Movies of Inspiration

Our soul needs inspiration just like the body needs food. Good inspirational movies are a great way to uplift our soul fill it with hope and optimism. Stories are a powerful tool to touch our heart. A good inspirational story motivates us to keep fighting for our heart’s desires and dreams.

Inspiring movies trigger an emotional pulse point in our hearts and minds when we are in a distressing situation. They can help us to see the light at the end of the tunnel and give us the burst of hope and courage to persevere. The stories teach us lessons, fill our hearts with hope and make us feel better.

Inspirational Movies based on True Stories & Events

Links to their respective IMBd Movie page for further information, rating, run time etc.

Based on the life of Stephen Hawking, the Theory Of Everything is a story about Stephen Hawking and his wife Jane Wilde. At 21, Stephen realizes hat he has neuron disease which is not curable, but he doesn’t give up. Along with his wife, they both defy odds and make groundbreaking discoveries in the field of medicine and science.

When talent silences all critics. Branch Rickey, a football team manager hires Jackie Robinson who is black, by going against everyone. The heroic act is met with criticism from Press and the general public, but both of them prefer to respond only through Jackie’s talent.

The most famous president in the American history, who took a stand for the abolition of slavery during the time when America was torn into Civil war. He uses his humanity and political skills to push the people and government to aim towards a greater good for all mankind by abolishing slavery.

The world which judges people on the basis of race and color, a wealthy philanthropist, suffering from quadriplegic hires a recently released from Prison man, to work for him full time as his caretaker. An employment opportunity which turns into a beautiful and unlikely bond of friendship.

How to convert weak into strong is what Moneyball is about. The coach of Oakland;s A, a baseball team feels that all the baseball wisdom is faulty. Faced with a tight budget when he wants to hire best pitchers, he plans to reinvent the team by hiring Peter Brand. They both set out to challenge old school probabilities which restrict bin players to become the best players, even after having the required talent.

Based on a true incident from Nelson Mandela’s life, as soon as apartheid was removed, recently elected President Nelson Mandela has a task to improve racially and economically divided South Africa. Believing in the power of sports, Mandela teams up with Francois Pienaar, who is the captain of a football team, to unite Soth Africans to play in the 1995 Football World Cup.

An academy award winning movie, The Blind side shows how racial biases can put anyone;s morale down. And some people are true humans. Michael Oher is a black homeless teen who is taken in by a white family, Tuohy’s. They become Michael;s legal guardians, providing him everything, from education to a home. With the help of his new found family, Michael then realizes his potential to be a good student and a great footballers, breaking all racial biases chains.

A movie for some people who are tired of mundane lives and simply existing to survive. Christopher McCandless, son of wealthy parents gives up his college degree of Emory University and credentials of being a top student and athlete. To live close to himself. He gives away all his savings to charity and sets out Alaskan wilderness, to be close to nature and not just survive, but to live.

How we underestimate writing journals every day. But a teacher in racially divided Los Angeles school made others realize how important it is to do that. Starring Hilary Swank, Freedom writers is the story about a teacher who inspires her students to prioritize their education by including material related to their lives and she encourages them to keep journals to know more about themselves.

A simple coal miner from West Virginia, John Hickam wants his sons to follow his footsteps, but unexpectedly both turn out to be pretty smart. Jim enrolls into a football scholarship and Homer becomes interested in rocket science after seeing Sputnik 1. John disapproves of Homer;s hobby, but Homer starts building rockets with the help of his friends and a Teach Laura Dern, who can provide him with a better life.

A hunter named Peter Adams suffers from manic depression at a mental hospital. After a long struggle, he decides he wants to open his own medical clinic. He gets admission into Virginia Medical University but doesn’t agree with the patient care methods. Along with a wealthy friend who is ready to invest in his practice, he opens his own clinic for those who do not have medical insurance. But a tragic accident makes him realize that the path is not easy.

The year 1966, when racism was still prevailing in many areas of USA. Texas Miners, a football team gets a new coach, Don Haskiins, who believes in pure talent over race. The town is in uproar with gossip , but their mouths simply shut when they see that the team is actually doing great on the field. But when black players Bobby Joe Hill and captain Harry Flournoy being to dominate other teammates, the future is in jeopardy.

One of the most emotional films of all times, Chris Gardner, recently divorced and a single father without a job has to take care of his kid. Thrown out of their apartment, now they have nowhere to go and seek residence in shelters where you have to get in line to get bread and bed. Even after landing an internship in a prestigious brokerage firm, they hardly have enough money. But Chris never bows to despair and keeps on working hard for his son to create a better life. Grab some tissues when you sit down to watch this one!

A true story based on Vietnam war, Dieter Dengler is injured and captured by enemy soldiers in Laos. Now based in a POW (Prisoner of War) camp, Dengler and his mates go through hunger, torture and sickness while they await their chance to be rescued or escape.

A biker’s delight, The World’s Fastest Indian is based on the true story of Burth Munro from New Zealand, who perfects his mean machine to take it to Utah and set a world record for fastest speed in salt flats. Astonishingly, the world record that was set by Munro in the year 1967 has still not been broken by anyone!

Studies and recreation should go hand in hand, we have been listening to this since we were kids. Coach Carter is the story about Ken Carter, who returns to his old high school in Richmond to coach the basketball, team. He succeeds in this, but then player’s academic grades start to fall. After receiving a backlash from parents and authorities, he shuts himself up and withdraws participation from the championship season, determined that the players should excel in court as well as in classes.

Some successful people suffer from a lot of things, stress being one of the main culprits. Aviator is a story about one of those people only. Billionaire Howard Hughes has everything, from big budget Hollywood films to leading ladies as his lover and he is an aviation pioneer too. But when he is not all of this, he is a person who is tormented and suffers from phobias and depression. The more successful he gets, the more he is plunging into darkness.

A true story based on Rwanda Genocide, Paul Rusesabagina manages a hotel based in Hutu and lives a regular with wife and three children. Life takes a turn when Hutu military forces take up the task of cleansing Tutsi minority. After looking at the genocide happening in front of eyes, Paul allows refugees to camp in his hotel, saving as many as he can. But problems increase when UN pulls out from the area and he is left all alone to face the blazing fire of Hutu military forces.

As kids, we wanted to be a lot of things. Surgeon, Pilot, writer, astronaut, Policeman etc. There was one guy in history who was many of these things, even before his 18th Birthday! Frank Abagnale was a master forger and deception was in his blood. He became the most successful bank robber in the history of U.S. Enters FBI Agent Carl Hanratty, who makes the capture of Frank his life mission. But the only problem is, Frank is always one step ahead of Carl.

Remember Nash equilibrium from Graduate level Mathematics? Many of us might have forgotten it. A beautiful Mind is the real life story of John Forbes Nash Jr mixed with the biography written by the same name by Sylvia Nasar. From heights of success to dungeons of failure, John faced it all in his life. He made an amazing discovery pretty early in his life and was about to be internationally recognized. But suddenly he gets on a path which takes him to a self-discovery journey, which is painful and scary.