There are serious movies that, though they may inspire the occasional tear, will ultimately leave you buoyed up by a feeling of hope. Here are five feel-good dramas you may have overlooked.
Unearthing uplifting dramas in a sea of negativity and frivolity can be difficult. But there are serious movies that, though they may inspire the occasional tear, will ultimately leave you buoyed up by a feeling of hope. These types of films are often forgotten by the critics and movie-going public, so you may easily have overlooked the gems of the genre. If you're not ashamed to admit that you like an emotional, sentimental, feel-good film, then take note of these five fine dramas you may have previously passed by.
Goodbye, Lenin
In Goodbye, Lenin, an East German woman has a heart attack and falls into a coma before the revolutionary reunification with the West occurs. When she wakes up, her son must protect her from any undue shock, so he tries to recreate her socialist world, despite all of the ensuing changes around them. This results in occasional moments of often subtle comedy. Although the pace of the movie is slow, this gradual movement allows the filmmakers to develop their characters. Goodbye, Lenin is a story of family love and a sweetly sad portrayal of how difficult it is to let go of an old way of life and accept change.
The filmmaker's anti-capitalist moralism can be irksome, and he portrays the bringing down of the Wall as though the primary change it ushered in was Western products and fashions--as though it did not result so much in the end of oppression as in the advent of Coca-cola. We see only a few glimpses of the horrors of national socialism, and the change we are witness to is primarily a change of brand-name. The viewer will receive only a hint of the colossal economic failure of national socialism; the new Germany is portrayed as emptily consumer-driven, rather than as a place where the average man can at last begin to rise from poverty. Despite this moralism, the film is crafted well enough that even a near-libertarian can find his or herself sympathizing with the characters and sharing their journey of hope.
Running Time: 121 minutes. Released 2003. Rated R for language and sexual situations.