10 Most Powerful Films

10. Road to Perdition

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Movie Talk Blog : Reviews, Analysis, Discussions

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9. The Pursuit of Happyness

8. This Is England

7. One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

6. The Shawshank Redemption

5. It's A Wonderful Life

4. La Haine

3. City of God

2. Tyrannosaur

1. American History X

lel

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Good selection of movies. But I wouldn't put any of these movies on a list of top ten most powerful.

From the top of my head right now, a list of ten movies from ten directors that I think truly deserve to be called powerful:

- Day of Wrath (Dreyer, 1943)

- Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata, 1988)

- Late Spring (Ozu, 1949)

- Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)

- Bicycle Thieves (De Sicca, 1949)

- Ikiru (Kurosawa, 1952)

- Princess Mononoke (Miyazaki, 1997)

- Stalker (Tarkovsky, 1979)

- Sansho Dayu (Mizoguchi, 1954)

- There Will be Blood (P.A. Anderson, 2007)


From those you have listed I think that The Shawshank Redemption and City of God were the most powerful.

You've got a great selection too, I was thinking about putting Bicicyle Thieves, that probably would have made #11.

Id probably stick Life is Beautiful in that list.

Surprisingly, it's not a copy-paste of my fav list:

Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)
Shame (2011)
Euphoria (2006)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927)
The Dust of Time (2006)
Wings of Desire (1987)
The Tree of Life (2011)
Salto (1965)
The Fifth Seal (1976)

The most powerful documentary:
Sans soleil (1983)
Would've included any of Riefenstahl films, but you would call me a Nazi.

The most powerful short:
The Dream of a Ridiculous Man (1992)

Also, limited myself only to one film per director.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

In no particular order, here is 12 movies i find very powerful and moving. All of them are rated

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)


The Battle of Algiers (1966)


Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974)


Bicycle Thieves (1948)


Caché (2005)


Close-Up (1990)


Letters from a Dead Man (1986)


Ordet (1955)


Persona (1966)


Stalker (1979)


Tokyo Story (1953)


Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)



Documentary:

Night and Fog (1955)


Short:
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)

So does excluding them earn the title of bashful Nazi?

I haven't seen any of Riefenstahl's films (other than lots of clips), but I saw an interview on the news yesterday with an Iraqi sculptor who created some of the large monuments depicting Saddam Hussein, which were subsequently torn down. The sculptor was unashamed of his work on behalf of the dictator, saying that throughout time it has been great artists who have received commissions from presidents and kings.

Good thread and good selections.I was surprised with This In England,really enjoyed it and it is quite "powerful" (leaves some kind of emotional impact) but I think it's a lot better than Tyrannosaur.
Road to Perdition,Cuckoo and Stalker are great,Pursuit Of Happyness left me crying but I think it's too sentimental.There Will Be Blood is a great film but it doesn't give me the same emotions like the others do.



I'd add:

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"Anything less than immortality is a complete waste of time."

Gabrielle, what's the movie at the bottom? I haven't got my magnifying glass handy.

(Also, what movie is your signature quote from? - if it's a movie, that is)

CelluloidChild: It's They shoot horses, don't they?

Riefenstahl seems to be a bashful Nazi as she said he regrets working with them, but otherwise she wouldn't get unlimited budget for her breath-taking productions. They're propaganda films, but it's the shot composition that makes them extremely powerful.