Pratishtha Rana
It is often said that one learns more from failure than from success. A challenging time teaches us to be fearless, persistent and hopeful. It gives us the strength to fight.
With the weekend approaching, we recommend you to watch these motivational movies and get inspired. Critically acclaimed and global favourites, these are great examples of self-love, conquering barriers, and finding the light at the end of the tunnel.
Nomadland, 2021
Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress – Nomadland won three Oscars this month, with a trove of other prestigious awards since its release in February 2021. Directed by Chloe Zhao and loosely based on a non-fiction book, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century by Jessica Bruder, the story follows the lives of (homeless) modern-day nomads who call camper vans their abode.

Frances McDormand stars in the lead role as Fern. She travels across the US in search of work after her husband passes away and she loses her job. With only a van in her possession, Fern on her journey to nowhere but somewhere, meets fellow nomads and wanderers, witnesses the kindness of humankind, learns to become self-sufficient, and to survive against all odds.
The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, 2019
This one is sure to motivate you to fight the odds. It is about a genius 13-year-old William Kamkwamba who saves his village from famine. Based on Kamkwamba and Bryan Mealer’s memoir The Boy who Harnessed the Wind, the movie stars Chiwetel Ejiofor in the lead, who comes from a family of farmers in a village in Malawi, East Africa, and was expelled from school because he couldn’t pay school fees.

Rising up from the difficulties, Kamkwamba continues to study somehow and amidst a spat with his father and the death of his dog, he invents a wind turbine to power an electric water pump that successfully tackles famine and helps the whole village to grow crops. Soon after, his achievement leads him to a scholarship and a degree from Dartmouth College, USA.
Brain on Fire, 2016
Brain on Fire is a biographical film based on American Journalist, Susannah Cahalan’s memoir, Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness. Directed by Gerard Barrett, starring Chloë Grace Moretz as Cahalan, the storyline follows her time as a writer at the New York Post, when doctors diagnose her a schizophrenic.
The young journalist happens to meet a Syrian-American neurologist, Souhel Najjar, who reveals that Cahalan has, in fact, a very rare illness, anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis, which causes complex brain inflammation. She undergoes a rather slow treatment and goes on to write her nerve-chilling experience in her book.
The Walk, 2015
A gripping narrative and an entrancing performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt who plays the main character in the movie, The Walk is based on a true story that dates back to 1974.
Directed by the renowned Robert Zemeckis, this biographical drama follows the life of a 24-year old French high-wire artist, Philippe Petit, who defies all odds, impossibilities (and gravity) to walk the tightrope between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. To add to the experience, this thrilling and extremely fascinating feat was first released in a 3D format in the theatres.

The Theory of Everything, 2014
Another Oscar-winning picture, The Theory of Everything is a poignant but extremely uplifting true story of the brilliant physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking who was diagnosed with motor neuron disease (MND) at the young age of 21. Shot at the University of Cambridge, where Hawking studied, the story also depicts his relationship with wife Jane Wilde, played by Felicity Jones.
As time passed, Hawking, portrayed by Eddie Redmayne, could neither move his muscles nor could breathe. Amidst all the severe difficulties, he was determined to find success in his love for the universe and physics. Hawking is best known for his work on the discovery of black holes in 1974 and as an author of numerous science-based books such as A Brief History of Time and The Theory of Everything.

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