5 movies to watch when you're feeling under the weather

Movies… That aaaah moment. That moment of letting go and just being. Movies are made to suspend the viewers belief and let you into another world. The world created on screen. Where Superman flies. Where war rages and where we crush meteorites to prevent the earth from blowing up.

Recently I’ve found myself at the lesser part of the scale. Hating my life. Hate is a strong word – let’s go for: less impressed with humanity.

I went back to what I love: except traveling and Indian food, the movies. I’ve made a list of 5 movies to watch, when you don’t exactly feel like happy sunshine you.

      1)    Juno: A quirky love story with a wonderful graphic opening sequence. Juno is 16 and falls pregnant. She is awkward, not cool, about to become very big and decides to give up the baby for adoption.

Why I love it: Right after giving birth, Juno wakes up to find her dad at her bedside. He tells her: “One day you’ll be back on your own terms.” Cool line. But for me, Juno decides to give the relationship with Bleeker a chance. Happy ending, all good. Very typical, but when you’re down in the dumps a bit of a sunray.

      2)    Men of Honour:  Carl Brashear is a young boy with a big dream: he dreams of being a navy diver. He is black and the year was 1948. He became the first African American to join the Navy Dive School and lost his leg serving. You can ask my mum, it’s been my favourite movie since I saw it in 2000. Suddenly I wanted to become a naval diver, and although that dream came and went (with my two broken ankles) I cherish the navy: the friggits, the uniforms and the ocean.

Why I love it: for all of the above, but also because Chief Carl Brashear wanted to be a Master diver all his life. He fought became one, he lost his leg and then had to fight to stay one. Lesson here: depends how badly you want it. We are created quite amazing, our bodies and our minds can withstand a lot more than we think and will is a strange thing. Depends how badly you want it.
3) A Beautiful Mind: John Nash is a mathematical genius. Ivy School genius. He enrolls at Princeton and sets up his life with a beautiful woman and a good job. He gets ill and is diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. 

Why I love it: mind over matter. After john is released from the hospital, he decides to take his life back. To go back out in the world, do stuff, see people and contribute to society. Never mind what you are thinking: perhaps just get up and show up. Mind over matter. Sometimes you just need to do it.
John tells his arch enemy, now friend, Hansen "you have to feem them to keep them alive..." He talks about his "friends", but he also refers to dreams: some stay, some we work on, some breaks us. Knowing when to let go, knowing when to stop feeing the dream, the wish or the ideal you so deeply cherish.
4) Out of Africa: based on the biography of Karen Blixen, it tells of her lifestory, where she moved to East Africa, Kenya. I visited her house in 2013 and although it is now in a lush neighbourhood of Nairobi, 2 bus rides from the airport, her hous is surrounded by hills of green. Beautifully old architecture with a huge landscape of exactly why we love Africa: the green.
Why I love it: I am a child of Africa and will probably spend my life exploring our glorious continent. Karen came here with no references, internet searches or guidebooks. She made it happen. She made her life happen, and although her coffee plantation failed, she fell in love, gained the respect of the locals and lived an astonishing life.
5) The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: A group of British retirees book themselves into a hotel for the 'old and beautiful' in Jaipur, India. Facilities are not what they expected, but this crazy subcontinent charms them. I guess this is my go-to movie for all under the weather days. It reminds me of happy days, carefree walks, age-old forts and peacocks screaming in the morning. I completely fell in love with India.
Why I love it: Sonny, the partial owner of the hotel is an innovator and hopeless dreamer. He gets a shove in the right direction and suddenly he flourishes. My favourite line: "Nothing happens unless first we dream." I dream big. But no plan, idea, journey or job ever starting without someone dreaming about it. Go on: dream...