Moviespirit presents the Top 25 Films that Change Us 2011. Each one can open your heart and change your mind in unique, subtle ways.

Films represent a powerful medium for learning about yourself and others. Most of us have access to great movies, making them a very democratic art form, a “dance of light” for our time. Found within are compassion, authenticity and integrity. High quality and technical excellence are demonstrated.

Families, nature and culture

Cave of Forgotten Dreams. New wave German filmmaker Werner Herzog reveals a protocinema of Paleolithic drawings in this unprecedented filming of Chauvet Cave in southern France. Herzog believes that the ancients held their torches aloft and danced, their shadows moving with the animal drawings in an ancient cinema. Here Earth’s earliest known drawings, about 32,000 years old, were discovered in 1994. Cinematographer Peter Zeitlinger’s exquisite 3-D images show horses gallop, and now-extinct cave bears and cave lions stalk. Woolly mammoths and spotted panthers prowl undulating walls glittering with calcite. Herzog’s offbeat narration and signature metaphysical musings keep the film lively.

The Tree of Life. When her son dies at war, Mrs. O’Brien (Jessica Chastain) asks why. Director Terrence Malick answers with a return to the beginning of time. Galaxies and the Earth form. A couple meets. A child is born. Hundreds of beautifully composed images shape a quiet, elegant whole. Upheavals take on a stately grace. Sparse dialogue and interior monologues become poetry. Brad Pitt impresses as strict, troubled Mr. O’Brien. Jack is played as a youth by Hunter McCracken, and later by Sean Penn.

The Descendants. George Clooney stars as Matt King, a real estate lawyer in Hawaii whose wife Liz lies in a coma after a waterskiing accident. Matt must transform his own pain and sorrow as he guides his daughters through impending loss. Shailene Woodley plays rebellious Alex. Amara Miller stars as tender Scottie. The family learns to live more from the heart and less from the mind in Alexander Payne’s sensitive drama about honor and letting go.

The Way. Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez travel the Way of St. James (Camino de Santiago) from France to Spain in this sensitive drama about men’s hearts. Sheen’s son Estevez directs and appears as a ghostly muse. The most powerful movie is sometimes the simplest. Sheen’s deep, rousing performance and Estevez’s minimalist, mood-centered direction fill The Way with meaning. Cinematographer Juanmi Azpiroz captures inner and outer adventures along the breathtaking pilgrimage route. Tom Avery (Sheen) loses his son Daniel (Estevez) in a freak accident in the Pyrenees. He begins to retrace Daniel’s steps, intending to complete the journey. Deborah Kara Unger, Yorick van Wageningen and James Nesbitt also star.

Tough love

Everything Must Go. Nick Halsey (Will Ferrell) is having a very bad day. He’s been fired. His wife dumps him.  He’s marooned on his own front yard. Nick is forced to face his alcoholism and take stock of his life in this deadpan comedy. A smart, enterprising neighborhood kid who lost his dad shows up. Kenny (Christopher Jordan Wallace) cares about his neighbor, and helps Nick care about others again. Nick and Kenny help each other rise above despair. Laura Dern also appears. Dan Rush writes and directs.

Moneyball tells the true story of sports rebel and Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane. Brad Pitt brings Beane to life in this exciting drama about professional baseball, valuing others and bold change. Fast-talking Beane uses saber metrics to recruit a winning team on a tiny budget. The fantastic script was penned by Oscar winners Steven Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network). Jonah Hill co-stars as economics whiz kid Peter Brand. After 11 losses, the team sets a major league record during the 2002 season. Actual game footage from the A’s 20-game win streak adds excitement. Bennett Miller (Capote, Doubt) directs.

Terri. John C. Reilly and Jacob Wysocki give standout performances in the best coming-of-age dramedy of the year. Azazel Jacobs directs. Mr. Fitzgerald (Reilly), a vice principal, begins to counsel Terri, a huge oddball with a confused, hungry heart. Reilly’s straightforward, unforgettable character walks his talk. Mr. Fitzgerald doesn’t pretend to have it all together, but helping troubled kids is his life calling. Jacobs captures strange beauty as Terri hangs out with two outcast friends. Creed Bratton also stars.

Truth and romance

Another Earth. What if we could start over, erase our most painful mistakes and move forward? Brit Marling stars in this moving indie. Rhoda Williams (Marling) has just won a scholarship to MIT’s astrophysics program. Partying herself into a stupor, she decides to drive home. Another Earth blends science fiction, art and emotional truth. It’s stark and understated, a contemplation of regret and human possibility. William Mapother and Marling are remarkable alone and together. The characters don’t interact so much as they revolve around each other. There’s a sense of vast eternity, a lonely hum. Director Mike Cahill co-wrote the mesmerizing, imaginative script with Marling, drawing upon the theoretical physics of parallel worlds. Cahill’s feature debut won the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize and a Special Jury Prize at Sundance 2011.

Beginners. He may be late for the party, but Hal celebrates like it’s 1955. Christopher Plummer’s Golden Globe winning performance reveals a man who married for love while hiding his sexual orientation. After his wife dies, Hal comes out to his adult son Oliver (Ewan McGregor), a romantic idealist. Parallel love stories unfold. Melanie Laurent stars as Oliver’s new sweetheart Anna. Goran Visnjic plays Hal’s lover Andy. Beginners is masterfully directed and written by Mike Mills, whose own father came out late in life. Art and whimsy add delight. Oliver sketches the many faces of sadness as he converses with his dog Arthur. McGregor brings a sensitive, vulnerable and thoughtful quality.

Missing Pieces. The most intriguing indie of the year from director-to-watch Kenton Bartlett explores longing and true love. Mark Boone Junior stars as David Lindale. Recovering from a head injury and the loss of his girlfriend Delia (Melora Walters), David’s obsession takes a disturbing turn. Richly imagined with deep compassion, this psychological drama also stars Taylor Engel and Daniel Hassel as a virtual couple. Stark and oddly hopeful, Missing Pieces listens to the ancient cry of the heart with contemporary verve. Jonathan Arturo’s artistic cinematography is notable.

Midnight in Paris. A charming, erudite frolic through Paris and the heart of an idealistic Hollywood screenwriter, Midnight in Paris lightheartedly explores past and present. Woody Allen’s newest film savors life and literature in the City of Light. It’s Allen at his searching, sarcastic best. Owen Wilson plays Gil Pender, a shambling, successful screenwriter who daydreams about fleeing Malibu, moving to Paris and finishing his novel. Rachel McAdams protests as his gold digger fiancée Inez.

Movies as art

The Artist. Even if you aren’t a fan of black and white films, The Artist likely will enchant you. Jean Dujardin smolders as prideful George Valentin, and Berenice Bejo shines as Peppy Miller, all spark and warmth. They are stars of the silent film era. George soon falls for Peppy, the newcomer he discovered. Acting then was pantomime and passion, a larger-than-life tribute to everyman and woman. Michel Hazanavicius writes and directs this film which swept the Academy Awards and Golden Globes. The Artist is mostly silent but filled with music, dance and superb acting. John Goodman and Uggie the dog also star.

Hugo. Martin Scorsese’s first children’s fantasy is a tribute to the cinema. Asa Butterfield stars as an orphan who lives above a Paris train station in the 1930s. A Station Inspector (Sacha Baron Cohen) chases the 12-year-old who lifts croissants and toys. Ben Kingsley is masterful as brooding, heartbroken Pappa Georges. Chloe Grace Moretz is engaging as Isabelle. Impeccable cinematography by Robert Richardson and fabulous sets from Dante Ferretti create an intricate world of wonder. You’ll see the Lumiere Brothers’ 1895 short The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station and Georges Melies’ 1902 classic A Trip to the Moon. The making of these movies is reenacted. It’s a deep appreciation for early films and filmmakers.

Existential dread

Martha Marcy May Marlene. Elizabeth Olsen bursts into stardom in writer-director Sean Durkin’s astounding feature debut. Olsen’s dynamic, restrained performance is striking as Martha struggles to reclaim herself after escaping from a cult in upstate New York. Place and time blur as she relives her old life. Cult leader Patrick (John Hawkes) requires psychic surrender and bizarre acts. This indie psychological thriller disturbed and fascinated me as much as The Exorcist. A Silkwood-like ending is deeply unsettling.

Melancholia. Lars von Trier casts a spell over you in this visual masterpiece about apocalypse and humanity. Kirsten Dunst stars as a Justine, a runaway bride. Plagued by depression, Justine confronts her gentle groom (Alexander Skarsgard), her man-hating mother (Charlotte Rampling) and her pound-of-flesh boss (Stellan Skarsgard). It’s a landscape of inner devastation made manifest. Melancholia joins a flurry of “end times” films. Unlike The Tree of Life, it focuses on destruction. The writer-director examines our shortcomings and how we face death. This is a masterful, artistic interpretation of von Trier’s own battle with depression. You might see him as cynical. Then again, simply making a film is an act of faith.

Take Shelter is a fever dream of a thriller. It dwells on anxiety and hope, prophecy and mental illness. Jeff Nichols directs. Michael Shannon brilliantly plays sensitive everyman Curtis LaForche. Gangly, enigmatic and tortured, Curtis is plagued by hallucinations and nightmares. In an age of uncertainty, his dark night of the soul feels universal. Suspenseful from start to finish, Take Shelter portends the end. It sweeps you away with dread and faith. Jessica Chastain stars as Curtis’ wife Samantha. Tova Stewart is sweetly perceptive as their hearing impaired daughter Hannah.

Danger and redemption

The Debt. A team of young Israeli Massad agents captures the surgeon of Birkenau, but hides a dark secret. Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain star in John Madden’s classy and exciting exploration of truth and honor. Non-stop suspense and an all-star cast distinguish this smart thriller. Romance and regret sharpen intrigue. Atonement is impossible in The Debt’s bloody conclusion, with a character who can’t forgive herself. Sam Worthington, Marton Csokas, Tom Wilkinson and Ciaran Hinds also star.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. David Fincher’s classy remake of the 2009 Swedish-language thriller stars Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander, an abused heroine. Mikael Blomqvist (Daniel Craig) and Lisbeth track a serial killer implicated in the murder of Harriet Vanger 40 years ago. This is Mara’s breakout role as a fierce, determined computer hacker and survivor. Violent scenes, and a family of nefarious suspects, add grit. Jeff Cronenweth’s extraordinary cinematography highlights the play of good and evil. When the mystery is solved, a way to transcend violence is revealed.

Incendies. A daughter investigates her mother’s life and her own roots. Denis Villeneuve writes and directs this suspenseful family drama. Jeanne (Melissa Desoreaux-Poulin) travels to the Middle East to solve mysteries about her mother Nawal (Lubna Azabal, incredible). Politics, religion, identity and passion are explored. Best Movie Quote: “Death is never the end of the story. There are always details.”

Teachable moments

In a Better World. Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier explores violence, courage and responsibility in this Oscar and Golden Globe winner. Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) is a surgeon working far from home in a Kenyan field hospital. When his 10-year-old son Elias (Markus Rygaard) is bullied at school, he steps in as a peacemaker. Seeking his wife’s forgiveness after an affair, Anton lives in a state of love and surrender. His humility, gentleness and willingness to look like a fool are unique. Trine Dyrholm, Ulrich Thomsen and William Johnk Nielsen also star.

Win Win. Paul Giamatti is tremendous as Mike Flaherty, a storefront lawyer and sports coach who learns about honesty from a teen wrestling prodigy. Alex Shaffer plays Kyle, a deadpan runaway with a mom in drug rehab. Mike shows a great capacity to care for a kid in need even though he’s cash-strapped. Kyle demands a higher level of integrity from Mike. Shaffer was a high school champion wrestler in New Jersey. Amy Ryan, Bobby Cannavale and Burt Young also star. Director Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent; The Visitor) develops characters you will care about.

A new world

Happy. Roko Belic shows you how to find deep and lasting joy in this globe-trotting documentary. Belic travels to 14 countries to meet positive, optimistic individuals both rich and poor. He interviews “Dr. Happiness” Ed Diener, a scholar of happiness for over 35 years, and Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who studies meditation’s effects. Sharing insights from psychology, neuroscience and multicultural wisdom, Happy finds that community and family are key. Once basic human needs are met, researchers say, $50K and $5 million look very much the same to our brains. Adversity can even kick start happiness, giving you the biochemical contrast needed to create new, better realities.

Everyone can Thrive, according to a leading edge documentary from visionary Foster Gamble. Steve Gagne directs. A wake-up call with a plan, Thrive casts world crisis as an evolutionary turning point. Daring to follow the money, Gamble analyzes underlying causes of scarcity and suffering worldwide. Free energy, abundant food and prosperity for all are within reach, experts say. The Thrive Movement website includes detailed information and ways to participate. Among those interviewed are Nassim Haramein, cosmologist and inventor, and Paul Hawken, environmentalist and entrepreneur. A masterpiece of impeccable research and heart, Thrive is among the most important documentaries ever made.

Miss Representation. Women speak out as the mainstream media trivializes and sexualizes women for profit. This disturbing eye-opener from Jennifer Siebel Newsom was featured at Sundance 2011. In-depth interviews and images from print, television, the internet, rock, rap and hip hop videos abound. Miss Representation is among the most important documentaries ever made. It reveals a rising tide of female leaders, and the tremendous integrity and wisdom that women offer society. Many scholars and activists speak, including Jennifer Pozner, Geena Davis and Rosario Dawson.

Compassion

Of Gods and Men. Trappist monks serving in the Algerian highlands face death in this stirring drama based on true events. As violence spreads, the government orders the monks to leave the country. Devoted to the impoverished locals, they debate whether to flee. Like Jesus, they live simple lives of prayer and service. Christian and Islamic people can coexist, they believe. Xavier Beauvois directs this winner of the Cannes Grand Jury Prize, and a Cesar Award for Best Film. Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale star.

You might also enjoy: Top 12 Family Films of 2011; Top 10 Thrillers  of 2011.