Films in which character confront death

December 2, 2006 7:01 PM

Can anyone suggest films in which a main character has a close confrontation with death and as a result undergoes a dramatic change in personality?
posted by quintno to Media & Arts (46 answers total)

Fearless
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul at 7:14 PM on December 2, 2006

Amos Perros
posted by klangklangston at 7:19 PM on December 2, 2006

Regarding Henry?
posted by netsirk at 7:20 PM on December 2, 2006

http://www.near-death.com/films.html
posted by null terminated at 7:21 PM on December 2, 2006

The Word According to Garp
posted by unmake at 7:23 PM on December 2, 2006

You could make an argument for any of the many version of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol," including, of course, Scrooged.
posted by cerebus19 at 7:23 PM on December 2, 2006

Pretty much any and all versions, adaptations and parodies of A Christmas Carol.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:24 PM on December 2, 2006

D'oh!
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:24 PM on December 2, 2006

A Christmas Carol and Its a Wonderful Life both fit your criteria, and are seasonally appropriate... And also Life or Something like it.
posted by blaneyphoto at 7:25 PM on December 2, 2006

Ikiru
Dark Victory
My Life Without Me
Last Holiday (and last year's dismal remake)
posted by Iridic at 7:27 PM on December 2, 2006

Forrest Gump (Lt. Dan) and Born on the Fourth of July too.
posted by blaneyphoto at 7:34 PM on December 2, 2006

Jules Winfield in Pulp Fiction.
posted by mlis at 7:43 PM on December 2, 2006

It's no "It's a Wonderful Life" or "A Christmas Carol" but the Family Guy movie meets the criteria.
posted by champthom at 7:45 PM on December 2, 2006

Flatliners
posted by bach at 8:06 PM on December 2, 2006

"Joe Versus the Volcano"
posted by np312 at 8:16 PM on December 2, 2006

To me, movies like "Straw Dogs" and "Deliverance", in which a character has to face a kill or be killed situation, meet your conditions.
posted by loosemouth at 8:20 PM on December 2, 2006

Ordinary People.
posted by thinman at 8:22 PM on December 2, 2006

Ghost Dad.
posted by Partial Law at 8:23 PM on December 2, 2006

My Life
posted by sergeant sandwich at 8:27 PM on December 2, 2006

Grand Canyon.
posted by brownpau at 8:28 PM on December 2, 2006

All of the Saw movies?
posted by dogwalker at 8:41 PM on December 2, 2006

I think there are probably thousands of them.

The Crow, for instance.
posted by Steven C. Den Beste at 8:47 PM on December 2, 2006

Emperor's New Groove.
Toy Story.
posted by Dipsomaniac at 8:57 PM on December 2, 2006

If TV counts, the end of season 5 and all of season 6 of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
posted by lemuria at 9:21 PM on December 2, 2006

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005)
3 Women (1977)
Manchurian Candidate (1962)
posted by plokent at 9:27 PM on December 2, 2006

The Seventh Seal.
posted by CRM114 at 9:31 PM on December 2, 2006

Agnes Varda's Cleo From 5 to 7 is an absolutely fantastic example of this, even though the character is dealing for a potentially terminal diagnosis rather than death itself.
posted by sarahsynonymous at 9:34 PM on December 2, 2006

Birdy
Dead Zone
Deer Hunter
Donnie Darko
Jacob's Ladder
Julian Po
Kill Bill
Kung Fu Hustle
Last Temptation of Christ
The Natural
The Ninth Configuration
The Onion Field

Not really near-death, but post-mortem personality changes:
Sixth Sense
Defending Your Life
posted by forrest at 9:52 PM on December 2, 2006

The Bride Wore Black (La Mariee Etait En Noir) (1968)
Kill Bill: Vol 1 (2003) and Kill Bill: Vol 2 (2004)
posted by plokent at 9:57 PM on December 2, 2006

The Fisher King (1991)
Dead Man (1995)
Cast Away (2000)
Unbreakable (2000)

Plus any number of war movies, I imagine.
posted by war wrath of wraith at 10:07 PM on December 2, 2006

Run, Lola, Run (Lola Rentt) (1998)
13 Conversations About One Thing (2001)
posted by plokent at 10:08 PM on December 2, 2006

If you're willing to wade very deeply into surrealistic & mystical waters, The Holy Mountain.
posted by treepour at 10:10 PM on December 2, 2006

The Duellists (1977)
Alien (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
posted by plokent at 10:25 PM on December 2, 2006

Haven't seen Sexy Beast mentioned yet.
posted by oats at 10:38 PM on December 2, 2006

batman
posted by Frasermoo at 10:45 PM on December 2, 2006

I immediately thought of Office Space. It's not his own death that he's near, but he pretty much says outright that it was responsible for the change in his personality, a scene or two later.
posted by pinespree at 11:04 PM on December 2, 2006

The Fountain, but it's not the protagonists death but someone elses that causes a character shift.
posted by PenDevil at 12:56 AM on December 3, 2006

If you're willing to wade very deeply into surrealistic & mystical waters, The Holy Mountain.

El Topo too. Also, I Will Walk Like a Crazy Horse has a bit about death and transformation in it, though that's starting to go far afield if the OP was looking for stuff in the Regarding Henry vein.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 3:25 AM on December 3, 2006

One of my favourites:

Bringing Out the Dead with Nicholas Cage

You might also consider Garden State, The Doctor and Regarding Henry.
posted by mule at 6:05 AM on December 3, 2006

Stranger than Fiction fits, and it's out right now.
posted by rubberfish at 6:51 AM on December 3, 2006

I know it's a cartoon, but I instantly thought of Family Guy's "Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story".
posted by galimatias at 7:07 AM on December 3, 2006

Vertigo fits, if we can assume Stewart's character also wasn't obsessive before the beginning of the film (after it, of course, he was afraid of heights and became deeply obsessive).

Unfortunately we don't get much time with the character before his near-death experience so it may not be what you're looking for exactly.
posted by Tuwa at 7:32 AM on December 3, 2006

the Final Destination series
posted by forallmankind at 9:32 AM on December 3, 2006

The 80s Australian film Bliss (a wonderfully peculiar adaptation of Peter Carey's first novel) begins with the near death of a thwarted, middle-aged advertising executive. He dies, briefly, of a heart attack, and is resuscitated only to embark on a turbulent and surreal programme of life re-assessment.
posted by hot soup girl at 11:38 AM on December 3, 2006

Totally Pulp Fiction.

Going from a hit-man to a man of god after almost being shot.
posted by anonaccount at 5:04 AM on December 5, 2006

In Three Colors: White, a character intentionally arranges a near-death experience to another to change his view about life.
posted by Anything at 10:01 PM on December 6, 2006