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Favourite Philosophical Films

pauldla

Thought it might be interesting to get some film ideas from you mob. In particular, any films of a philosophical or atheist bent that got you thinking, or stayed in your head.

Perhaps the format we could use is synopsis along with analysis and reasons why you liked it, not just 'I loved Transformers it was cool!' type comments. And please remember to hide any spoilers. Links appreciated too, though I won't be linking to imdb as it's blocked here.

To get the ball rolling...

The Man from Earth (2007)

10,000 year old man tells all. A straight-to-DVD that caught my attention because it stars William Katt.

Synopsis: At a farewell dinner in his honour, a university professor gradually begins to let slip to his colleagues that he believes he is over 10,000 years old, due to the unique regenerative powers of his cells (think Wolverine). They each in turn interrogate him, and and none can refute his claim. He himself maintains that he has no way to prove his story, and in any case, what proof could he offer that they would accept? Without going into too much detail, the film tinkers with the idea of what it would be like to be a 10,000 year old man for a while, and then gets to the crunch:

he is Jesus. Or rather, during the course of his travels, he studied with the Buddha, and then wandered teaching ideas of love, brotherhood, etc, until he ended up in Judea, where he was crucified and died. But seeing as his cells could regenerate..well, you see where this is going.

I liked the film because it seemed remotely (OK, very remotely) plausible as a premise, and it plays with ideas of knowedge, evidence, social and cultural development, and, of course, religion, in a way that I hadn't seen before. It's corny in places - the lead characters name is John Oldman, for example, and though the

long-lost-father

sub-plot is necessary, it creaks a bit - but what the hell; as I said, afaik it went straight to DVD, so don't expect Schindler's List here. Not a bad for a late-Tuesday-evening type movie.

http://www.manfromearth.com/

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robindch

Sulla Felix wrote: »

Iain M Bankls wrote:

Science-fiction readers tend to be a bit more catholic in their tastes.

I'm having trouble parsing the bolded. Is he being a smartass and aiming for a la carte Catholics or am I missing something more subtle?

The word 'catholic' derives from the Ancient Greek word καθολικός (katholikos) meaning 'for the purposes of the whole', and the term 'catholic church' originally meant 'church for all the planet'. No sense of down-playing their hand, eh? Plenty of other churches claimed to be universal too, but had branding issues with the catholics who'd appropriated the term "catholic" -- which is why, even today, the high anglicans still refer to themselves, in their version of the Credo, as the "catholick church" (which really does send out all the wrong signals).

Banks was using the term in its original, general sense of "omnivorous" or "all-embracing", though as an inveterate punster, no doubt he'd have enjoyed the irony of referring to the excellent individuals who consume scifi, and especially his, as being, uh, fundamentally "catholic".

DazMarz

Don't know if it really fits in here, but I always found that in terms of being philosophical about the state of the upper-middle classes (in America moreso, but pretty applicable to anywhere, to be honest) American Beauty stood out.

So much of the film is just hauntingly beautiful (like Ricky Fitts's videos), hysterically funny and equally touching and moving.

One man trapped in a loveless and sexless marriage, trapped in a job he hates (there is even a screenshot in the film where his reflection on his computer screen makes it appear that he is looking though prison bars) and is generally just feeling trapped by life.

In a series of gutsy moves, he breaks free of the shackles of the bourgeois life he has been given and starts to finally feel happy. Across the film, while the focus is firmly on Lester Burnham, similar experiences are happening to all the people around him: his wife, a real estate agent, embarks on an affair with a more successful real estate agent; his daughter forms a unique bond with the new 'psycho boy' who has moved next door; the Burnham's new neighbour, ex-Marine Corps Colonel Fitts, discovers more and more about life and about his son while living near the Burnhams.

The prevailing theme of this is the striving for freedom and happiness in life, and the restrictions our lives can place upon the pursuit of personal freedom and happiness. It is only when Lester rebels against these restrictions that he starts to feel happy and alive again.

I'm not sure of a philosophical angle, but it is one film that will stick with you and makes you think.

As an aside, it is probably the latest film to date to come very close to winning the "Big 5" at the Academy Awards: it won Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Actor. The only award it didn't win (but was still nominated for) was Best Actress. And personally, I think it was a travesty that Annette Benning didn't win the award, as she was absolutely mesmerising and brilliant in this film.

krudler

The Fountain is something I've watched a bunch of times, the end sequence is stunning cinema.

Dades

The Hydrogen Sonata is on my Kindle and awaiting my attention. Sometimes the anticipation is as good as the read. Not too worried about reviews, as different books hit chords with different readers.

krudler wrote: »

The Fountain is something I've watched a bunch of times, the end sequence is stunning cinema.

Yeah, that was a pretty intense movie. Loved it.

pauldla

Didn't see the Fountain, but isn't he the same fella that did Pi? That film was difficult to watch in places, though the bits about the Kabbalah (sp?) were interesting, as I didn't know much about it before. Not that I knew much about it after, mind, but I was very interested in the relationship between words and numbers in Hewbrew.

Naked is another one that gave me a rattle, though I'm not sure what I'd make of it if I saw it again.

pauldla

So I was messing around with Google. As always such messing around can lead to unintended consequences, but this time I had SafeSearch activated and instead found something interesting. I must admit, I haven't heard of some of these films, but then again I live far removed from the cultural stream..

http://www.squidoo.com/AtheistMovies

bnt

pauldla wrote: »

I'd heard The Invention of Lying wasn't great, so I gave it a miss. A pity, as I really like his stand-up.

I saw it on TV last night. I think it made more sense to me than it did to some critics, who only saw an "anti-religion" message in there. That's only the half of it, though. I thought it had a Humanistic side to it too, some gentle reminders to atheists to not be so harsh on believers.

The world shown in the movie, especially at the start, is an atheistic world of absolute rationality, where not only is there no religion, but no delusions of any sort. (Which makes you wonder how Gervais' "genetically-inferior" character exists in the first place, but never mind about that. There's a strong whiff of Eugenics coming off some of the characters, especially Rob Lowe's.) It's Darwinism writ large, even on the Social level, with homeless people describing themselves as inferior on their signs, and one minor character openly discussing his upcoming suicide.

Without giving too much away, Gervais' character basically invents religion after he learns to lie, biting off more than he can chew, but he also does a lot of good along the way. We need some delusions in our lives so we can cope when things are not perfect - and when it comes to matters such as the genetics of children, what is "perfect" anyway? I don't mind that the big issues were boiled down to "small" romantic story, since it made sense to me to show them on a human scale.

doctoremma

Donnie Darko.

Does free will exist?

Peregrinus: I talk through Gattaca with my students, during lectures on genetic testing and where it might lead. Mostly, it keeps them in rapture at my wise words, although secretly I know it is because they are gazing with wonder at pictures of Uma and Ethan.