Going through an emotional healing journey is not at all easy. Some healers have rightly described it as, “dying a thousand times, and then a thousand times more!”
So to pass through it all we will need all the help, right? Trust me when I tell you that watching healing movies is a great way to cure yourself.
Such movies help eliminate the causes for feeling sad for no reason, find new ideas, and be motivated in our spiritual journey.
I have prepared a list of 11 movies that will hit your emotional G-spot and aid in your healing process. Let’s have a look at them.
1. Inside Out (2015)
IMDb: 8.1/10 │Rotten Tomatoes: 98% │Metacritic: 94%
Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
Subgenres: Family, Fantasy, Comedy, Adventure, Animation
In this one of the best movies about emotional healing, the emotions of a girl named Riley are personified. These emotions are Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust. As embodiments, they operate in Riley’s mind from ‘headquarters’. The story unfolds as Joy and Sadness are accidentally ejected from headquarters, leading to emotional chaos within Riley. The focus of ‘Inside Out’ is on the idea that even sadness is important for a person’s maturity and growth.
How it Will Help in Healing: With this inner child healing movie you will understand the importance of feeling your feelings and embracing even the negative ones.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Disney+, Amazon, Google Play, Apple TV
2. Soul (2020)
IMDb: 8.0/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 95% │ Metacritic: 83%
Runtime: 1 hour 40 minutes
Subgenres: Fantasy, Comedy, Music, Drama, Animation
Joe Gardner is on the verge of his big break as a jazz musician when an accident separates his soul from his body. He finds himself in the Great Before, where souls develop personalities before going to Earth. There, through his interactions with 22, Joe discovers that the greatest joy of life is in the smallest things rather than achieving one’s dreams.
How it Will Help in Healing: As one of the best healing movies, ‘Soul’ will help you to embrace your feelings and build mindful awareness. Its message is simple – live in the present moment, instead of running blindly for some imagined future.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Disney+, Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, YouTube
3. Good Will Hunting (1997)
IMDb: 8.3/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 98% │ Metacritic: 70%
Runtime: 2 hours 6 minutes
Subgenres: Drama, Romance, Coming-of-Age, Inspirational, Psychological
Will Hunting is a brilliant but troubled janitor at MIT. One day he is discovered by a professor for his mathematical talent, who then aspires to make him ‘great’. The story unfolds as Will meets a therapist who helps him to understand his emotions. Now Will has to make a choice – become ‘great’ or be with a woman he loves?
How it Will Help in Healing: ‘Good Will Hunting’ is a self-healing movie, due to its message to understand, what are feelings. It then motivates to use that understanding in making major decisions of life.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Max, Hulu, Amazon, Apple TV
4. Forrest Gump (1994)
IMDb: 8.8/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 71% │ Metacritic: 82%
Runtime: 2 hours 22 minutes
Subgenres: Drama, Romance, Comedy, Historical, Feel-Good
Forrest Gump is a man with a low IQ but a kind heart. Despite his limited intellect, he finds himself involved in key moments of 20th-century American history. From becoming a football star to fighting in Vietnam and starting a shrimp business, Forrest’s adventures are both incredible and heartwarming. His innocent relationship with Jenny further provides the deep emotional core to this story.
How it Will Help in Healing: Even amidst adversities and failures, Forrest Gump always remained connected to his truest self. With this healing film, you will realize the importance of self-connection and acceptance to emotionally cure yourself.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Amazon, Pluto TV, Paramount+, Hulu, YouTube
5. The King’s Speech (2010)
IMDb: 8.0/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 94% │ Metacritic: 88%
Runtime: 1 hour 58 minutes
Subgenres: Historical, Drama, Biographical, Inspirational, Political
In this movie, King George VI suffers from a debilitating stammer making him unable to perform his royal duties. His wife then seeks assistance from an unconventional speech therapist, Lionel Logue. Logue helped the king to realize that his problem was strongly linked to his experiences in the past. Together they then worked to deliver a speech that would rally the British people at the onset of World War II.
How it Will Help in Healing: This movie comes in the list of good healing films. It portrays the links between a person’s current situation with the emotions of their past. This story will help you address your past so as to deal with your problems in the present.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Max, Hulu, Amazon, Fandango
6. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
IMDb: 8.3/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 92% │ Metacritic: 89%
Runtime: 1 hour 48 minutes
Subgenres: Romance, Drama, Sci-Fi, Psychological, Mystery
After a painful breakup, Joel and Clementine choose to erase each other from their memories. However, during the procedure, Joel re-experiences their relationship and decides he doesn’t want to forget Clementine. This leads to a rediscovery of their love, by re-living both joys and pains of their past. If you want to watch a romantic emotionally healing movie, then this one is meant for you.
How it Will Help in Healing: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind highlights the importance of experiences, both good and bad, in shaping who we are and the connections we form. This emotional cure movie will help you go deeper into your spiritual journey stages.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Amazon, Fandango, Google Play, iQIYI
7. Lady Bird (2017)
IMDb: 7.4/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 99% │ Metacritic: 94%
Runtime: 1 hour 34 minutes
Subgenres: Comedy, Coming-of-Age, Romance, Teenage drama
“Ladybird” tells the story of a rebellious and sharp-tongued teenager, Christine, who comes from a family of lower income group. In her high school senior year, she longs to leave Sacramento and go to the East Coast for college. This healing film explores her turbulent relationship with her mother and her struggles to find her own identity and place in the world.
How it Will Help in Healing: This movie will help you realize the importance of accepting one’s current situation and roots. With such self-acceptance, it becomes easy to not resist and let healing work itself naturally onto you.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Amazon, YouTube, Apple TV, Fandango
8. About Time (2013)
IMDb: 7.8/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 70% │ Metacritic: 55%
Runtime: 2 hours 3 minutes
Subgenres: Romance, Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi drama
Tim discovers he can travel through time and fix the smallest mistakes in his life. He uses this gift to win Mary’s heart and create perfect moments in his romantic life. However, soon he realizes, that every time he fixes his past, he makes some unsought changes to his present. This is quite a good movie about healing in the romantic genre for you.
How it Will Help in Healing: “About Time” explores the idea that to live fully one needs to appreciate the present instead of perfecting the past. Such mindful living is at the core of every healing journey.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Peacock TV, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango
9. Manchester by the Sea (2016)
IMDb: 7.8/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 96% │ Metacritic: 96%
Runtime: 2 hours 17 minutes
Subgenres: Drama, Family, Tragedy, Teenage Emotions
After his brother’s death, Lee Chandler becomes the guardian of his teenage nephew, Patrick. The troubles with Patrick and events in his hometown forces Lee to confront his traumatic past. Now he must navigate through his pain to accept realities and heal fractured relationships within the family.
How it Will Help in Healing: This inner child healing movie works on the theme of acknowledging one’s past and its emotions instead of suppressing them. If you are looking for an ancestral healing movie then this one might fit you.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play
10. Ordinary People (1980)
IMDb: 7.7/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 89% │ Metacritic: 86%
Runtime: 2 hours 4 minutes
Subgenres: Family drama, Psychological, Tragedy, Coming-of-Age
The eldest son of the Jarrett family died in a tragic accident. This leads to emotional turmoil and strained relationships between family members. One day, Conrad, the other son confronts his parents and tells them that he’s suffering from depression and guilt. He also tells them that he’s seeing a therapist for his issues. However, this leads to further miscommunication and fractured relationships within the family. Will the Jarrett family be able to cope with their grief and find a path to recovery?
How it Will Help in Healing: “Ordinary People” is a trauma healing movie that beautifully portrays the message of confronting one’s feelings instead of trying to suppress them. It also suggests that it is okay to seek outside help for self-healing and growth.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Max, Hulu, Fandango, YouTube
11. The Hours (2002)
IMDb: 7.5/10 │ Rotten Tomatoes: 79% │ Metacritic: 81%
Runtime: 1 hour 50 minutes
Subgenres: Psychological, Biographical, LGBT+, Literary Adaptation
“The Hours” follows the lives of three women. Virginia Woolf is the woman writing the novel, Mrs. Dalloway. Laura Brown is the one reading the novel in the 1950s. While Clarissa Vaughan is living her life in the early 2000s. Their parallel stories interconnect with their struggles with mental health, societal expectations, and the quest for meaning in life. If you want to watch a good movie about healing then this is definitely meant for you.
How it Will Help in Healing: The themes of mental health, depression, existential crisis, and a will to find the right path, match very closely to the journey of emotional healing for us.
Watch Trailer: YouTube
Watch Movie: Amazon, Apple TV, Fandango, Pluto TV
To Sum it Up
Apart from the best self healing books, movies for healing can also help you deal with your troubling emotions.
All you need to do is find a movie that fits perfectly to the emotion that you are feeling currently.