Philosophy, to me, is candy! I wish there were good movies about philosophy because I see it as a suspenseful adventure, the ultimate quest. But alas, we are alone, friends. They make hard sci-fi, why not hard phi-fi? Recently there was a book called Radiant Cool, I think, and it was a fiction that supported some philosophy of mind. Didn’t read it. Atlas Shrugged obviously is philosophical fiction, should be a movie. But still, it’s one philosophy and doesn’t show a journey along the path of reason. Anyway, want to see what yous all come up with.
Here’s mine: Russell and Wittgenstein, The First Meeting.
(A film with no edits, a seemless dolly-camera depiction of the two personalities hashing it out about whether an elephant could be in the room, etc. Captures the intensity of Wittgenstein and the cool-headed razor sharp wit and intellect of Russell.
Hi Gamer,
You might enjoy reading a bit of fiction that appeared in the journal of the Royal Institute of Philosophy some time ago. It has Wittgenstein “defending” a doctorate primarily on the strength of his Tractatus. He’s being interviewed by Moore and Russell. It’s pretty funny.
The film, Derrida, has supposedly been released in North America, though the reviews I’ve seen haven’t been very complimentary.
While films about philosophers are rare, films dealing with philosophical questions are more common. For example, on a visit to Montreal last week I saw an Italian film, Io Non Ho Paura, that raised a few interesting moral questions.
And it would have as much to do with philosophy as A Beautiful Mind had to do with mathematics. I’d prefer that Hollywood should keep its grubby hands off philosophy altogether.
Ever since i heard the story of Aquinas and his teacher Albert the Great, i thought it should have been (or probably was) a black-and-white movie. Include at the end the scene of Aquinas being tried for heresy in Paris, and Albert coming out of retirement, burdened with a failing mind, to defend his greatest student.
i’ve always thought that “Thus Spake Zarathustra” would make a great movie. superficially it is not too heavy on the philosophy end of things, and as a result, it might actually be interesting to watch from the perspective of non-philosophers.
i’ve always thought that more people would enjoy Thus Spake Zarathustra if it weren’t so obscure. its too difficult to read and stick with, unless you really care and want to get through it. but the essence of it is something that anyone could appreciate, i think.
I think the Thin Red Line has a lot of deep philosophical views. Its not some flashy action packed movie with unrealistic stereotyped characters. The characters are really fleshed out and kind of what you would expect in a realwar. You have the depressed old colonel who has been past over for command and now this is his last battle and he wants to win it at all costs. You have a captain who isn’t cut out to lead and doesn’t want to lose any lives no matter what. You have a private who used to be a lieutenant but quit the army to be with his wife only to be drafted as a private and now all he thinks and all thats keeping him alive is the thought of going home to his wife but then he gets a letter from her saying that she’s divorcing him for another man. After that he gets surrounded by the Japanese and their leader is ordering him to throw down his weapon while all he can think of is his wife but now she’s leaving him so theres nothing left so he raises his gun to take a shot and gets killed. Then there are numerous other characters who this is there first combat mission and now they’re terrified. I think this movie was very philisophical and allowed you to see what the soldiers really thought and were not all a bunch of fearless war heroes taking out 10 enemies each like some movies depict.
Indeed, Thus Spoke Zarathustra would make an excellent film. However, in order for it to become a flick, one would have to pick apart Nietzsche’s writings and put it back together in a manner that would make sense in a movie screenplay. I think I may just do that someday…
The first time I saw that movie I really didn’t care for it much because it was increadibly too slow, I watched it for the sheer number of good actors that were in it. However, the more I watched it, it started to grow on me and eventually when Passion of the Christ came out, it was no suprise to me how Jim Caviziel was Jesus, after doing a movie where his character is seen sacrificing himself for the good of the platoon in The Thin Red Line. There is a lot of deep stuff in that movie if you can sort through all the slow stuff that’s going on.
Gene Roddenberry is a genius and a visionary of monumental proportions. He made a series in the 60s that defied cultural boundries and helped people see that there are better things to do with our future than kill each other. His contributions to the social sciences through Star Trek was one for the books.
none of the philosophical movies can even compare with the books. the best of all movies, that means including “philosophical”, are those that truely and deeply reflect orniary people and lives, e.g. the god father
