Trauma-themed Movies

family of origin

Alexander and Fanny, 1982
The prince of tides, 1991
This boy’s life, 1993
Shine, 1996
Good Will Haunting, 1997
Enter the void, 2009
Fish tank, 2009
Warrior, 2011
La tête haute, 2015
Lion, 2016
Coco, 2017
You were never really here, 2017

developmental trauma

Sybil, 1976 or 2007
Mr. Jones, 1993
Nell, 1994
Girl, interrupted, 1999
The legend of Bagger Vance, 2000
K-PAX, 2001
The piano teacher, 2001
Mockingbird Don’t Sing, 2001
Antwone Fisher, 2002
Monster, 2003
Lars and the real girl, 2007
The reader, 2008
The king’s speech, 2010
Black swan, 2010
We need to talk about Kevin, 2011
The imitation game, 2014
Home care, 2015
Loveless, 2017
Instant family, 2018 (adoption, foster care)
Joker, 2019

trauma and institutions

One flew over the cockoo’s nest, 1975
Shawshank Redemption, 1994
The Magdalene sisters, 2002
Short term 12, 2013
La tête haute, 2015
The day will come, 2016 /Der kommer en dag/
Who we are now, 2017
By the grace of god, 2018 /Grâce à dieu/
System Crasher, 2019

sexual abuse

Sleepers, 1996
One hour photo, 2002
Mystic river, 2003
Antwone Fisher, 2003
Lilja 4-ever, 2004
Towelhead – Nothing is private, 2007
Short term 12, 2013
Spotlight, 2015
The tale, 2018

violence

Sleeping with the enemy, 1991
Fight club, 1999
Enough, 2002
Marion – forever 13, 2016

handicap

Whose Life is it anyway, 1981
The art of negative thinking, 2006
The Intouchables, 2011
Wonder, 2017

chronic disease

As it is in heaven, 2004
Alabama Monroe – Broken Circle Breakdown, 2012 (child with cancer)
Still Alice, 2014 (Alzheimer's disease)

loss, mourning

The horse whisperer, 1998
Angel eyes, 2001
Fugitive pieces, 2007
Up, 2009
Rabbit hole, 2010
Hereafter, 2010
Hotel, 2014 /Hotell/
The Schack, 2017
Farewell, 2019

accidents, falls (individual)

The horse whisperer, 1998
Angel eyes, 2001
Touching the void, 2003
The 9th Life of Louis Drax, 2016

natural, mass, civilizational catastrophes

Ordinary people, 1980
Fisher King, 1991
Fearless, 1993
Titanic, 1997
Hotel Rwanda, 2004
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, 2011 (September 11th, 2001)
The impossible, 2012 (Tsunami)
Turist, 2014 /Force Majeure/
Aus dem Nichts, 2017

refugees, migrants

Samba, 2014
Brooklyn, 2015

war trauma

Let there be light, 1946
The Night Porter, 1975
Deer hunter, 1978
Coming home, 1978
Come and see, 1985
Grave of the Fireflies, 1988
Schindler’s list, 1993
Forrest Gump, 1994
Saving Private Ryan, 1998
The pianist, 2002
Fugitive pieces, 2007
Waltz with Bashir, 2008
Shell shock, 2009
Triage, 2009
Brothers, 2009
White ribbon, 2009
The parade, 2011
Remember, 2015
Frantz, 2016
Good Morning Vietnam, 1987
Men Don’t Cry, 2017
You were never really here, 2017

captivity

Room, 2015

addiction

Things we lost in the fire, 2007
Enter the void, 2009
Thanks for sharing, 2012 (sexuality)
Min lilla syster, 2015 (bulimia)
Amy, 2015 (Amy Winehouse)
Whitney, 2018 (Whitney Houston)
Rocketman, 2019 (Elton John)

trauma and children, adolescents

Short term 12, 2013
La tête haute, 2015
Wonder, 2017

processing trauma

I never promised you a rose garden, 1977
Ordinary people, 1980
The prince of tides, 1991
The horse whisperer, 1998
Antwone Fisher, 2002
Triage, 2009 (war)

trauma miscellaneous

Painful secrets, 2000 (cutting)
Frankie and Alice, 2010 (dissociative identity disorder)
Augustine, 2012 (Jean-Martin Charcot)
Frozen, 2013
Before I Go to Sleep, 2014 (thriler)
Infinitely Polar Bear, 2014 (bipolar disorder)
Cialo, 2015 (eating disorder, psychiatry)
Split, 2016 (dissociative identity disorder, thriller)
Toc Toc, 2017 (obsessive-compulsive disorder)

miscellaneous

It’s a wonderful life, 1946 (sacrifice one's own ambition for the family while maintaining inspiration)
Human face, BBC documentary, part 1, 2001 (social engagement system)
Catwoman, 2004 (empowered woman)
Hunt, 2012 (educator guilty of child sexual abuse)
Hector and the Search for Happiness, 2014 (psychiatrist seeks happiness on a trip around the world)
Maleficent, 2014 (injustice, resentment, forgiveness)
Inside out, 2015 (emotions)
Films directed by Haya Miyazaki (processing important life issues, eg life transitions, decisions, values…)