Get Out (2019)
A film that needs no introduction, Jordan Peele lauded directorial debut, was not only a game-changer in the industry but one that features a TSA agent as the real hero. The record-smashing American mystery horror film is about a young black man about to meet his white girlfriend’s family for the first time. But nothing is what it seems in this creepy or scary, trippy but also a hilarious movie. We’ve already said too much!
Paterson (2016)
Directed by beloved indie filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, this is a story about a week in the life of a bus driver played by beloved thespian Adam Driver. When the titular protagonist is not enjoying the monotony of his life, he finds peaceful places to write poems. The film is visually delightful in a modest way, softly dreamy, and enchantingly mellow. Paterson is an original story and a perfect one to honor bus drivers and those finding beauty in routined life and work.
Cemetery of Splendour (2015)
The mystery drama by acclaimed Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul is a mesmerizing one honoring carers and volunteers giving their times to help or alleviate patients’ pain. The movie is about a strange epidemic causing people to sleep and hallucinate. Incorporating mystical or magical elements, Cemetery of Splendour is a spellbinding movie about the very humane and humble relationship between volunteers and lonely patients.
The Intouchables (2011)
This French mega-hit was inspired by a true friendship between a rich white quadriplegic and his caregiver from a different race, social class, and with little to no experience. Despite the awkwardness, difficulty to get along, and their unconventional approaches to life, the pair develops a bond that will change their lives. Like the protagonists, the directors Nakache & Toledano very optimistically hoped to challenge audiences’ misconceptions and wanted to show that, in the end, we can all get along. Often likened to a Driving Miss Daisy type of film, it has nevertheless been remade in the US as 2019’s The Upside.
The Guilty (2018)
We said we would stay away from professions that are commonly portrayed as heroic in numerous movies about saving lives and fighting crimes in the streets. But some services doing equally consequential actions behind closed doors are often overlooked. Enters Gustav Möller Danish huis-clos thriller following a dispatch officer. Unlike Halle Berry’s The Call about a 911 operative, here the events happened almost in real-time, and the focus is solely on our protagonist trying to solve a crime and prevent a death all via phone. The surprisingly intense award-winning film shines a light on all those working in the shadow in call centers, not only helping to make our life easier but also preserve it.
My Life as a Zucchini (2016)
As mentioned previously, we will not dwell on the reasons why we decided not to talk about the heroes in uniforms as we know it. Instead, we turn the spotlight on the ones taking care of less advertised businesses, like one requiring no spy, muscles, or gadgets but working hand in hand with social services. So what better example of this teamwork than this stop motion animated feature by Swiss director Claude Barras. Based on a novel about an orphan nicknamed Courgette (or zucchini same same!) looking for his place in the world and happiness, My Life as a Zucchini is a moving film for the whole family. It is relevant and highlights the fundamental duties of many in various agencies assisting kids in need at all times.
Rams (2015)
This one will stay with you for a while, thanks to its dark humor sprinkled here and there! Although it is filled with lots of comical scenes, Rams is a drama about two brother sheep farmers by Grímur Hákonarson. The Icelandic film inspired by a true story about feuding bros on a farm is capable of making audiences laugh out loud as well as touching them in an unexpected way.
God’s Own Country (2017)
This debut feature by British actor Francis Lee is not only a very realistic film about countryside life and sheep farming but one of the few about LGBTQ+ characters in rural areas. Think Brokeback Mountain but in Yorkshire, and instead of cowboys, a struggling young farmer trying to figure out who he is and a Romanian immigrant. The film has a singular vision, is authentic, and the farming or sheep caring scenes look truer than nature.
Prince Avalanche (2013)
Prince Avalanche is a fun dramedy by American filmmaker David Gordon Green and a remake of an Icelandic film named Either Way. It stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch as road workers. Set in 1988, we see the duo’s adventure while they are on a job out of town to restore and repaint roads destroyed by wildfire. Filled with shenanigans in the woods, and, with a hint of “stoner movies” mood, Prince Avalanche is a merry project featuring outdoor public workers as protagonists.
Western (2017)
This drama by Valeska Grisebach is about a group of German expert construction workers contracted to build a huge dam in Bulgaria. All the men, but one, are too comfortable making themselves feel at home in this foreign country with little disregard for the nearby town inhabitants. This film highlights many issues arising from this situation and culture clashes. Construction workers, often being short or long term immigrants, will always be looked at as if they are coming to take someone’s job, but in the end, they are willing and qualified to do something that not only needs to be done but will eventually bring people together.
Diamond Island (2016)
This coming-of-age drama by French-Cambodian director Davy Chou follows a teenager moving from the lush countryside and leaving behind his mother to work as a construction worker in a dazzling area of Phnom Penh. He arrives in the big city with big dreams but realizes, like many of his young peers building all the fancy modern buildings, that it is hard to find a place in this bright new world. Diamond Island is a poetic film about the beguiling lights of the city with promises of a better future versus the reality for many workers building this future.
The Chambermaid (2018)
This quiet film by Lila Avilés following a maid in a high-end hotel in Mexico City is giving viewers a glimpse of the day-to-day lives of many cleaners. The Mexican movie is a spot-on drama about how one might feel and go about their day doing a demanding job when one also has a very intimate view of someone’s life they can’t even dream of. With most hotels reopening, or those that stayed open to service frontline workers, or all the rich people who “insisted” on keeping on the cleaners, maid and other staff (putting them at risk of being sick or not being able to feed their family if they refused!) we need to remember that they too are doing a one-of-a-kind underappreciated essential position in these trying times.
