9) Gravity
Alfonso Cuarón’s Gravity soared into theaters with a haunting experience that left audiences in awe – or fear – of the far reaches of outer space. Dr. Ryan Stone’s journey home, the centerpiece of the story, felt strangely familiar to viewers as it touched upon every human emotion in a realistic sense due to the heightened state of mind Stone was forced to be in. She was living virtually every human being’s worst nightmare: truly alone, nearly impossible to escape, but still very alive to experience your own mind deteriorating.
Sandra Bullock’s thrilling portrayal of the rawest of human emotions was the key factor in the rebirth theme of the film. She had lost everything, not only physically and in the present, but mentally and in the past as well. She was below the underdog status as it was likely Earth had forgotten about her and an underdog is rarely ever forgotten. No family, no job, no life, nothing.
And yet, Dr. Ryan Stone got out of it. If someone who had nothing can inspire herself, so can the rest of us feel the weight of just how beautiful the world can be.
