Which films have had a profound effect on your life?

[SaraHoliday]

What films have had a profound effect on your life? Share the reason why if you like!

Lurking for ideas

Saving Private Ryan - As a kid and teen I used to wonder why my DGPs and DP’s used to talk about their wartime experiences so much. Even as an adult I used to wonder why. That film stayed with me for ages after I left the cinema and I never wondered again, why for everyone who lived through it, it would always shape their lives. I felt truly humbled

Taxi Driver.

Made me want to be a taxi driver but I couldn't drive, so I had lessons.

I love Cinema Paradiso.

Agree it's a fabulous film.

Critics gave it sniffy reviews because Richard Curtis was out of favour by then, but it was a really great film, better than Love Actually.

Cry Freedom.
Opened my eyes to racism & injustice, and made me want to change the world… I was very young and naive, but it truly changed me.

Paris Texas, love the music, the human dysfunction fascinated me as a young person (perhaps helped me try and work out what was going on around me) as well as the stunning scenery and Ry Cooder with the slide guitar made it even more haunting. The first scene gives me goose bumps.

Our RE teacher (she was generally a bit odd tbh) made us watch an over 18 film about the Holocaust when we were 12/13 in 2nd year (Scotland) 1992. That truly showed me just how absolutely evil humans can be. Our whole class was traumatised, several parents complained which was generally unheard of in those days and the teacher was never seen again!

That had such a traumatic effect on me I can't cope with watching or reading anything about it. Have no idea why the teacher thought that was a good idea.

Dogville. It explains a lot about the human ability to be cruel.

Eraserhead. It truly blew my mind and got me into “proper” cinema, something that has given me endless joy over the years.

After Hours

Requiem for a dream

Threads - for us 50 somethings it was mind blowing. 80s nuclear war aftermath

Made me lol 😂

Are you aware that Oliver Sacks, who’d wanted to be a novelist, admitted to fabricating many aspects of the book the film is based on, that it was greeted with skepticism by other neurologists, and the effects were never able to be replicated in other studies? Some much more disquieting background here.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/12/15/oliver-sacks-put-himself-into-his-case-studies-what-was-the-cost

Yes his acting is amazing in this film.

For the same reason I’m on my 6th rewatching of the Walking Dead. Training manual for when it all goes to shit.

DH used to politely usher me through doors and narrow spaces first: now I always go second, so that he can get his face eaten instead of me 😬

We are film twins.

Nobody else seems to know about Somewhere in Time. I haven’t met a single person who watched it/remembers watching it.

The Deer Hunter haunted me for years. Yes to Christopher Walken.

"Saturday Night Fever" I was about 12 when I watched it. At the time I just saw the dancing and music. Watched it years later and it had a very different feel.

Deer Hunter is my favourite film. I have Cavatina on 7inch single.

Deer Hunter here too

Twelve Angry Men - personal prejudices and experiences influencing decisions, plus some great camera work.

Grave of the Fireflies. Incredible film but I can't watch it again.

Bloody love that film since I first saw it with my Dad as a teen. I bought it on DVD so I’ve always got a copy.

Alfie, the original one with a Michael Caine. I think that it gives a really interesting and honest view into the male psyche.

The whale, Made me wake up and tackle my overeating , gone from a size 26 to a 14, I used MJ to do that but it's changed my life and I feel so much better!