I went way over board on this assignment and it took me hours to finish it so I didn’t want to cut the time down, but I had so much fun making this! The assignment was to select scenes from 3-5 movies that changed your life or made some sort of dramatic, traumatic, lasting, or emotional impact on you. I didn’t go into too much detail in the audio because the video I made was already really long, but the scenes I chose are really impactful in general and I think they kind of speak for themselves. Side Note: I uploaded this directly to my blog instead of to my youtube because of blocked content.

The first scene is from Freedom Writers. The women who speaks lived through the Holocaust and she makes a big impact on the students in the film. This makes the students start to realize that being rivals against each other, just because of their race, shouldn’t be a reason to prohibit their friendships with one another. That isn’t just a lesson for the students in the film to learn though, it’s something many people still need to realize and that’s why I chose this scene. 

The second scene is from On the Basis of Sex. This scene portrays Ruth Bader Ginsberg speaking to a three judge panel in a court room. When a judge says to Ruth that the word “woman” isn’t in the U.S. Constitution and she responds, “Neither is the word freedom…your honor,” it hits so much differently than earlier in the film when Ruth declares to her daughter, “you are the future.” The film is all around amazing but this scene specifically really hit home for me because of the real event had on our society. 

The third scene is from Miracle. On the night the US played the Soviet Union in the medal round, Brooks gave a speech to inspire his team to pull off the greatest upset in sports history.  The opening line of his speech says, “Great moments are born form great opportunity.”  This line represents the idea that opportunities cannot give birth to a moment, it is a human quality.  Brooks is saying how his team is being given the chance that every team dreams of; defeating the enemy on way to winning a gold medal. I think that this speech can inspire so many!

The fourth scene is from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part two. The last movie in this iconic story of good versus evil filled with wizards and magic, the  inspiration in this scene stemmed from the most unlikely character, Neville Longbottom, who’s very timid and nervous throughout most of the movies. It is so breathtaking because for a lot of fans, they grew up through this series and when it comes to an end, but he says it perfectly when he says, “Harry’s heart did beat for us! For all us! It’s not over!”

The final scene comes from the movie The Art of Racing in the Rain.  I’ve been a dog lover my whole life but this story wasn’t just about a dog named Enzo but rather about life and all the ups and downs we experience, the highs and lows, losing loved ones, hard relationships…and through it all dogs are always there for us to provide comfort, a friendly bark, to lend a paw, to make us smile even on our toughest days. I relate to this a lot because my dog is my best friend and without doubt dogs are always there and this scene is so comforting.

This assignment was movie scenes that changed our lives and it was worth 5 stars. You were to choose 3-5 scenes that stood out to you over the years and influenced you in some strong way. The three scenes I choose taught me three distinct lessons early on in my childhood, and preteen years. I found the clips on youtube and converted them using clipconverter (link). I then saved them to my laptop and edited them all together using Windows Movie Maker.

The first clip I choose was from Steel Magnolias. The first time I saw it I was maybe 9 and I watched it with my grandmother. It is a wonderful movie that is set in the south. The women shown in the clip has just had her daughter pass from kidney failure even after having a kidney transplant from her mother. And she just cannot understand how her child was unhealthier than her since she was a little girl, and why she had to go before her mother. When I first saw this scene I was in tears. It is hard to watch a scene like this and not give an emotional response, especially if you have seen the movie. This scene and entire movie showed me how random and unfair life can be at times, and how precious our time is. We are not guaranteed a long life, or a healthy one, but that does not mean that for the short time we are here we cannot had a great life.

The second clip I choose was from What Dreams May Come. I saw this movie I believe right in my preteen/ early teens. From the very beginning you are pretty much in tears and shock from what is going on. The movie follows a family of four. Mother, Father, and two children, whose lives are all cut short. The children die in a car accident, the father is hit by a car, and the mother takes her own life. We follow the father through his version of heaven where he meets and is guided by his two children. When he realizes that the people guiding him have been his children, he then wants to find his wife. Sadly, because she took her own life, she is in hell. He must go to the depths of hell to try and salvage her poor soul. This clip captured for me the power of love, and how strong it can be when you’re with the right person. There is nothing you would not do and no lengths you would not go to, to save the one you love.

The third clip is happier than the first two and it is from Kiki’s Delivery Service. Studio Ghibli films are extremely popular and I am sure almost everyone has seen this movie. I saw it when I was very young, I cannot even remember hold old I was exactly. But the scene I choose was from the very beginning. It was when Kiki was about to go off on her own for an entire year, and she was saying good bye to her friends and family. It struck me because she was gaining her independence but she was not entirely there yet. She used her mother’s broom to fly away, and she hit trees in the process. She was still a child but she was starting to grow up and everyone had to let her go. This interpretation occurred for me a little ways down the road and it almost mirrored myself in a way and everyone for that matter going from a transition of child to teen, or teen to adult. Where we are still making mistakes but our parents had to let us go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OPQ77CB-wE&feature=youtu.be

Movie Scenes that Changed our Lives from Mai Shalalaiwan on Vimeo.

The opening scene of the video is a scene from the first installment of the Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen is willing to sacrifice her life for her sister to continue to live on. I read the trilogy and this moment was a very emotional one. The love Katniss has for her family is relatable to anyone who has an older or younger sister. This scene might not be life changing but it will definitely have a lasting impact in my mind.

The second scene starts at 1:11 and is also from the first install of the Hunger Games. This scene is the death of a fellow tribute named Rue. The Hunger Games is a free for all and every man for themselves type of survival game. Alliances are made in the games to kill off the weak links. Katniss Everdeen made an alliance with Rue and was getting ahead in the games. Katniss displays love towards Rue because she reminds her of her sister. Rue is killed when you gets caught under a net and her screams attract the tribute that set up the trap. Even though Katniss kills the attacker it was too late since the spear has been thrown. Katniss lays Rue to rest in a bed of flowers and is a very emotional scene.

The last scene begins at 5:37 and is the ending of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I watched this film several years ago and the ending made a lasting impact in my life. The film is about a man who ages backwards and falls in love with a woman. The ending scene proves how strong their love connection was. The woman he fell in love with hold him as a baby and her as an old lady. Benjamin dies in her arms as a baby.