](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=6519324#post6519324) right now. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/51 "2005-08-29T05:48:18Z")
Many of the movies here have moved me, but there’s one not yet listed: **Children of Heaven**. It’s a simple movie about a boy who loses his sister’s shoes; the family doesn’t have enough money to buy her another pair, so he and his sister agree to share his shoes. They don’t tell the parents, and one scene is the most perfect example of two conversations going forward at once: the kids are doing their homework, while the parents chat over their heads about inconsequential things, and the children work out their deal through looks and gestures. Incredible. It’s from Iran, so it’s subtitled, but so much of the movie is conveyed other than through words that I suspect even kids would get it. ---
**Author:** ![Large\_Marge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/50afbb/32.png) [@Large\_Marge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Large_Marge)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438/52 "2005-08-29T09:10:35Z")
**The Power of One** **Glory** **Out of Africa** **Blue** **Seven Years in Tibet** All are stories of struggle, hope, and the human condition [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-top-5-movies-that-have-moved-you/317438.md?page=2)