Movies that speak to us

Certain movies resonate with something inside us.  Our favorites are those we can watch over and over and still enjoy them.  They may not be blockbusters, critically acclaimed or even popular with others.  But there is something about them that makes them rhyme with who we are.

There are three movies that stand out for me.  They have stood the test of time in that once they were “on the list”, they’ve stayed there.  Maybe it’s an age thing.  As I’ve grown older, certain things I have been taught have been confirmed through experience.  Sometimes sweet experience and other times bitter. Here they are:

1. It’s a Wonderful Life - I have been watching this since I was a kid. It is a family tradition in our house on Christmas Eve. As the kids have grown older they seem to find other things to draw them away from the room once the show starts.  But I bet they will come back once they get kids of their own or have seen enough bad road that comes with life. The movie reminds me that we may never know how we impact others; but we do have an impact.  That doing the right thing sometimes comes at a cost. That despair can disappear in an instant.  That nothing is more precious than to love and be loved.

2. Groundhog Day – Lots of people think Caddyshack is Bill Murray’s best work.  They’re wrong. It’s Groundhog Day hands down.  He has the perfect persona – smug arrogance wrapped in cleverness and sarcasm – the perfect “it’s all about me” guy waking up every morning to do the same day over and learn from his mistakes each time.  He is able to wrench every bit of possible material and physical pleasure from each day only to find himself miserable.  When he eventually discovers the only true joy is shedding his selfishness, he is able to escape the cycle.  Plus he becomes a darn good piano player along the way.

3. Defending Your Life – Albert Brooks is a comic, writer and director and this is he at his best. Brooks, a neurotic ad exec, takes a wrong turn in a tunnel on an afternoon bike ride and finds himself in Judgment City along with other recently departed.  Each will spend the next days with counsel, prosecutor and a panel of judges reviewing video of how they dealt with fear in their lives.  This will determine whether they will progress onward or be sent back. All the while the food is great and after hour activities include a memorable scene at the Hall of Previous Lives, a sort of autobiographical peek show arcade. He meets and falls in love with Meryl Streep whose life was full of courage and generosity and completely different from his.  There is Brooks in all of us and some Streep, too. Funny, touching and encouraging.

These are the meaningful movies to me.  How about yours?