Life Affirming Films with Paul O

The recent massacre in Aurora Colorado has had Hollywood players and critics questioning– is there too much darkness in film?  We’ll be the first to admit that we don’t shy away from violence in film.  Some of our favorite directors use extreme violence.  But obviously, nobody lives on darkness alone.  So we asked one of the best  movie critics in the country– Paul O — to put together his list of 10, make that 15, make that….uhhh, we lost count…a lot of the brightest, lightest, happy-go-luckiest life affirming films to remind us of the lighter side of Hollywood.

scroll to the bottom for paul o’s original, unedited submission.

 

* * *

Being John Malkovich.

All of Charlie Kaufman’s scripts are surreal and fanciful as they attempt to grapple with the existential comedy of life. This one captured a large following by making something impossible seem very real. It suggested we all want happiness even if it means we have to become someone else.

The Lovely Bones.

People who speak to us from beyond the grave often suggest that life is not what we think it is when we are living it. Like American Beauty and What Dreams May Come, they suggest that we understand how beautiful life will seem to us once it is over.

Ghost.

Love is forever especially when you are a ghost. This hugely popular film made us believe that those we love the most won’t be gone when they die. They will be trying to talk to us and hold us and they will never really be gone.

One Flew Over the Cuckoos’s Nest.

Randle P. McMurphy is no saint but he doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. Like his kindred spirit, Cool Hand Luke, he simply wants to grab as life by the ass with both hands. The irrepressible spirit and the unstoppable life force ultimately will get caged but it’s power tends to be contagious and will live on forever.

Starman.

Jeff Bridges is brilliant expressing someone who is alien but tries to be human even if he is constantly struggling to understand what that is. Like ET, Contact and 2001, it suggest some aliens might think we are not totally worthless.

On the Beach.

This all star epic from the sixties is definitely a message film. The big one has been dropped and those that are left know there is only a short time to say goodbye. Like the current film with Steve Carrell Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, it’s always easier to get your priorities straight when it’s all over. A little movie called Titanic shares this point of view.

Bruce Almighty.

So what happens when Morgan Freeman comes down from heaven. He meets Jim Carrey (or Steve Carrell in the sequel) and we finally come to understand how hard Morgan Freeman’s job is.

Paths of Glory.

Kubrick is the master and all of his war films reinforce the stupidity of war from different perspectives. This one is the most emotionally direct and poignant of Stanley’s films.

Schindler’s List.

All of Steven Spielberg’s films are life-affirming to a certain degree but none more so than this Oscar bait. It shows the indomitable human spirit under the worst of all circumstances and how our better nature can take over even when we don’t want it to.

Moonstruck.

Certain films are magical. They exist in the real world but the characters are sprinkled with some kind of fairy dust or in this case moon dust. They just make you happy. Two other films that make me just as happy are Local Hero and My Favorite Year.

The Elephant Man.

On occasion, David Lynch makes films that are not crazy and weird, like The Straight Story or The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man may look weird but no one could be more human. It makes us all ashamed that we are not better people.

A.I.

When Kubrick and Spielberg got together some people thought they produced something less than the sum of their parts. I’m not so sure. Like Blade Runner, it suggest that robots sometimes appreciate human life more than humans do. And like, The Sixth Sense and Pay It Forward, Little Haley Joel Osmant is always adorable.

The Sound of Music.

A good musical should always make us feel better but none more so than the biggest musical of them all. This is a perennial like the Wizard of Oz, in which a heroine with a heart of gold charms us with a pretty voice and a pure spirit.

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Most people who pick a James Stewart/Frank Capra vehicle go with It’s a Wonderful Life. Hey, I won’t complain, but something about Mr. Smith’s steadfast fight for good is ultimately more stirring to me.

Terms of Endearment.

Debra Winger plays someone so human that I could watch her story a hundred times. By the end of the movie, she has left a legacy of love that will be locked forever in the hearts of all who have known her. A fantastic comedy and the greatest tearjerker of all time.

* * *

The Honorable Mentions:  Raising Arizona, Fur, Wings of Desire, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Magnolia, Harvey, The Jerk, Cast Away, American Graffiti, The Big Chill, Harvey, The Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Forty Year old Virgin, The World According to Garp, Inherit the Wind, Shampoo, Pleasantville, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Moulon Rouge, When Harry Met Sally, Manhattan, Field of Dreams, Forrest Gump, Rocky, The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Elliot, Rushmore, Good Will Hunting, Groundhog Day, Pretty Woman, The Deer Hunter, Erin Brokovich, Amelie, Rain Man, Lars & the Real Girl, Midnight Cowboy, The Big Year, Little Miss Sunshine, Mr Holland’s Opus, Breaking Away, Always, The Grapes of Wrath, Warrior, Hugo, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Superman, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe, Meatballs, Scrooged, Life Is Beautiful, Diner, Jerry McQuire, Life as a House, Almost Famous, Stranger Than Fiction, Sideways, The Descendents, Young Adult, The Vow, The Notebook, Elf, Blazing Saddles, Apollo 13, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Big, Mrs. Doubtfire, Juno, Iris, Big Fish, Back to the Future, The Artist, The Help, Cinema Paradiso, War Horse, Dead Poet’s Society, Good Morning Vietnam, An Officer and a Gentleman, Win Win, The Station Agent, Milk, There’s Something about Mary, Hereafter, Dead Man Walking, The Hunger Games, Jeff Who Lives at Home, Boogie Nights, Fargo, Caddyshack, Do the Right Thing, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Wedding Singer, Reign Over Me, Punch Drunk Love, You Can’t Take it with You, City Lights, Chasing Amy, Benny and Joon, Edward Scissorhands, A Family Thing, Sling Blade, Saving Private Ryan, Love Actually, Saturday Night Fever, King Kong, Nurse Betty, Footloose, Dirty Dancing, The Color Purple, Amistad, The Pianist, Rent, Hair, etc. etc.


Life-affirming films

Let’s say you believe in God. Not everyone does but let’s just
say we do for the moment. It is the rare
believer that God chooses to talk to. I know God has never talked to
me, but I believe in him anyway. I do
know that his plan seems to be to leave us on own. We may pray and it
may seem sometimes that he
answers our prayers but we never know for sure. It’s not like he comes
down and tells us what’s what.
We have many religious books that tell us what we should do to reach
that higher plane, whatever that may
be depending on what book you read.
Let’s say you don’t believe in God, then what? Many atheists
believe in living a life of strict moral
standards as if that makes them better than a hypocritical and
delusional religious person. Or perhaps
they choose a life of nihilism in which they owe nothing to the world
except to take from it what will satisfy
them without regard for consequences.
The point is whether you believe or don’t believe, God has left
us to our free will. And we have made a
mess of things. We are the top of the food chain on this planet because
we have a superior intelligence, but
we can’t get the simple things right. If you are a Christian, you are
told to love God and love each other. It
seems simple enough but most people find it difficult for various
reasons. Many prefer to be angry, violent,
prejudiced, thoughtless, rude, cruel or uncaring, as is their right.
The most popular films right now seem to be big over top
spectacles involving super humans or super
beings of some form somewhat less than God but much greater than us.
Yet they are locked in the eternal
struggle between good and evil. You think they would have solved that
problem by now.
I am writing this shortly after the infamous, horrific shooting
at a midnight screening of The Dark
Knight Rises. This Batman trilogy is dominated by internally tortured
villains who want to cause mass death
and destruction. The angry, thoughtless, cruel and violent can identify
with these role models.
Some of us think it would be nice if we could make a better
world where everyone does love each
other but it is stupid to think it is possible.
Still we can try anyway.
I would like to say everyone should see Pay It Forward but lots
of people are put off by it’s aggressive
altruism. They don’t find it believable.
So I will make a list that may be palatable because it’s not
quite as obvious in it’s attempts to make us
better people. To make a short list is difficult because there are lots
to choose from, easily thousands and
thousands. Musicals and comedies are fairly likely to have a positive
message but many of them have turned
ugly. I should say I am not one who wants to censor, even a little bit.
Bring it all on. I will absorb it all no
matter what dark and distasteful hole it comes out of. But also bring
on the bright and sunny and sugary and
saccharine and sentimental. It does not repulse me.
The list I have is very long so I have tried to prune it down.
I have made the list as short as I could
possibly bear.
15. Being John Malkovich – All of Charlie Kaufman’s scripts are
surreal and fanciful as they attempt to
grapple with the existential comedy of life. This one captured a large
following by making something
impossible seem very real. It suggested we all want happiness even if
it means we have to become someone
else.
14. The Lovely Bones – People who speak to us from beyond the
grave often suggest that life is not
what we think it is when we are living it. Like American Beauty and
What Dreams May Come, they suggest
that we understand how beautiful life will seem to us once it is over.

13. Ghost – Love is forever especially when you are a ghost.
This hugely popular film made us believe
that those we love the most won’t be gone when they die. They will be
trying to talk to us and hold us and
They will never really be gone.
12. One Flew Over the Cuckoos’s Nest – Randle P. McMurphy is no
saint but he doesn’t have a mean
bone in his body. Like his kindred spirit, Cool Hand Luke, he simply
wants to grab as life by the ass with
both hands. The irrepressible spirit and the unstoppable life force
ultimately will get caged but it’s power
tends to be contagious and will live on forever.
11. Starman – Jeff Bridges is brilliant expressing someone who
is alien but tries to be human even if
he is constantly struggling to understand what that is. Like ET,
Contact and 2001, it suggest some aliens
might think we are not totally worthless.
10. On the Beach – This all star epic from the sixties is
definitely a message film. The big one has
been dropped and those that are left know there is only a short time to
say goodbye. Like the current film
with Steve Carrell Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, it’s
always easier to get your priorities
straight when it’s all over. A little movie called Titanic shares this
point of view.
09. Bruce Almighty – So what happens when Morgan Freeman comes
down from heaven. He meets
Jim Carrey (or Steve Carrell in the sequel) and we finally come to
understand how hard Morgan Freeman’s
job is.
08. Paths of Glory – Kubrick is the master and all of his war
films reinforce the stupidity of war from
different perspectives. This one is the most emotionally direct and
poignant of Stanley’s films.
07. Schindler’s List – All of Steven Spielberg’s films are
life-affirming to a certain degree but none
more so than this Oscar bait. It shows the indomitable human spirit
under the worst of all circumstances and
how our better nature can take over even when we don’t want it to.
06. Moonstruck – Certain films are magical. They exist in the
real world but the characters are
sprinkled with some kind of fairy dust or in this case moon dust. They
just make you happy. Two other
films that make me just as happy are Local Hero and My Favorite Year.
05. The Elephant Man – On occasion, David Lynch makes films
that are not crazy and weird, like The
Straight Story or The Elephant Man. The Elephant Man may look weird but
no one could be more human. It
makes us all ashamed that we are not better people.
04. A.I. – When Kubrick and Spielberg got together some people
thought they produced something
less than the sum of their parts. I’m not so sure. Like Blade Runner,
it suggest that robots sometimes
appreciate human life more than humans do. And like, The Sixth Sense
and Pay It Forward, Little Haley
Joel Osmant is always adorable.
03. The Sound of Music – A good musical should always make us
feel better but none more so than
the biggest musical of them all. This is a perennial like the Wizard of
Oz, in which a heroine with a heart of
gold charms us with a pretty voice and a pure spirit.
02. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington – Most people who pick a
James Stewart/Frank Capra vehicle go
with It’s a Wonderful Life. Hey, I won’t complain, but something about
Mr. Smith’s steadfast fight for good
is ultimately more stirring to me.
01. Terms of Endearment – Debra Winger plays someone so human
that I could watch her story a
hundred times. By the end of the movie, she has left a legacy of love
that will be locked forever in the hearts
of all who have known her. A fantastic comedy and the greatest
tearjerker of all time.

Here are some honorable mentions. Just some. I couldn’t resist.
Raising Arizona, Fur, Wings of Desire, What’s Eating Gilbert
Grape, Magnolia, Harvey, The Jerk,
Cast Away, American Graffiti, The Big Chill, Harvey, The Eternal
Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, The Forty
Year old Virgin, The World According to Garp, Inherit the Wind,
Shampoo, Pleasantville, The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button, Moulon Rouge, When Harry Met Sally, Manhattan,
Field of Dreams, Forrest
Gump, Rocky, The Shawshank Redemption, Billy Elliot, Rushmore, Good
Will Hunting, Groundhog Day,
Pretty Woman, The Deer Hunter, Erin Brokovich, Amelie, Rain Man, Lars &
the Real Girl, Midnight
Cowboy, The Big Year, Little Miss Sunshine, Mr Holland’s Opus, Breaking
Away, Always, The Grapes of
Wrath, Warrior, Hugo, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, Superman,
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolfe,
Meatballs, Scrooged, Life Is Beautiful, Diner, Jerry McQuire, Life as a
House, Almost Famous, Stranger
Than Fiction, Sideways, The Descendents, Young Adult, The Vow, The
Notebook, Elf, Blazing Saddles,
Apollo 13, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Big, Mrs. Doubtfire, Juno, Iris,
Big Fish, Back to the Future,
The Artist, The Help, Cinema Paradiso, War Horse, Dead Poet’s Society,
Good Morning Vietnam,
An Officer and a Gentleman, Win Win, The Station Agent, Milk, There’s
Something about Mary, Hereafter
Dead Man Walking, The Hunger Games, Jeff who lives at Home, Boogie
Nights, Fargo, Caddyshack
Do the Right Thing, Oh Brother Where Art Thou, The Wedding Singer,
Reign Over Me, Punch Drunk
Love, You Can’t Take it with You, City Lights, Chasing Amy, Benny and
Joon, Edward Scissorhands
A Family Thing, Sling Blade, Saving Private Ryan, Love Actually,
Saturday Night Fever, King Kong,
Nurse Betty, Footloose, Dirty Dancing, The Color Purple, Amistad, The
Pianist, Rent, Hair, etc. etc.

The following two tabs change content below.

Latest posts by Unfiltered Submission (see all)