10 philosophical films about identity

Do you think you have too much free time? Nothing like the philosophical movies to fill that existential void with hours of footage, hours of later reflection and hours of re-viewing, to see if something is understood this time.

Here is a list of ten of those titles that will make you think more than usual and that show the extent to which cinema and philosophy they can go together.

10 philosophical films that combine storytelling and reflection

1. The Matrix (1999)

Predictable, yes. And to some extent disappointing, considering the sentence that closed the introduction to this article: The Matrix is ​​much more about cinema than philosophy. But the truth is that no article on philosophical films should be missing this title; not so much because of the originality of its approaches, but because of how accessible it makes the theme of the conflict between meanings, reality and identity. Thanks to The Matrix, any Westerner can intuit the platonic idea and Cartesian 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 "true" and "false" is represented here very explicitly and with rather little subtlety. Great contrasts that mark the differences between reality and the Matrix, a fictional world created to dominate the human species, but that also serves to give the film 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 meet 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, thereby creating an interesting narrative.

3. The Truman Show (1998)

In the vein 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. Curiously, Truman Burbank lives in a public space mediated by a private entity that does not hesitate to profit from the daily secrets of the poor protagonist.

4. Gattaca (1997)

Gattaca is many things, but among them is that of presenting 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 movies. It's easy to find similarities to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but talking about Solaris… that's big words. Tarkovsky uses a SciFi setting to articulate a narrative 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 its 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 is also about our ability to deceive ourselves for practical purposes or our eagerness to give our lives meaning.

7. Blade Runner (1982)

The cinematic classic based on the novel Do Androis Dream of Electric Sheep?by Philip K. Dick The movie Blade Runner 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 takes place on the ground where reason is most painfully compromised: the dream world. Therefore, it is not surprising that reflections and experiences crowd into it through an orderly chaos, always one step ahead of logic and what is expected. Throughout its almost two hours of duration, we attend a parade of speeches that, having been crouched behind the director's consciousness, decide to reveal themselves while he sleeps.

It should be noted that, although the film lends itself a lot to make you think about the relationship between the way of thinking and the discourses and ideologies that culture breathes into us, each dream has its own message and its own reason of being.

9. Strange coincidences (2004)

The lives of ordinary characters, examined through someone who struggles to give a coherent meaning to everything he sees. Detective work will serve to change the way of perceiving the other, but also to recognize the importance of one's own point of view when judging people.

10. Person (1966)

Did you want philosophical movies? Have two cups. Person talks about masks, identity and silences. The narrative is dominated by lyricism, the way Bergman suggests that nothing he is showing is true., and it does so by contrasting two facets of human life: irrational silence and the discourse that articulates identity.