Over on his Sentient Developments blog, IEET board member George Dvorsky has compiled and posted a list of what he calls “The Top 10 Existential Movies of All Time.” As a serious film buff, I was immediately prompted to respond by naming a few important—and great—existential movies that George left off his list. I’ll get to my own favorites in a moment, but first we should lay down some ground rules.
Let’s begin by asking:
1. What is an ‘existential movie’?
2. How are we defining ‘existentialism’ for this discussion?
3. Which realm of movies are we choosing from?
In the introduction to his article, George describes ‘existential movies’ as “philosophical films that study the nature of existence and what it means to be alive.” He says:
It’s debatable as to what defines the ‘quintessential’ existential movie, but ultimately it must speak to the human condition and reframe it in such a way that the viewer gains an enhanced appreciation of their own existence and situation in life. These are the kinds of films that you find yourself reflecting back upon time and time again as you engage in your own day-to-day life, struggles and relationships.
That seems like a satisfactory description of the kinds of movies we’re considering.
As to the basic definition of ‘existentialism’ we should have in mind, that’s a bit more challenging. For one thing, any number of different philosophers will offer strikingly variant meanings for the term. But for our purposes, I suggest going with this definition from Wikipedia:
Existential philosophy is the “explicit conceptual manifestation of an existential attitude” that begins with a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.
Thus, the movies that we can call ‘existential cinema’ must either implicitly or explicitly deal with “a sense of disorientation and confusion in the face of an apparently meaningless or absurd world.” Characters in these films might show a wide range of reactions to the existential dilemma, whether obliviousness or denial or despair or outright rejection of the concept.
But to be considered for this list, the movies must place their characters in situations where they are called on to respond to existential verities. And, as George suggested, if the films are to find a place in one of our Top 10 lists, they must do an extraordinary job of making the viewer think and feel about his or her own existence vis-à-vis an apparently meaningless, absurd, or uncaring world.
The third question I posed above—Which realm of movies are we choosing from?—mainly has to do with English language films versus ‘foreign’ language films. As you’ll see, my list is comprised of movies that are not primarily in English, while George not only fails to include any foreign films, but every one of his Top 10 are American-made movies. To be fair, he might have made a conscious choice to restrict his list to English language films (although his article does not say so). In any case, that approach seems entirely too limiting to me, since world cinema often provides remarkably illuminating views of the human condition that are woefully lacking in the vast majority of American movies.
So, without further ado, here, in alphabetical order, are my Top 10 Existential Movies of All Time…
Aguirre: the Wrath of God (Germany, 1972) - Werner Herzog is the creator of several films that simply must be seen to be believed, and this is his greatest masterpiece. Stretching his cast, his crew, himself, and his financial backers to the limit, Herzog produced the ultimate cinematic depiction of man against the abyss. Harrowing, breathtaking, and unforgettable. Especially those monkeys.
The Ballad of Narayama (Japan, 1983) - Can love, family, tribal or societal bonds protect us from the existential realities that await just beyond our everyday lives? This brilliant fable from Shohei Imamura says no, they cannot. Exquisitely filmed and beautifully acted, it’s hard to imagine another movie that lays everything on the line so plainly, and yet with such beauty and tenderness. An astounding achievement.
The Cranes are Flying (Russia, 1957) - At once an antiwar statement, a love story, and a work of art, Mikhail Kalatozov’s masterpiece (one of several in his amazing career) is also a painful exploration of humanity’s essential aloneness. Kalatozov and his cinematographer, Sergei Urusevsky, combine images of heartbreaking beauty with astonishing camera movement and innovative editing to make a gem for the ages.
Ikiru (Japan, 1952) - A perfect film from one of the great existential humanist directors of all time, Akira Kurosawa. Using the character of an ‘everyman’, a nobody bureaucrat approaching the end of his career, Kurosawa quietly and deftly encompasses the whole world and all of human existence in this seemingly simple but emotionally overwhelming story.
Last Tango in Paris (France, 1972) - Brutal, devastating, and tragic, yet intensely insightful, this is a haunting meditation on love, loss, and the aching desire for connection in an essentially heartless world. Marlon Brando’s bravura performance, perhaps the rawest ever filmed, is balanced by a superb supporting cast and the loveliness of Paris herself. Bernardo Bertolucci’s courageous willingness to allow his actors such freedom and range results in one of the most powerful and extraordinary viewing experiences you can have.
Pather Panchali (India, 1955) - Simply stunning. In his directorial debut, the great Satyajit Ray creates an amazing patchwork of cruelty, caprice, innocence, and bewilderment, seen through the eyes of a child living in rural Bengal. Nature’s beauty, we learn, is just the flip side of nature’s terror. Unsentimental and unflinching, yet conveying a deep appreciation for human resilience, this is a film about everyone, everywhere, and everywhen.
Rules of the Game (France, 1939) - Jean Renoir’s upstairs/downstairs masterpiece gets better with every viewing. So much is happening in the frame, so many characters are so well drawn, and the story plays meaningfully on so many different levels that it’s almost as if on the third, fourth, or fifth time you watch this classic film, you are seeing another movie altogether. Humor, pathos, slapstick, and tragedy are seamlessly blended to create a perfect work of art that entertains, enlightens, and challenges us all at the same time.
Salaam Bombay (India, 1988) - Using a semi-documentary approach, the gifted young Mira Nair crafted a gut-wrenching expose of how street orphans live—and die—in a teeming modern metropolis that cares nothing for them. Actual homeless children were recruited and then trained to work in front of the camera, while retaining their naturalistic ways. The result is a unique, powerful, crushingly sad, and unforgettable motion picture.
The Seventh Seal (Sweden, 1957) - Think existential worries are an invention of the modern world? Think again. In this allegorical tale of medieval Europe in the time of the Black Death, film giant Ingmar Bergman creates both an imaginary, dreamlike setting and an all too real place of suffering, cruelty, filth, despair, and superstition. (His genius is such that you will remember how it smelled.) His characters debate their lot with each other, with themselves, and with the Grim Reaper (!), yet somehow Bergman also allows us to feel hope and even joy. As with so many of the greatest films, this gets better and better with repeated viewings. An undisputed masterpiece.
The Wages of Fear (France, 1953) - The sad, dirty, hopelessly remote little town is the world in which we all live. The residents, mostly glum, illiterate, and fearful, are the people who populate our planet. When four men, aimless drifters from abroad, take an impossibly dangerous job driving trucks loaded with nitroglycerin over steep, rutted, treacherous mountain roads, they are acting as stand-ins for all of us, any of us, who embark on a quest to find meaning in life against all odds. You can guess the result—but the brilliant work of director Henri-Georges Clouzot keeps us wondering what will happen next, even if we’ve already seen the film several times! Nail-biting, mind-blowing, existential moviemaking at its finest.
You’ll notice, of course, that none of the movies on my list are American-made. That’s not because I couldn’t think of any great English language films that belong here; there are many, including King Vidor’s silent classics The Big Parade (1925) and The Crowd (1928), John Ford’s The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Wlliam Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), John Houston’s The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train (1951), Sidney Lumet’s The Pawnbroker (1964), Dennis Hopper’s Easy Rider (1969), Bob Rafelson’s Five Easy Pieces (1970), Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Robert Altman’s The Player (1992), and yes, Michel Gondry’s Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). All great movies—great existential movies—and any of them could have been part of my Top 10.
George’s list seemed to be weighted toward newer films and science fiction films (as well as American films). Perhaps that’s because we have slightly different definitions of what makes a movie ‘existential’, but it may also be that cinema is, at its best, an art form, and taste in art is notoriously subjective. On the other hand, I really like a lot of the movies that George named, and I’d wager he’s a fan of many of the movies on my list too.
So, happy viewing, and then deep thinking!
IEET Blog