5 movies that will touch your soul and help even a man cry. Film Critic’s Choice

culturologist, writer, film critic

“In the world of cinematography there are pictures, after watching which the viewer is in reverie for a couple of days. It happens that even during the viewing there is not enough strength, and a person pauses the movie to live emotions. At this point, he can look out the window, or he can cry. Tears during the movie – this is normal, even for a man. After all, movies are not always for entertainment, they are also created for our inner progress. And if you are a man and can not hide tears, it is also normal. Because at that moment, the movie changed you, which means it was worth watching. We offer you five such movies that will surely help you to live an emotionally different life.

“Insight”, Belarus, 2009, directed by Renata Gritskova.

Questions of an elderly patient: “Why did you choose this profession? Is it working out? Are you happy?” – took even me as a viewer by surprise. If the questions in the Belarusian movie “Insight” sounded differently, for example: “Do you like your profession?” – then it would have been much easier to answer. I would have told it in detail and with pleasure. But no, director Renata Gritskova is not looking for easy ways.

These and other questions an elderly patient, brilliantly played by Bogdan Stupka, asks a psychotherapist. The situation blurs in two minutes, and you are already lost as to who is counseling whom. While the psychotherapist, played by Irina Rozanova, was looking for clues to the patient’s past, she didn’t notice that she herself was changing.

When the past becomes known, yesterday’s self-confident doctor realizes that she has solved this problem not as a doctor at all. She becomes hysterical. At that moment, I suddenly realized that hysteria is a good thing! It doesn’t have to be avoided. Such a state resets the perception of reality and, indeed, brings you closer to the dream.

By the way, do you have a dream? Are you happy? Why did you choose your profession? Are you good at it? Finally, do you have a good understanding of what is good? Is it good for you?

Before you answer these questions, watch the movie Insight. It is probably one of the few movies that captures the essence of psychotherapy very well. In the end, you will take the course yourself, after which you may have a real insight into your life.

Vanusepiirang: 12+

“A Woman Comes to the Doctor”, 2009, The Netherlands, directed by Reinu Urlemans.

What is chemotherapy really like? Why is radiation therapy a real ordeal? What does a woman feel when she loses her breasts? The Dutch movie “A Woman Goes to the Doctor” (2009) shows visits to different doctors and their detailed descriptions of what will happen to a successful and beautiful woman who is still so young.

These visits are mixed in with the glossy life of Amsterdam. All is well, all is mundane and beautiful. But nothing is really fine if the woman has… no, not cancer, but a husband with the psychology of a child. I’m sure the heroine would have coped if her husband hadn’t been running around to discos and girls. She so needed moral support, she asked him to stay at home, to be with her. But how did he think? He’s stressed, he needs to calm down, to rest. And then, right now she is not hurt, so it is possible to go to the mistress.

Looking at the childish behavior of the man, the viewer understands that oncology is largely the result of relationships. Someone in the patient’s entourage is clearly getting on his nerves. Instead of spilling everything out, this man chooses to be pragmatic, diplomatic and delicate. After all, he loves, simply loves the source of his stress.

Director Reinu Urlemans has made a very important movie, but he didn’t say one thing in it – if the close environment of a sick person stops bringing him to stress, then this person’s chances of recovery are multiplied.

The movie is a must-see not for those who were once voiced this diagnosis, but for their surroundings. The Dutch showed very precisely how not to behave. After all, a person can do absolutely anything as long as he or she is alive. Even if doctors say disappointing things. Sometimes their words are just words, and they may have nothing to do with reality.

Vanusepiirang: 18+

“Pearl Harbor”, 2001, USA, directed by Michael Bay.

In war there is a place not only for real heroes, but also for real and complicated love. However, this movie is not about sentiments, but about the fact that even war cannot put everything in its place. Nothing in a person’s life ends with war, but only worsens. Two people love one girl – there are many such stories. She, of course, gives her heart to only one of her friends in love with her – this is also found in other stories. “Pearl Harbor” is not about love, although the plot of the movie is based on it.

The main theme in the movie is war, which absorbs a person entirely, but it is not absorbed in a person. War can be not only in the sky, but also in the soul. If in the sky the enemy is someone else, in the soul the enemy is man himself. Is it worth fighting with oneself? And if it is worthwhile, what are the rules for waging such an unusual war? Harmony is not and will not be there, and if it is not, then what is the necessity of living in a war with oneself? This is what the movie is about, not love.

Vanusepiirang: 12+

“Go and See”, 1985, USSR, directed by Elem Klimov.

An old friend of mine confessed to me that he watched this movie in the sixth grade of school. He was very impressed by the movie, and since then he has never revisited it, although his thoughts still return to the story. Now my friend is over 40 years old, he served in the army, has seen and experienced in life a variety of shocks, but the movie “Go and See” for him is still special.

The reason is not because of impressiveness at all, but because of the realization of the price a person pays to keep the world different. Many people say that this is a rather tough movie, but in reality Elem Klimov’s picture is about the truth, which makes sense to look into the eyes of at least once in your life. Or two, to see how the world is changing before your eyes and why.

Vanusepiirang: 18+

“The Skin I Live In”, 2011, Spain, directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

It’s always clear to us who is good and who is bad. Who to execute and who to pardon. But don’t jump to conclusions. Not everything is so clear-cut. It happens that inadequate assessment of the situation leads to an even greater crime, and the person wanted only to make a breakthrough in medicine. And there are times when a little affair doesn’t just go badly for the victim.

There is also revenge, either for the affair or for its consequences. The essence of revenge does not reach you at once, but when it does, you shriek with horror. It would seem that the goal has been achieved, but you can’t go on living. Why? What is the mistake of the main character in the Spanish movie “The Skin I Live In”?

Any situation must be lived correctly. The point is not that human experimentation is forbidden, but that the hero ended up conducting an experiment on himself. Although he could have been happy, he could have continued to treat people and even learned useful lessons from pain.

Everything in Pedro Almodovar’s movie is beautiful: the music, the paintings on the walls, the interior in Modigliani style and the medieval castle, through the gates of which Antonio Banderas’ hero drove his luxury car very carefully.

The trap is that all this is tinsel. The human soul is not always so luxurious and refined, so it is in his power to make it, his soul, beautiful. The beauty of the soul, in turn, leads to the beauty of actions. It seems simple. But, again, do not jump to conclusions. This is the complexity of Almodóvar.

Vanusepiirang: 18+