10 philosophical films about identity
Do you think you have too much free time? Nothing like philosophical films to fill that existential void with hours of footage, hours of reflection afterwards and hours to repeat the viewing, to see if this time something is understood.
Here you have a list of ten of these titles that will make you think more than usual and show how much cinema and philosophy can go together.
10 philosophical films that combine narration and reflection
1. The Matrix (1999)
Predictable, yes. And to some extent disappointing, considering the phrase that closed the introduction to this article: The Matrix has more film than philosophy. But the truth is that in no article about philosophical films should this title be missing; not so much for the originality of their approaches, but for the accessibleness that the theme of the conflict between senses does, reality and identity . Thanks to The Matrix, any Westerner can intuit the Platonic and Cartesian idea that we live in a world of shadows that hide the true, and all this without having to read the classics.
Because the world of the "true" and the "false" is represented here in a very explicit way and with a little bit of subtlety. Great contrasts that mark the differences between reality and Matrix, a fictional world created to dominate the human species, but that also serves to endow the film with a spectacularity that it seeks from the first moment.
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
It has been said many times that the people we know live in our minds . What happens when that "someone" who lives in us is a very important person from whom we want to distance ourselves? This film takes that principle to the extreme, creating an interesting narrative with it.
3. The Truman Show (1998)
In the line of The Matrix, but something more subtle (although not much more). However, here the true / false dichotomy is also the division between the private and the public . Interestingly, Truman Burbank lives in a public space mediated by a private entity that does not hesitate to make profits with the daily secrets of the poor protagonist.
4. Gattaca (1997)
Gattaca is many things, but among them is to present itself as a narrative in which the conflict between genetic predispositions and freedom . Biological pressures are presented here as an extension of a very complex bureaucratic apparatus in which certain people have no place.
5. Solaris (1972)
Solaris is, perhaps, the king of philosophical films. It's easy to look similar to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but talk about Solaris ... that's a big word. Tarkovsky uses a SciFi environment to articulate a narration based on reflections and philosophy .
6. Memento (2001)
We repeat with Memento, which already appeared in another article entitled "10 movies about Psychology and mental disorders". In his facet of title included in a list of philosophical films, Memento deals with the relationship between identity and memory , that is, those experiences that metamorphose and appear independently of our will to try to control them. It also deals with our ability to deceive ourselves for practical purposes or our desire to give meaning to our lives.
7. Blade Runner (1982)
The film classic based on the novel Do Androis Dream of Electric Sheep?, by Philip K. Dick. The Blade Runner movie is about nature of human consciousness and the use we make of it to create a moral wall that separates us from other entities. What is it that makes us humans?
8. Waking Life (2001)
Waking Life is developed in the field in which the reason is more painfully compromised: the dream world . Therefore, it is not surprising that reflections and experiences are crowded into it through orderly chaos, always one step ahead of logic and expectation. Throughout its almost two hours of duration we attended a parade of speeches that, having been crouched behind the conscience of the director, decide to reveal themselves while he sleeps.
It should be noted that although the film lends itself to thinking about the relationship between one's own way of thinking and the discourses and ideologies that culture inspires us, each dream has its own message and its own reason for being.
9. Strange coincidences (2004)
The life of ordinary characters, examined through someone who struggles to give him a coherent meaning to everything he sees.The detective work will serve to change the way of perceiving the other, but also to recognize the importance of one's point of view when judging people.
10. Person (1966)
Did you want philosophical films? Take two cups. Person talks about masks, identity and silences . The narrative is dominated by lyricism, the way in which Bergman suggests that nothing of what he is showing is true, and he does it by contrasting two facets of human life: the irrational silence and the discourse that articulates the identity.
