Captivating True Life Film Dramas for Humanity
Everybody knows about the big empathic blockbusters like Schindler's List (1993) or A Beautiful Mind (2001). Which of these movies that are also humanitarian are you most interested in? (If you have seen all of them, please vote for the one you think is the best.) Discuss here.
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- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsJudi DenchSteve CooganSophie Kennedy ClarkA world-weary political journalist picks up the story of a woman's search for her son, who was taken away from her decades ago after she became pregnant and was forced to live in a convent.A reporter helps an old woman searching for her son decades later after they were separated by a state-run facility days after birth
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsRichard GereJoan AllenCary-Hiroyuki TagawaProfessor Wilson discovers a lost Akita puppy on his way home. Despite objections from his wife, Hachi endears himself to the family and grows to be Parker's loyal companion. As their bond grows deeper, a beautiful relationship unfolds.The life of a man and his dog and the dog's everlasting love to the man
- DirectorStephen HopkinsStarsStephan JamesJason SudeikisEli GoreeJesse Owens' quest to become the greatest track and field athlete in history thrusts him onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler's vision of Aryan supremacy.Jesse Owens, a black athlete, overcomes repressing fears, bureaucratic & social hurdles at the German Olympics in Berlin 1936
- DirectorMarc RothemundStarsJulia JentschFabian HinrichsAlexander HeldA dramatization of the final days of Sophie Scholl, one of the most famous members of the German World War II anti-Nazi resistance movement, The White Rose.The last days of the most known German antifascist underground organization 'Die Weisse Rose', which was brought down in an unfair lawsuit
- DirectorSherry HormannStarsSoraya Omar-ScegoIdriss Abdillahi HoufanehAwa Saïd DararWaris Dirie, born 1965 in Somalia, flees at thirteen when sold to be a mans fourth wife. She works as a maid at the Somalian embassy in London, then in a McDonald's where she's discovered and becomes an international top model. Then, in 1997 she speaks up against female genital mutilation.An African refugee who grew up to become a world-famous model, and used her fame to fight the scourge of female circumcision
- DirectorVolker SchlöndorffStarsUlrich MatthesAugust DiehlHilmar ThateA drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary.A priest searches the right way through the rapids of temptation in a repressive and totalitarian Europe. A drama loosely based on Jean Bernard's Nazi-era prison diary
- DirectorTommy O'HaverStarsElliot PageHayley McFarlandNick SearcyThe true story of suburban housewife Gertrude Baniszewski, who kept a teenage girl locked in the basement of her Indiana home during the 1960s.Two teenage girls being abused and held captive by a mentally ill woman.This movie is about showing how the girls experienced the disaster
- DirectorFatih AkinStarsNuman AcarAdam BousdoukosDiane KrugerKatja's life collapses after the deaths of her husband and son in a bomb attack. After a time of mourning and injustice, Katja seeks revenge.A German woman who, after her husband and son are killed by neo-nazis, tries to fight for justice
- DirectorMichael Caton-JonesStarsRobert De NiroLeonardo DiCaprioEllen BarkinThe story about the relationship between a rebellious 1950s teenager and his abusive stepfather, based on the memoirs of writer and literature Professor Tobias Wolff.A young boy fights to free himself from his brutal stepfather while facing troubles
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisBrenda FrickerAlison WhelanChristy Brown, born with cerebral palsy, learns to paint and write with his only controllable limb - his left foot.A disabled writer and painter who can only use his left foot, makes his art come to life. Christy Brown is as well known for his poetry as he is for his art
- DirectorMartin ZandvlietStarsRoland MøllerLouis HofmannJoel BasmanIn post-World War II Denmark, a group of young German POWs are forced to clear a beach of thousands of land mines under the watch of a Danish Sergeant who slowly learns to appreciate their plight.A prison officer in a Danish war camp has to guard some teenage POWs, while the will of the young men begins to crumble
- DirectorKimberly PeirceStarsHilary SwankChloë SevignyPeter SarsgaardA young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.A transgender man tries to live his life normally in a hostile environment. His environment soon turns worse
- DirectorTony GoldwynStarsHilary SwankSam RockwellMelissa LeoA working mother puts herself through law school in an effort to represent her brother, who has been wrongfully convicted of murder and has exhausted his chances to appeal his conviction through public defenders.Family ties between a sister and her unjustly imprisoned brother motivates her to study law for liberating him
- DirectorRyan CooglerStarsMichael B. JordanMelonie DiazOctavia SpencerThe story of Oscar Grant III, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident, who crosses paths with friends, enemies, family, and strangers on the last day of 2008.The movies tells how a young, black father is tragically murdered because of racism
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsRichard FarnsworthSissy SpacekJane Galloway HeitzAn old man makes a long journey by lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother.An old man rides a lawnmower nearly 300 miles to make up with his ailing brother
- DirectorJulian SchnabelStarsMathieu AmalricEmmanuelle SeignerMarie-Josée CrozeThe true story of Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby who suffers a stroke and has to live with an almost totally paralyzed body; only his left eye isn't paralyzed.A quadriplegic writes a book through communication by using just his eyelid - suggested by Chihir0
- DirectorBen LewinStarsJohn HawkesHelen HuntWilliam H. MacyA man in an iron lung who wishes to lose his virginity contacts a professional sex surrogate with the help of his therapist and priest.A true story about the need of sensual experiences for a disabled person and how it could be fulfilled
- DirectorByambasuren DavaaLuigi FalorniStarsJanchiv AyurzanaChimed OhinAmgaabazar GonsonWhen a Mongolian nomadic family's newest camel colt is rejected by its mother, a musician is needed for a ritual to change her mind.People in a small village help a camel mother to accept her new colt
- DirectorDenzel WashingtonStarsDenzel WashingtonForest WhitakerKimberly EliseA drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.A debate coach teaches his students the worth of verbal dexterity in the fight against racism
- DirectorPenny MarshallStarsRobert De NiroRobin WilliamsJulie KavnerThe victims of an encephalitis epidemic many years ago have been catatonic ever since, but now a new drug offers the prospect of reviving them.A psychatrist tries to find out a new medicine to awake catatonic patients
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.An Irishman in England is wrongly imprisoned with his ailing father for decades for crimes they didn't commit
- DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsJames NesbittTim Pigott-SmithNicholas FarrellA dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972.The Irish civil rights protest march and the subsequent massacre by British troops on 01/30/1972 - suggested by pbn
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.Three abducted aboriginal half-cast children which are fenced into a camp to be trained as domestic staff try escape to the outback - suggested by pbn
- DirectorSean PennStarsEmile HirschVince VaughnCatherine KeenerAfter graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters a series of characters that shape his life.After abandoning all worldly possessions and ending his relationship with his family, a young recent college graduate travels the US, ending up alone in the desolate Alaskan wilderness - suggested by yrnej
- DirectorTerry GeorgeStarsDon CheadleSophie OkonedoJoaquin PhoenixPaul Rusesabagina, a hotel manager, houses over a thousand Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia in Rwanda, Africa.A hotel manager who struggled to protect innocent civilians from both sides of revolutionary war - suggested by yrnej
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsChristian BaleSteve ZahnJeremy DaviesA U.S. fighter pilot's epic struggle of survival after being shot down on a mission over Laos during the Vietnam War.The story of a military pilot who crashes and is held and tortured in a prison camp before trying to escape - suggested by suggested by yrnej
- DirectorAlan ParkerStarsGene HackmanWillem DafoeFrances McDormandTwo F.B.I. Agents with wildly different styles arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists.Two F.B.I. Agents, with wildly different styles, arrive in Mississippi to investigate the disappearance of some civil rights activists - suggested by suggested by yrnej
- DirectorMike NicholsStarsMeryl StreepKurt RussellCherA worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant.A worker at a plutonium processing plant is purposefully contaminated, psychologically tortured and possibly murdered to prevent her from exposing worker safety violations at the plant - suggested by suggested by yrnej
- DirectorRoland JofféStarsSam WaterstonHaing S. NgorJohn MalkovichA journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians.A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million 'undesirable' civilians - suggested by yrnej
- DirectorOlivier NakacheÉric ToledanoStarsFrançois CluzetOmar SyAnne Le NyAfter he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver.After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, an aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caregiver - suggested by suggested by yrnej
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsAnthony HopkinsJohn HurtAnne BancroftA Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.John Merrick is an intelligent and friendly man, but he is scornt by his Victorian-era English society because of his severely deformations. When he is discovered by a doctor, he is saved from his life in a freak show and he is treated like the human being that he really is.
Suggested by MAthePa