7 best philosophical films with hidden meaning

Modern cinema is not only a segment of entertainment, but also a way to share your thoughts with a wide audience. Many films covertly convey serious and important messages that are worth pondering.

“Mr. Nobody”

In the distant future, where all people are immortal, Nemo is the only old man living out his last days. When a journalist comes to him, the hero tells him about his life, which he lived three times in different realities. But how?

The meaning of the film

Life constantly confronts us with a painful choice, on which sometimes depends not only our future, but also the future of many other people. Everything we see on the screen is really just a little boy’s question: “What if…?”. At that second when we cannot decide what to do, reality seems to be torn apart into many different scenarios of our life.

“Vivarium”

Lovers Tom and Gemma decide to find a place to live and succumb to the persuasion of a strange realtor to look at a house in the newly built Yonder quarter near the city. But as soon as they arrive at the place, they discover that the realtor has disappeared and they were left completely alone. All attempts to get out of Yonder do not lead to anything, there is no connection, other people are also not visible. When the couple is already desperate, they throw a baby with a note “Educate and get freedom.” The boy is growing surprisingly fast, but his upbringing, like life in Yonder, turns into a real hell for both.

The meaning of the film

We are used to considering children as the “flowers of life”, however, their upbringing is hard and sometimes thankless work. The film is an exaggerated illustration of the parent’s share: a baby falls on the head of a young couple and fetters them hand and foot, forever depriving them of the opportunity to get out of the conditional “Yonder”.

“It seems that we were left alone”

After all of humanity became extinct for unknown reasons, librarian Del became the only survivor in his town. Rejected by society because of his appearance, he always dreamed of living in complete solitude and is now glad of this opportunity. However, suddenly his idyll is disturbed by the eccentric blonde Grace, who also managed to survive.

The meaning of the film

Reed Morano’s painting is an allegory of modern society, where people have stopped appreciating things like love and friendship and turned into “dead souls”. The main character symbolizes a modern person – withdrawn, selfish and unwilling to sacrifice his comfort for the sake of others. And it depends only on him – whether he remains among the dead souls or dares to change something in his life.

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“High-rise”

Robert Lange buys an apartment in an elite high-rise building, equipped with all amenities: it has its own supermarket, school, swimming pool, gym, high-speed elevators. But at the same time, the skyscraper is absolutely closed from the outside world and has its own clear hierarchy. A spark is enough for a conflict between the “top” and the “bottom” to flare up. But Lang himself is not ready to participate in this war.

The meaning of the film

The skyscraper itself and its inhabitants are an integral system that fails at some point. However, not all heroes are ready to be just cogs in the mechanism: throughout the film, we are shown the attempts of different heroes to prove themselves as individuals and to declare their human qualities. This is the main idea: we all live in a well-functioning system, but at the same time we want to be individuals.

However, there is another interpretation of the plot: natural selection in an urban society. The film shows a typical conflict between the “old man” and the new system. The skyscraper breaks those who are unable to adapt to changing realities, but there will always be progressive minds in society who will curb the jungle of stone and new technologies. At the end, we see a boy sitting on the roof and listening to Margaret Thatcher on the radio as a symbol of the future.

“Triangle”

A young single mother, Jess, sets out with her friend on a sea voyage, but a sudden storm overturns the yacht and the survivors drift on its wreckage until they stumble upon an ocean liner. Climbing aboard, the friends discover that there is no one on the ship, and Jess herself does not leave the feeling that someone is watching them.

The meaning of the film

The unbreakable time loop that the main character falls into is actually only in her head and is a consequence of her feelings of guilt for being a bad mother. Reliving the terrible events on the liner and in his home again and again, Jess shows the viewer a typical example of self-flagellation and self-destruction, when we cannot forgive ourselves for some mistakes of the past and continue the senseless “Sisyphean work”.

“Fountain”

Thomas is obsessed with the idea of ​​finding a cure for cancer in order to save his terminally ill wife Izzy, and she asks her husband to finish her book “The Source” about medieval Spain and the search for the Tree of Life. Unable to save his beloved, Thomas plunges into her manuscript and realizes that she is the key to immortality.

The meaning of the film

Throughout its existence, humanity has dreamed of finding the source of eternal life and learning the secret of immortality, but the fear of death is a kind of slavery. Darren Aronofsky suggests coming to terms with the idea that the circle of life is continuous, so the death of one individual is just the beginning.

Jacob’s Ladder

Jacob, who fought in Vietnam, suffers from nightmares that are believed to be a manifestation of PTSD. However, upon learning that his friends are suffering from similar hallucinations, Jacob begins to dig deeper and deeper, plunging into dark secrets and insane visions.

The meaning of the film

Sometimes it is better to accept than to struggle endlessly, because there are things over which we are powerless. The main character finds the long-awaited peace only when he finally accepts the inevitable, no matter how bitter the ending may be.

What films with hidden meaning can you recommend?