Movies focus on the possibilities in life. They capture the essence of what it means to be alive. Every scene has a slice of life, but alsoa taste of death. Mortality is an inevitability. We can’t shake the feeling or knowledge that one day we will leave the world behind and die. How we live beforethe final curtain callis a reminder to live it well. Death comes for all of us, and there’s no sense in worrying about it in every moment we have. Movies that deal with mortality help us question, if not accept, matters of life and death.
8A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
A.I. Artificial Intelligenceis about a humanoid named David (Haley Joel Osment) programmed with the ability to love. He was created and given to a family with a dying son kept alive in suspended animation. When their son recovers, he grows jealous of David and manipulates him to perform worrisome acts. David is triggered by the human boy, activating his self-defense programming. The parents decide he is too dangerous, reasoning that if he can learn to love, he can learn to hate. His imprinting protocol develops a want to be loved in return, however, causing David to havean existential crisis. David’s situation is a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. He is basically thrown away like an old toy due to human error.
7Death Becomes Her (1992)
Death Becomes Hershows narcissistic actress Madeline Ashton (Meryl Streep) and her friend and rival, writer Helen Sharp (Goldie Hawn) fighting over plastic surgeon Dr. Ernest Menville (Bruce Willis). Ernest breaks off his engagement with Helen to marry Madeline instead. The relationships are not the only thing filled with vanity. Madeline goes to a spa where she is recommended to a rejuvenation specialist who gives her an elixir for everlasting life and beauty. Helen also frequents the spa and drinks from the same potion. Madeline and Helen attempt to convince Ernest to take the potion too, but he protests, leaving the two women to live a life of superficiality forever. Unfortunately for them, they never learned that the bill of goods life can sell you does not last forever.
6Ikiru (1952)
Ikirufollows the terminally ill Tokyo bureaucrat Kanji Watanabe (Takashi Shimura) in search of meaning inhis final days. He is retired, his wife has passed away, and the rest of his family is only interested in his inheritance money. Kanji, tired of his aimless, inactive work life, he tries to find solace in Japan’s nightlife, but the escapade only makes him sadder. He later meets an ex-employee who explains her passion for making toys makes her feel like she is playing with all the children in Japan. Wanting to match her zeal for life, Kanji decides to lift the red tape of his company and raises money for the removal of a cesspool with a playground in its place. Kanji’s change of heart shows that it’s never too late to live a meaningful life.
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5Never Let Me Go (2010)
Never Let Me Godeals with the sanctity of life through the lifespan of three students who are clones. They exist for the purpose of extending human life expectancy. When they reach a certain age, they will be killed and their organs will be harvested. Knowing that they are living to die, they grow attached to each other, some romantically, but the connections fade away. The loneliness of existence coupled with the inescapable moment of death gives one of the clones comfort. She comes to terms with dying, understanding that, clone or not, we all die.
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4The Seventh Seal (1957)
The Seventh Sealuses a literal metaphor of a chess game representing a life of choices. Played by medieval knight Antonius Block (Max von Sydow) and the personification of Death (Bengt Ekerot) during the plague, the former believes he can beat Death if he only keeps the game going. Block sees the game as a means to escape the pointless aim that was the Crusades. Meanwhile, the local townspeople are practicing sinful acts, with very few looking for redemption and salvation. The knight and his followers come to terms with Death, accepting it as a part of life.
3Solaris (1972)
Solarisfollows a skeleton crew aboard a space station who have been subjected to emotional crises. Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) is tasked with studying the phenomenon and the crew members' strange hallucinations. He finds that the team had conducted radiation experiments above the surface ofthe oceanic planetSolaris. This causes their memories to turn into visions that appear real to the senses. Before Kelvin loses his mind to the pollution, the remaining crew suggest projecting his brainwaves to the planet as a means to remedy the adverse effects.
Kelvin becomes a sacrificial offering as he has philosophical debates with his past and the figments of his imagination. His damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation is a reminder that the mind can be a safe haven and a toxic cesspool.
2The Straight Story (1999)
The Straight Storyis a biographical road drama about Alvin Straight (Richard Farnsworth) who travels across Iowa and Wisconsin on a John Deere lawnmower. He is meeting his estranged brother Lyle (Harry Dean Stanton) who suffered a stroke to make amends with him before he dies. Due to his physical impairments in the eyes and legs, Alvin cannot get a driver’s license.
The journey is made longer as he attaches a trailer to his mower, reaching a speed of five miles per hour. Along the way, Alvin meets different folks of different strokes and receives support for his road trip. Despite the limitations and setbacks, Alvin ventured forward to reunite with Lyle and prove nothing can come between family bonds.
1World of Tomorrow (2015)
World of Tomorrowtakes place in a future where life expectancy is extended through cloning. A girl is contacted by her clone over 200 years in the future and learns that the population has achieved this adverse form of immortality. The original Emilyexperiences time travelthrough clone Emily, where the latter shows her the lineage of clones that have died and been memorialized in a museum. Memories of the clone are met with sadness by clone Emily who sees the futility of living as a copy forever.
Clone Emily had met the original Emily to remember the time she walked with her mother as a child. Her clone holds onto the memory more dearly now, since the Earth will be destroyed by a meteor in the future. Life becomes a memory, but to keep the memory alive, it must be remembered.
