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Key points
- Sensitive people can be overwhelmed by loud or violent movies but often enjoy heartwarming films.
- Documentaries such as “My Octopus Teacher” and “Cave of Forgotten Dreams” are among top choices for empaths.
- Feature films “August Rush,” “Chariots of Fire,” and “Whale Rider” may be enjoyable for sensitive people.
Empaths are often overwhelmed by violent, fast-paced, or loud movies. Even the soundtrack can be too loud as well. Still, sensitive people love heart-warming movies so I want to share a few movies that I love.
I am pleased to offer you my recommendations for empath-friendly films. By this, I mean films that are inspirational, sometimes magical, and filled with love of the Earth and its creatures as well as friendships and all of humankind. These are not violent, loud, or action thrillers. Their pace is slower, richer, and leaves space for your imagination to roam to creative, beautiful places. I’m such a visual empath (I can’t tolerate loud or terrifying movies) that watching films is pure delight for me. I hope you enjoy these films too and that they bring peace, upliftment, and enchantment to your life.
1. My Octopus Teacher (2020 Documentary)
After years of swimming every day in the freezing ocean at the tip of Africa, Craig Foster meets an unlikely teacher: a young octopus who displays remarkable curiosity. Visiting her den and tracking her movements for months on end, he eventually wins the animal's trust and they develop a never-before-seen bond between human and wild animal. Streaming on Netflix.
2. August Rush (2007 Feature Film)
A musically gifted orphan who is an empath, Evan (Freddie Highmore) runs away from his orphanage and searches New York City for his birth parents. Little does Evan know that his parents, Lyla (Keri Russell) and Louis (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), are searching for him too.
Available on DVD and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
3. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010 Documentary)
A breathtaking look into the power and sensitivity of ancient cave dwellings. Filmmaker Werner Herzog is given a rare chance to film inside France's Chauvet Cave, where the walls are covered with the world's oldest surviving paintings. Examining the 30,000-year-old drawings, Herzog discusses how the artwork represents humanity's earliest dreams with scientists and art scholars conducting research at Chauvet.
Available on Amazon Video and Sling. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
4. Field of Dreams (1989 Feature Film)
When Iowa farmer Ray (Kevin Costner) hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying "If you build it, he will come," he feels the need to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, Ray builds a baseball diamond on his land, but learns this field of dreams is about much more than bringing former baseball greats out to play.
Available on DVD and Amazon Prime Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
5. The King’s Speech (2010 Feature Film)
Experience the power of a deep friendship. England's Prince Albert (Colin Firth) must ascend the throne as King George VI, but he has a speech impediment. Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush), an actor and speech therapist, is hired to help him overcome his stammer. An extraordinary friendship develops, as Logue uses unconventional means to teach the monarch how to speak with confidence.
Available on DVD & Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
6. Sensitive: The Untold Story (2015 Documentary)
A fine documentary about the temperament trait of high sensitivity found in 20% of the population in both men and women. Based on the findings of bestselling author-psychologist Dr. Elaine Aron (The Highly Sensitive Person).
Watch on Amazon Video and Tubi. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
7. Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016 Feature Film)
Bella and Hector, two reclusive country folk, become foster parents to Ricky, a problem child from the city. After the death of Bella, Ricky refuses to return to the orphanage and runs away, ultimately sparking a national manhunt for him and Hector.
Available on Netflix. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
8. Chariots of Fire (1981 Feature Film)
Inspiring story and musical score. In the class-obsessed and religiously divided United Kingdom of the early 1920s, two determined young runners train for the 1924 Paris Olympics. Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian, refuses to train or compete on the Sabbath while Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) overcomes anti-Semitism and class bias.
Available on DVD and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
9. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018 Documentary)
Through interviews with family and colleagues, the life of Fred Rogers, the would-be pastor who found a more important calling to provide an oasis for children in a video sea of violent bombardment, is explored. His landmark series, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968), was a show that could gently delve into important subjects no other children's show would have dared for that time.
Available on DVD and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
10. The Eagle Huntress (2016 Documentary)
Aishol-pan, a 13-year-old girl, trains against great odds to become the first female in 12 generations of her Kazakh family to become an eagle hunter and rises to the pinnacle of a tradition that has been handed down from father to son for centuries.
Available on DVD and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
11. The Secret of Roan Inish (1995 Feature Film)
When Fiona (Jeni Courtney) goes to live with her grandparents on the west coast of Ireland, she hears stories about the mythical creatures called selkies who can shift from seal to human form. After she ends up on the small island of Roan Inish, she believes she may have found her missing brother living by the sea and a world of selkies.
Available on DVD, YouTube, and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
12. Whale Rider (2002 Feature Film)
Only males are allowed to ascend to chiefdom in a Maori tribe in New Zealand. However, when Pai’s (Keisha Castle-Hughes) twin brother who has been selected to be chief dies, she enlists the help of her grandmother (Vicky Haughton) and the training of her uncle (Grant Roa) to claim her birthright.
Available on Amazon Video and Pluto TV. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
13. Wings of Desire (1988 Feature Film)
Damiel and Cassiel are two angels who have existed even before humankind. They wander around West Berlin, observing and preserving life. But Damiel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.
Available on DVD and Amazon Video. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
