What was the first movie that *really* moved you?

[Trench_Man]

This can be a movie that inspired you to do something, altered how you view the world, or simply made you appreciate something more. A movie that somehow, some way made an impact on your life big or small that factored in to the person you are today.

For me I think the earliest movie I can remember that REALLY made me appreciate good choreography, especially fight choreography is Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. The fight choreography in that movie was so good and it single handedly made me interested in the deeper workings of how choreography is done in-studio both in the past and contemporary times.

[schlime9k]

There are many like that for me, in all honesty:

1. John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), at first it was just a movie to put on while my girlfriend at the time and I kiss, but then I got really invested in it, and the more I learnt about it and watched it, the more I appreciate it for how simple yet effective it is, and I now call it my favourite film ever made, and I look up to John Carpenter as a huge inspiration for my work.

2. the Lord of the Rings trilogy by Peter Jackson & Co. have cemented my love for High Fantasy stories, though a lot of my enjoyment for it goes to J.R.R. Tolkien, who wrote the books that the films are based off and I read and love dearly.

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey blows everything else Stanley Kubrick made out of the water. I was never really a big fan of his work, especially The Shining (1980) but 2001 is a whole different beast. It's profound, confusing, beautiful, thrilling, enthralling. Somehow made in 1968, it's a true masterpiece. Still isn't in my top 5 favourite movies but one that really made me think about the medium...

[Melooon]

Hmmm, there were plenty of movies that were popular or had an impact on social life when I was little; for example the Lord of the Rings movies had everyone in school making paper rings, Harry Potter had everyone dressing up in robes, the first Pokemon Movie was a big deal too.

However for me more personally, I would say the first movie that actually shook me and altered the trajectory of my life was Spirited Away. I saw it when I was 7 and at the time it was terrifying and weird. My dad is a movie buff and was always bringing home weird movies, but that was the first one that I really engaged with and got a new world perspective from. I watched it every evening for a month after that  (sometimes multiple times a day)

It also gradually filtered out to friends; no one had heard of Miyazaki films in Ireland then, so our DVD of that film got brought along to a lot of peoples houses and became a lot of peoples introduction too.

[asahelix]

[ThunderPerfectWitchcraft]

I think "The conference of the Animals" was very impressing to me - probably, this movie had quite some part in turning me into an anarchist ;).
Another thing I still remember vividly as moving was a small clip about a dying badger and his friends that I saw in the public kids TV back then. I guess I realized the finiteness of life for the first time as a very graspable, real thing. I did a quick checkup - the story is available on Youtube (and nearly brought me to tears again), but I believe I saw a earlier, less animated version that came out in 2001.

[schlime9k]

This is the only correct answer!

[asahelix]

This is the only correct answer!

The worst part is that I'm not even joking. This movie made a nine year old me appreciate my brothers more.

[rnottelovesowls]

to piggyback off melon's mention of a ghibli film: i have one, too. and it's none other than...

Whisper Of The Heart

i watched this movie last year during a moment of questioning where i want to go as an artist. i relate heavily to shizuku and her struggles with writing a novel; everything she went through is almost beat-for-beat what i'm going through right now, right down to staying up late, eating snacks while working, getting out of my seat just to curl up on the ground and collapse, and breaking down once my project is done and i get feedback saying it's good while i think it's a complete disaster...

in other words, i'm in this movie and i don't like it it is now my favorite movie of all time. not just animated movie, but movie, period.