Evan Sarver offered ToInquire.com his suggestions of movie
that address important men's issues, thanks Evan!

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Movie listed in alphabetical order

A Beautiful Mind
About a man struggling to overcome his own personal demons, and surviving and even championing over those demons.

A Boy and His Dog
A great piece of science fiction about a man surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, with the help of "man's best friend."

A River Runs Through It
The story of two brothers. Both have lofty values instilled from an early age by a minister father. Yet one grows to be a man who lives through all his addictions, while the other grows to be a man who fiercely pursues his commitments. Shows the difference between commitment and addiction to life.

A Touch of Evil
Perhaps Orson Wells' greatest work. A film about a corrupt sheriff and the man who battles him for the lives of innocents.

Almost Famous
Story about a young man who fiercely pursues his dream to write for Rolling Stone. He struggles though lost love, the drug culture, and a band who denies his article, but manages to win out in the end.

American Beauty
Disturbing look at the apathy and pain that many modern men feel in our lives. Lester Burnham is a hero because he overcomes his apathy and learns to live as a man again, rather than as a victim of his circumstances.

Apocalypse Now
Disturbing look at the Vietnam conflict. Based on "Heart of Darkness," this film is about the war only on the surface, but is more about the struggle between a man and his inner demons. The viewer is left questioning what it means to be a hero. In the film, the price of that heroism is the man's soul.

Black Hawk Down
A great war movie about men banding together to resist an angry mob armed with automatic weapons. The men in this film retain their dignity even in the face of overwhelming odds and the loss of many of their buddies to war.

Born on the Fourth of July
Tom Cruise turns in a stunning performance in the true story of Ron Kovic, a veteran of Viet Nam who lost his legs in the war. His struggle with acceptance of his situation leads him to return to his role as a great leader of other men.

Braveheart
The story of a commoner, William Wallace, who leads the Scots to victories over England. When his wife is killed, he turns to fighting. But his fighting, rather than being motivated by vengeance, is motivated by the goal of freedom. About a man maintaining his ideals when it would be easy to give in to hatred.

Brazil
One of the greatest works of science fiction. Directed by Terry Gilliam, this film is as bizarre and surreal as any you will see. About a man's inward struggle to overcome a deeply oppressive society.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
One of the great buddy films of all time. Butch and Sundance may be criminals in the eyes of the law, but they do have honor and a set of values. They fight through incredible obstacles, and are martyred in the end.

Catch Me If You Can
Long Island, the 1960s. High schooler Frank Abagnale Jr. idolizes his father, who's in trouble with the IRS. When his parents separate, he runs away to Manhattan with $50 in his checking account, and he vows to regain dad's losses and get his parents back together. Just a few years later, the FBI tracks him down in France; he's extradited, tried, and jailed for passing more than $4,000,000 in bad checks. Along the way, he's posed as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, and an attorney. And, from nearly the beginning of this life of crime, he's been pursued by a dour FBI agent, Carl Hanratty. What starts as cat and mouse becomes something akin to father and son.

Chasing Amy
A great movie about how men are blinded by love, and can become a victim of their own worst judgment in love. A great film for any man who feels they lost their "one true love."

Citizen Kane
Orson Wells' famous film about the life of William Randolph Hearst. Moving and disturbing at the same time, we see how a man (Kane/Hearst) sacrificed all that was dear to him to become rich and powerful, and how none of those riches or power served him in the end.

Deliverance
On a weekend canoeing trip down a river in the Georgia back country, four urban businessmen enter a nightmare in which both nature and mankind conspire to send them through a crucible of danger and degradation in which their lives and perhaps even their souls are put at horrendous risk.

Disclosure
A great movie about a woman sexually harassing and manipulating a man who loses a promotion to her. While in the film he regains control over his life and ousts her, far too often in real life men are utterly trounced by women like this. A great film to see a man finally come out on top when Hollywood seems to revel in bashing men.

Donnie Darko
Surreal science fiction film about a boy's struggle to come to terms with the strange/psychotic visions he has of a 6 foot tall demonic rabbit. His journey turns out to be a heroic one in which he rescues those he loves most from "the end of the world."

Enemy At The Gates
Jude Law portrays Vassili Zaitsev, one of the greatest Russian snipers in WWII. He survives a horrendous battle in the beginning of the film, and ends up a champion of the Russian war in the Russian papers.

Enemy Mine
A decent science fiction film about a man and an alien overcoming their differences to survive in a hostile environment. Really a film about seeing things from another man's point of view, and through understanding him, becoming his friend.

Excalibur
The classic Arthurian legend retold. The struggle between the knights of the round table, Arthur, Mordred and Lancelot will always burn in the hearts of men. This film shows the human sides of that struggle, rather than merely the conquests.

Falling Down
A film dealing with an apathetic man who finally gets fed up with what is going on around him and blows up. He gets out of his car and begins a walk through central L.A., where he encounters various levels of harassment, which he learns to deal with by acquiring weapons along the way. His actions attract the attention of a retiring cop, and he gets involved with the case, following the engineer's path toward Venice, where his daughter is having a birthday party.

Field of Dreams
You already covered this one pretty well.

Fight Club
When a nameless thirty-ish yuppie grows bored of his comfortable life, he becomes involved in an anarchic subculture called "Fight Club", lead by charismatic Tyler Durden. Some criticize this as a glorification of violence, but I see it as a heroic journey of a disenchanted man. Some of the dialogue, at the very least, has volumes to say to men. For example: "We are a generation of men raised by women. Sometimes I wonder if another woman is really the answer we need."

Finding Forrester
You covered this one already.

Fitzcarraldo
A story of a madman who will not stop at any cost in his pursuit of the dream of taking his ship up the Amazon. The story of a man who takes his pursuit of a dream past the brink of madness.

Full Metal Jacket
A two-segment look at the effect of the military mindset and war itself on Vietnam era Marines. Follows a group of men through boot camp, and then follows a second group through the Tet offensive. Shows men sticking together through thick and thin, and supporting each other to survive atrocity.

Gladiator
You already covered this one.

He Said, She Said
Twisted comedic look at the love and work relationship of two reporters who often have opposing views. Their relationship is replete with many of the problems men and women find in our relationships these days, and many of them stem from simply not understanding the opposite sex.

In the Company of Men
Sick and twisted dark comedy about two men who decide to "get even" with women for all the mistreatments they suffered at women's hands. Of course, the plan backfires badly. Shows how men can end up falling on their own swords when we seek vengeance.

Kiss the Sky
Two professionals, Jeff and Marty, take a business trip to the Philippines. Their deep dissatisfaction with their lives leads them to forsake their friends and families for a return to the adventure, purpose and power of their youth. Seeking their idealized view of the world, they build paradise on the edge of nowhere, only to have it all fall down, but in so doing, each man discovers his true path.

Love Stinks
Witty black comedy about a woman who wants desperately to get married, and her boyfriend, who doesn't. Shows how men can be easily duped by a woman who is "a good fuck." Also shows how evil and malign a woman can be when she doesn't get her way. Like "War of the Roses" but much funnier and with a better ending.

Medicine Man
Sean Connery is at his best as an idealistic doctor finding rare cures in the rainforest. He struggles against nature to find a cure for cancer, but is ultimately thwarted just when he finds his cure. And he is not stopped by nature, but rather by the slash and burn of the rainforest.

O' Brother, Where Art Thou?
A retelling of "Ulysses." A great buddy film. Highly surreal and imaginative, this tale follows three escaped convicts on their quest to find a treasure and return home. A tale about salvation.

Patton
Love him or hate him, Patton was a man of deep convictions. "The last great warrior," he led men into battle like nobody since. This movie speaks volumes about masculine ideas of heroism and victory.

Platoon
The struggle between good and evil on the battlefield, yet unlike many war pictures, this is a struggle between two men fighting for the same side. Or are they?

Saving Private Ryan
Great and compassionate war film. Lots of blood and guts. A great and noble quest to save the sole surviving member of a family during WWII.

Schindler's List
The true story of Czech born Oskar Schindler, a businessman who tried to make his fortune during the Second World War by exploiting cheap Jewish labor, but ended up penniless having saved over 1000 Polish Jews from almost certain death during the holocaust.

The Game
Nicholas Van Orton is a very wealthy San Francisco banker, but he is an absolute loner, even spending his birthday alone. His brother saves him from a dreary life by giving him the gift of "The Game," a perilous journey that awakens him to his better self.

The Graduate
Incredibly humorous comedy about a young man who is at a loss for what to do in the world, and fairly apathetic about it. He foolishly becomes involved with a neighbor's wife, and then falls in love with her daughter. About his journey to stand up as a man and do what is best, rather than aimlessly stumbling through life.

The Hudsucker Proxy
Norville Barnes gets promoted to be the president of Hudsucker Industries in an effort by the board to seize all the stock, but their plan backfires when Barnes invents the Hoola-Hoop and profits soar. The story of an ordinary guy who champions against extraordinary odds.

The Hunt For Red October
Great Tom Clancy thriller about a Russian sub commander who wants to defect. Interesting struggle between the trust and the fear that two men on either side of the cold war feel for each other.

The Outlaw Josey Wales
One of Clint Eastwood's best films. He portrays Josey Wales, an honorable outlaw in the old west who simply wants to find some place to live in peace. Eventually his journey earns him the respect of the Marshall who is chasing him, and thus earns him his freedom.

The Patriot
Mel Gibson in this revolutionary war era picture about a man who takes up arms to defend his family from the British. A great picture about a father sacrificing nearly everything for his family.

The Shawshank Redemption
Spielberg picture about two men's journey through life in prison, and one man's escape. Truly a film about escaping injustice and surviving against incredible obstacles.

The Tao of Steve
Entertaining romantic comedy that has a lot to say about "how to score with women" as well as the differences between merely getting laid, and getting oneself involved in a committed relationship.

The War of the Roses
Twisted black comedy about the war between a man and woman in the process of divorce.

The World According to Garp
Bizarre film with Robin Williams as Garp. Garp has to suffer a lunatic feminist mother in his youth, but somehow manages to grow up to be his own man. His journey sees the loss of a son, estrangement from his mother, and reuniting with her later. The strange push and pull between men and women in the film speaks volumes about how men find themselves in relationships with women in modern times.


A table grouping them into categories:

Thanks to Evan Sarver for many of these suggestions and their reviews.
He can be reached at: evan@wholepersonhealings.com

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If you have other suggestions, please sent them to: To-Inquire@mindspring.com

Revised: February 18, 2006 .