10 Best Movies About Unrealised Dreams
Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today.
Dreams. We all have them. Some can be simple, like aspiring for good health and a loving family. Others can be a bit more far-fetched, like one day seeing Leeds win the Premiership, or having Hugh Jackman return as Wolverine in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Everybody has had a dream at some point in their lives, and while some people manage to live theirs, the sad truth of the matter is that a lot of us will not.
Movies are no different, and for every schlubby Seth Rogen character who somehow ends up with an insanely hot wife or girlfriend, there's a character who devotes themselves to realising the perfect, dream version of their life - or has a particular goal or desire in mind - only to fail spectacularly along the way.
Sometimes it's their own fault, with their ambition clouding their common sense, but factors outside the character's control can also be an issue. In either case, these movies carry important lessons for us, since they reveal how people react when they fail to realise their dreams, and show us the mistakes that lead them down that path.
10. Of Mice And Men
The 1992 adaptation of John Steinbeck's brilliant novel follows George and the mentally-disabled Lennie, workers struggling to make ends meet during the Great Depression. The two move from job to job as they attempt to save up enough money to buy their own piece of land, a dream that Lennie constantly asks George to tell him about. Unfortunately, Lennie's health issues frequently cause problems for the pair, and eventually, they prove to be the undoing of their relationship.
One of Lennie's quirks is that he enjoys petting soft things. One day, while working at a ranch, he has a private moment with the wife of the ranch owner's son, who offers to let Lennie stroke her hair. Lennie does so, but, unaware of his own strength, he begins to stoke too hard, pulling the wife's hair. As she struggles and tries to get away, Lennie tries to keep her quiet, and accidentally breaks her neck.
This results in a lynch mob - led by the wife's husband - chasing Lennie down. So, in order to spare Lennie a violent and painful death, George performs a mercy-kill, describing their dream to him (giving him a feeling of happiness and comfort), before shooting him in the back of the head.
The movie concludes on this dour note, with George still in pursuit of a better life. With Lennie gone, he has only the thought of their now-shattered dream to keep him going.