Title Creator Datesort icon Era City Country Emotional Sum (Sense of Life or emotional World View) Theme
Chariots of Fire Director: Hugh Hudson 1981 1971-1990 United Kingdom

A complete feeling of openness of the world to greatness of your own choosing.

Life is achievement.

Greystoke Director: Hugh Hudson 1984 1971-1990 United Kingdom

Life is Loss -- life is grim and culture is grim and the jungle is grim. All is grim.

The other important feature of the film emotionally is that Tarzan has been crippled by his circumstances of being brought up in the jungle -- he cannot live as a man, so the great tragedy of the story is that he has to return to the jungle, which is below primitive -- it is an isolated hell in which death is at every corner, and at best the companionship of apes. Given that the story partly portrays civilized men as brutes who relish killing animals, perhaps the emotional intent is to make the choice to return to the jungle as positive, but for this reviewer it is unutterably tragic and ugly.

Loss, Loss, Loss. Man as metaphysically alien from human culture.

Dirty Dancing Director: Emile Ardolino 1987

Life is passionate and meaningful.

The joy and passion of love and life and dancing, while learning integrity and independence.

Wall Street Director: Oliver Stone 1987 1971-1990 United States

There are bad people in power who use ordinary people as pawns in their endless pursuit of money. Those who are not ruthless are sheep to be slaughtered by the rich and powerful. Greed is bad.

Financiers are amoral money-grubbing backstabbers, i.e., desire for money corrupts

Die Hard Director: John McTiernan 1988 July 15 United States

The way to beat evil is to give no quarter, no compromise. Life is hard, but fighting for the right is rewarded.

Giving up in life is not an option.

A Few Good Men Director: Rob Reiner 1992 1991-2010 United States

Justice should be fought for, needs to be fought for and can be fragile.

Commitment to a moral code is central to a good man's life.

Bolero Dancers: Torvill and Dean 1994 1990-2009 United States

Harmony, grace exist.

Two people as one.

Rob Roy Director: Michael Caton-Jones 1995 1991-2010 United Kingdom

Life is a struggle. The life you make for yourself can be difficult, but living it with strength and morality is the way to live. Happiness is possible in romance.

Heroism in everyday life leads to heroism writ large. A man works hard to lead his life and those of his extended clan in an honorable, productive, honest way. This is the everyday heroism. But dishonorable, evil men seek to steal from him and ruin him. This leads to a life of larger-than-life heroism to vanquish his mortal, and stronger enemies.

Romeo + Juliet Director: Baz Luhrmann 1996 1991-2010 United States

Tragedy is central to life.

Romantic Love is doomed and we don't control our own lives.

Dangerous Beauty Director: Marshall Herskovitz 1998 United States

The world is a horrible split of conventional marital morality vs. honest but promiscuous morality. The way to live requires one sacrifice one's body for one's soul.

  1. The importance of accepting your own rules for living, your own morality.
  2. The grim metaphysical conflict for a Venetian woman of being a slave to a husband or a free woman requiring sexual work.
Laocoon (Laocoön and His Sons) Sculptor: Agesander 1st century BCE to 1st century CE 500 BCE - 1 CE Rome Italy

Life is a desperate, agonizing struggle.

The heroic but agonizing defeat of Men. This sculpture certainly represents at the same time the heroic nature of men but cast into an impossible situation that can only be tragic.

Chocolat Director: Lasse Hallstrom 2000 United Kingdom

Pleasure is good; religion and conventional thinking is bad.

Follow your dream and disregard convention.

Billy Elliot Director: Stephen Daldry 2000 1991-2010 United Kingdom

Life is dirty but one can clean up.

Go after what you love.

Two Family House Director: Raymond De Felitta 2000 1991-2010 New York United States

Feelings of benevolence and optimism about life. Happiness comes from making choices for your own good.

Going after what you want in life; Don't be stopped by conventional standards of the people around you. It takes courage to be selfish.

Love Actually Director and Screenwriter: Richard Curtis 2003 1991-2010 United Kingdom

Romantic love, family love, filial love, and the love of friendship are of central importance to human existence, and are possible to achieve.

Wonderful experiences of love are found in many forms and places.

Vitus Director: Fredi Murer 2006

If you have the will, you can find the way to live the way you want.

Living your life your own way is the only right way.

Her Face to the Wind Painter: William Hosner 2006 2000s Traverse City, Michigan United States

One gets the feeling that the young woman is able to stand strong in the world, with panache and beauty all at once.

Facing life in a fresh, strong, vivacious way.

Owl and the Sparrow Director: Stephane Gauger 2007 1991-2010 Saigon Vietnam

A child shows sweetness and strength and determination.

Searching for family, for soulmates.

Wall-E Director: Andrew Stanton 2008 1991-2010 Hollywood United States

The world is garbage, and more garbage and humans have destroyed the earth, because of their wanton consumerism.

Mankind is a blight on the universe, and only cute robots (as opposed to evil robots) can save the earth from human degradation.

3 Idiots Screenwriter: Chopra Vidhu Vinod 2009 1991-2010 India

Life can be fun and productive and exciting. As is true in some other Bollywood features, this story and the ideas behind it about pursuing the good life, has an honesty and clarity and benevolence that is not part of the U.S. movie scene.

Be what you want to be; follow your passion in life

City Island De Felitta, Raymond: 2009 1991-2010 New York United States

Anxiety and pain from all the lies and mistaken motives. Catharsis from the climax, leading to feelings of wanting to be truthful in life!

Lying is not the way to live.

Attila (live performance) Composer: Giuseppe Verdi 2010 03 03 1851-1900 New York United States

Life is a mix of strength, heroism, romantic passion.

The work is a long complex opera, so it has many other lyrical emotions as part of it, but this covers the basic sense of life.

Loving a heroic woman leads to death

Niobe Sculptor: unknown c. 200 BC Rome Italy

Human action is beautiful.

Life is movement.

La Grande Nevrose Loysel, Jacques: c.1896 1800s Paris France

The dynamic female body is beautiful and exciting. Although it may not explicitly suggest it, the nude and its tense position could be felt as erotic.

An animated female body is a vessel of perfection.

Flying Fish Dancers: Torvill and Dean c.1995 (verify) 1990-2009 NY NY United States

A heightened sense that Life is fantastically unbounded by daily cares. Life is imbued with unlimited potential and ease of movement.

Life is light and fluid.