Films that had a lasting impact on your life

What are some films that have affected your personality and that you feel have affecting the course your life has taken? For many there may be no such films, but I wonder if anyone would like to share any such references.

This is an Indian cinema sub, so for me the Indian films that have had such an impact are -

- Garam Hawa (M.S. Sathyu) - really helped me understand the trauma of partition, which my family also went through, and helped me understand the importance of empathy for those who are different from us, the importance of living together and struggling together for a better world.

- Gandhi (Richard Attenborough) - I consider it a partly Indian film because of its theme, and that it is populated by mostly Indian actors and many Indian crew members, including Ravi Shankar who composed a beautiful OST, and the film was half funded by NFDC. It impacted me in a similar way a Garam Hawa, but in a way that was more philosophical, more universal, rather than confined to the events of 1947-1950 that the former film covers. Once again, it highlighted in my journey the importance of compassion, and of listening to your inner truth.

There are other films with similar historical themes, but I'll stop with two for now.

In non-Indian cinema, the work of Tarkovsky and Bergman shaped my thinking about life, our purpose, and suffering, quite a bit. Particularly in my 20s when I was a lost young adult looking for meaning in life. Films like Solaris and Stalker will never leave my consciousness. In my 30s I wanted to discover my cultural identity more, so I moved to Indian cinema from world cinema, and found a lot of meaning about how to engage with social relationships and political struggles from the films I mentioned above.