The 6 Best Movies For Personal Development

Movies tell all kinds of stories and share great messages with us. They can help us in various areas of our lives, such as personal development. The movies we’re going to talk about today each give us a good example of what personal development looks like. This can be on a private as well as on a professional level.

Plus, it’s always a good idea to organize a movie marathon with your friends and family! So take this opportunity to discover some interesting films and shared interests.

The best films for and about personal development

1.  The Pursuit of Happyness

This is a great personal development movie with Will Smith. It’s about a man named Chris Gardner, played by Smith. This role has earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. In the film he very convincingly played a divorced father who was trying to build a better life for himself and his son.

They both encounter a number of obstacles in their quest for happiness. Their efforts to fulfill their dreams of a better life are not always easy. So in this story, we get to see how a man’s everyday life is a continuous fight for success.

And another fun fact: the film is based on a true story!

2. Invictus

This movie is also based on a true story. It takes place around the time Nelson Mandela was released from prison and became the president of South Africa. After that, the recently appointed president motivated the national rugby team. He wanted to see them win the Rugby World Cup in 1995.

However, the underlying purpose of this was to bring the country’s black and white populations together. He wanted to avoid a serious social conflict because it could lead to a civil war.

This movie starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon tells a difficult but beautiful story. You get to see the personal development of an entire team as it struggles for its victory in a country full of problems.

By the way, if you’re not a rugby fan and don’t know the results of the 1995 World Cup, you’d better watch the movie before looking up the results!

3. Good Will Hunting

This is another great example of a good film about and for personal development. It’s about Will Hunting, played by Matt Damon. Will is a  young rebel and troublemaker with a knack for math and physics.

Despite the efforts of the teacher, played by Robin Williams, to motivate Will to pursue a better life, his rebellious nature remains the biggest obstacle.

4.  La Vita è Bella (Life is Beautiful)

The great Italian film revolves around how people experienced the world during the Second World War. A Jewish father and his son are sent to a concentration camp. In the camp, the father tries to maintain a positive attitude. He wants to convince his son that nothing around them is actually real and that they are just competing.

R0berto Benigni, who played the main character and directed the film, tried in the film to protect his son from the terror and barbarity of the German Nazis. A very interesting fact about this movie is that it is based on the story of Benigni’s own father. He himself spent three years in a concentration camp.

5.  Forrest Gump

One of the most famous personal development films is  Forrest Gump . It’s about Forrest Gump, played by Tom Hanks. He has a slight mental disability — as well as a wonderful personality and admirable vitality.

The film tells us the life story of the main character during a very important time for the United States. This includes the Vietnam War. Thus, this character is associated with some of the most famous historical figures in a funny and unusual way.

6.  A beautiful mind

The last personal development movie we’re going to talk about is the story about John Forbes Nash Jr. He was an eccentric genius in mathematics and suffered from a form of schizophrenia. The main character struggles with this disease while developing a mathematical theory. This theory was so significant that it would dramatically affect many fields of science.

The magic of this film can be found in the perspective it offers about Nash’s illness. It shows how incredibly important it is that a patient also wants to see and confront their own symptoms  . In this case, it was mainly about the hallucinations that Nash had.

To get to this point, Nash had to learn to trust his loved ones. He realizes that if others can hear or see the same things, then that is actually real.

Nash’s, played by Russell Crowe, confronts his inner (metaphorical) demons with the support of his friends and his wife. He eventually wins the Nobel Prize in 1994. Thus, this film tells the story not only of a brilliant mathematical mind, but also of a  man who is able to overcome his greatest obstacles.