If you are currently single, then the following five films should reassure you that you are not alone. The world of movies, like the world itself, is full of examples of struggle, but it is also full of examples of people overcoming it.
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Interstellar (2014): Just try stopping a man/woman on a mission
This is a multiple award-winning film co-written, directed and co-produced by the legend Christopher Nolan and starring a stellar cast including Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Sir Michael Caine, and Matt Damon. McConaughey plays widowed NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, who leaves his farming job to lead a space crew on a special, interstellar journey through a wormhole near Saturn in search of a new home for all of Earth’s inhabitants. Realising the mission to be far greater than his own needs and desires, he leaves his family and comforts on Earth to secure a much brighter future for them and for all of humanity.
Jack Reacher (2012): Purpose over the picture-perfect life
Adapted from several of the author’s (Lee Child) crime thriller series of novels, Jack Reacher is the first of what I hope will be a long-lasting film series. It stars Tom Cruise and features an intelligent plot, real suspense, credible action, and much more. In this filmic introduction to the series, Reacher, a former US army military police major, risks literally everything to investigate a seemingly clear-cut case of a psychopathic ex-army sniper who murdered five people in cold blood. What Reacher reminds us, as we know from real-life research, is that people who can delay gratification end up becoming more successful than those who want everything right now.
Waiting to Exhale (1995): There’s more to life than romantic love
Another bestselling book adaptation, Waiting to Exhale was the directorial debut of the Hollywood actor Forest Whitaker and stars Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, Loretta Devine, and Lela Rochon as four sufficiently different black-African women who nonetheless remain bonded through friendship and through all of life’s ups and downs. So, should you ever feel sorry for yourself around Valentine’s Day or any day for that matter, remember that you, like these four characters and real-life women, have an immeasurable amount of outer and inner beauty, positive personal qualities, gifts, talents, and abilities whether they’re appreciated by a romantic partner or not.
Beaches (1988): A true love friendship is priceless
Also known as Forever Friends, Beaches is a popular dramedy starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey as another two women who, despite their differences, remain the wind beneath each other’s wings, especially when they are tripped up in life by relationship troubles, career troubles and so on. So, ask yourself, when was the last time you thanked your friend(s) for their friendship and for continuing to love and care for you as they do?
Gorillas in the Mist (1988): Find your purpose in life
Like the first two movies above, this film is more serious in tone. However, unlike all the other movies, that’s because this film is inspired by the true story of the naturalist Dian Fossey, played here by Sigourney Weaver, and her fearless efforts to end the annihilation of mountain gorillas in Rwanda. Now, if you have ever spoken truth to power, you know that it can take a huge toll on your whole being. However, ask yourself where would we, the animal kingdom and our natural habitat, be without true-life superheroes such as Dr Martin Luther King, Jr., Dian Fossey and Greta Thunberg?
Article by Dawud Gurevitch, life coach and author of May the Source Be with You: A Filmic Guide to Change Your Life, out now on Amazon.
