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Movies and settings

Obie

Senior Registered
Are there any movies that trigger any kind of PL recall in you? Like does the setting of the movie make you want to keep watching it because it takes you back to a different yet familiar time?

Below are some movies that triggered something in me when I watched them. The setting made me feel nostalgic and I couldnt stop watching the movie b/c of how warm and fuzzy and romantic the setting was

-Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. However Gone with the Wind (a great movie btw) did nothing to make me feel nostalgic.
-Midnight in Paris paris during the jazz, beatnik age.
-movies about gamblers, bonus points if that movie is set in the desert. A lot of old time westerns, The Hustler with Paul Newman, U-Turn with Sean Penn.
-Documentaries about the Wild West, Billy The Kid, Doc Holiday, Wyatt Earp, Annie Oakley

I had a wonderful PL where I was an African Warrior and tribal chief. It was not traumatic in the least and I accomplished a lot for my tribe and did a lot for those around me. I enjoy watching documentaries about tribal Africa, but however if there is a movie set in tribal Africa I feel depressed. However, I enjoy documetaries about ancient Egypt. I had a PL in Medeival England also. However, same thing I feel depressed watching anything to do with Medeival England. Masterpiece theater where it deals with rainy, dreary 1800's England also depresses me to the point where I have to shut off the TV no matter how good the story line is. Anything to do with WWII, or movies set during Nazi Germany make me feel unhappy and unloved for some reason.

I have a great deal of respect for Native American culture but for some reason I feel depressed when I watch movies set during that time that focus on the Native Americans rather than the Wild West. Perhaps its sadness over what happened to them, IDK. Could it have been something bad that happened to a loved one who was native?

Sorry for this long post, but I was wondering if there were others who like me felt a kinship or nostalgia to certain movies but depression with other movies time periods etc.
 
"Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is an interesting choice, with no obvious PL connections. I wonder if you were connected somehow to Johnny Mercer? Do you know his music? Could you have been acquainted with the ancestor of his that built the house? I read the book, and saw the movie twice. I only visited Savannah once, but find it to be an endlessly interesting place. "Midnight in Paris" - the Owen Wilson film? Are you too young to remember the perfume by that name? It was popular in the 50's and 60's, and first invented in 1928 - possible PL connection? Some times I am "in love" with the names of things like perfume, more than the actual smell!
 
The King and I/Anna and the King. Everytime.


Think I passed through Burma, Thailand and possibly Malaysia on my way to Australia in the 1800's.


(Who said backpacking was a new thing?)


Love The Deer Hunter but it's highly unlikely I was there at that time so not sure about that. Maybe I have a Vietnam connection from another time?


Odette and Carve My Name With Pride I've watched over again since a child. Get that one now.
 
Enjoyed Gone with the Wind Obie but no memories.


I was brought up on all the westerns, so I think that confirms my grandparents pl's. I never enjoyed them so don't know if that's applicable.


I've enjoyed the mini series that used to be on in the eighties based on early immigration or the gold rush.
 
Starrynight, I hear ya. I always enjoyed reading and watching documentaries about the Gold Rush. My history fair project as a high school junior was about the gold rush.
 
The Great Gatsby...the 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. I watched the film when it came out about four or five times as a 13-14 year old and it was just an itch I couldn't scratch. I felt I belonged there with no understanding why. It carried with it feelings of happiness, pain and tragedy and I couldn't imagine why. I couldn't put my finger on what caused the emotions I was getting.


Fast forward 12 years and I drove into Newport, RI for Navy Officer Candidate School and instantly knew the small town of Newport like the back of my hand. Odd things occurred, like a sense of sadness and loss, and once while driving across a bridge over a beach I nearly passed out...fortunately a friend caught the wheel.


At some point (and in another story) I found I had died in 1905 at the age of 17 in a car accident on that bridge in Newport where I nearly passed out. Then, while doing a school project on "The Great Gatsby", my daughter got a DVD of that movie and as I read the credits I found it was filmed in Newport! My whole attraction for that movie was spurred by the detailed setting in the cottages in and around Newport and the similarity between the eras they depicted. My family was one that "summered" in Newport during the Gilded Age. The incredibly lavish parties during that era were very similar to the huge parties portrayed in the grand "cottages" in the Gatsby movie in the Roaring Twenties...my memories from that earlier lifetime. Funny that the story took place in New York, while the sole reason the film struck me so powerfully was because I knew the houses in which the movie was actually filmed.
 
Obie said:
Starrynight, I hear ya. I always enjoyed reading and watching documentaries about the Gold Rush. My history fair project as a high school junior was about the gold rush.
Have you ever been to the Gold Country in California? It's easy to visit. Close to Sacramento. But it looks a lot different now! Lots of commuters now.
 
usetawuz said:
The Great Gatsby...the 1974 version with Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. I watched the film when it came out about four or five times as a 13-14 year old and it was just an itch I couldn't scratch. I felt I belonged there with no understanding why. It carried with it feelings of happiness, pain and tragedy and I couldn't imagine why. I couldn't put my finger on what caused the emotions I was getting.
Fast forward 12 years and I drove into Newport, RI for Navy Officer Candidate School and instantly knew the small town of Newport like the back of my hand. Odd things occurred, like a sense of sadness and loss, and once while driving across a bridge over a beach I nearly passed out...fortunately a friend caught the wheel.


At some point (and in another story) I found I had died in 1905 at the age of 17 in a car accident on that bridge in Newport where I nearly passed out. Then, while doing a school project on "The Great Gatsby", my daughter got a DVD of that movie and as I read the credits I found it was filmed in Newport! My whole attraction for that movie was spurred by the detailed setting in the cottages in and around Newport and the similarity between the eras they depicted. My family was one that "summered" in Newport during the Gilded Age. The incredibly lavish parties during that era were very similar to the huge parties portrayed in the grand "cottages" in the Gatsby movie in the Roaring Twenties...my memories from that earlier lifetime. Funny that the story took place in New York, while the sole reason the film struck me so powerfully was because I knew the houses in which the movie was actually filmed.
Wow! What a coincidence!
 
argonne1918 said:
Have you ever been to the Gold Country in California? It's easy to visit. Close to Sacramento. But it looks a lot different now! Lots of commuters now.
No. The only place I have been to in California is L.A.
 
I once walked into a room where THE DEER HUNTER was playing, it was on a scene where there was a man in a bamboo cage over the water. A man came up and started shooting, I think there was blood in the water. Maybe a guy under the cage? It was a very long time ago ..


I started shaking, ran out of the room and threw up. I haven't watched another Vietnam war movie since.
 
Mama2HRB said:
I started shaking, ran out of the room and threw up. I haven't watched another Vietnam war movie since.
I don't think I have ever watched a Viet Nam War movie and don't want to. WWII movies never bothered me, though. But I don't want to see "Saving Private Ryan". That movie had a private screening for local WWII veterans and they were crying.
 
I've always had very intense feelings about England before World War I. Movies like "The Shooting Party" make me very sad and upset. It's a depressing end-of-a-golden-era-feeling and a strange kind of anxiety.


I've no past life memories concerning this time but I believe I died in this war.
 
argonne1918 said:
I don't want to see "Saving Private Ryan".
Another interesting realization came out of this movie for me...I watched the initial scene of the storming of Omaha Beach on D-day. It was graphic and I could "feel" the bullets whizzing by my head and pulling at my clothes, smell and taste the cordite, gunpowder, blood and salt water, and hear all the cacophony and destruction. It was as if I had been through that, or something like that. Over the next several weeks that initial scene remained with me and it was as clear to me as if I was watching it all over again. A friend hadn't seen it so I hesitantly agreed to go see it with him and I was shocked that the initial scene was a) so short, b) so much less detailed than my last viewing of it, and c) so much less graphic and less emotion-inducing than the first time I'd watched it...I then realized that the first time I'd watched the movie it spurred memories I had from a previous experience which filled in all the gaps with the details of my own experience. My experience was storming a beach during the allied invasion of Italy in 1943...not as dramatic but equally bloody.
 
My current favorite TV show is the History Channel's "Vikings". In last night's episode, a man was executed using the "Blood Eagle" method. I seem to know, and sense, more about that subject than I should be able to know. It's a subject of debate that the Blood Eagle was ever performed on a person, but it is described in literature, and when the name was mentioned, I "saw" it all. My thought was , "Please, not the Blood Eagle!" This is a strange, mysterious Universe.
 
Watching Der Untergang always makes me feel strange. The settings, the language, the end of the war, chaos, it has the ability to move fibers.


As for other movies, even though I have watched this one film since it came out two more times in less than 6 months and it didn't really affect me, I watched it last Thursday again and for some reason it awoke me from my robotic state and put me back into "Pl mood". I think it was because of the mountains and the expat scene. However, I had been feeling things the previous days as well.
 
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Now haven't responded as of yet to this thread. BriarRose, I have been watching this Viking series also. And it resonates with me also. Is there an old Viking Life in my background somewhere possibly? At times have really wondered if indeed I had an old Viking past life.


A few of the movies that have resonated with me is. Now some of the quotes in Jeremiah Johnson are some of my more favorite quotes. This is just to name a few.


Jeremiah Johnson - Absolutely Love this movie! For myself just possibly the best movie ever!


The Mountain Men


Cheyenne Autumn


The Last of the Dogmen - Loved This Movie! About finding some Cheyenne Indians living today in the wilderness in the old ways. Loved this movie!


Dances With Wolves - Now when this movie came out, how many many times did I watch this movie again and again.


And certain Revolutionary War theme movies like 'The Patriot'.


And some of the Roman Empire theme with the early christian church movies like the movie entitled 'The Robe'. How many times have I seen the movie and it's sequels and loved them.


And others. Wishing Everyone the Best!
 
There's a new series on AMC, Kmatjhwy, called "Turn". It's on Sunday night. It is about the Revolutionary War, and the triggers are there for me. I don't know if we were both Vikings, but if so, I hope we stood together, behind the shield wall. If we had to fight, I hope it was back-to-back. I think you would have been a formidable opponent! :D
 
Now I was thinking of mentioning this show 'Turn' but since it just started I decided not to. But with this show 'Turn', the triggers are there.


Now as for the Vikings, the energy is there with me as for a past life as a Viking. But the memories as to a Viking life have not surfaced though. I seem to be drawn at times to lives with lots of adventure it seems. Now awhile back I thought of maybe starting a thread as for ones with Viking past lives. Maybe we knew each other if we both had Viking past lives. Now have been so attached to this Viking show since it started and the triggers are there it seems.
 
I have a love/hate relationship with some films, like Titanic, that I just can't stop smiling at because everything about it makes me feel ridiculously happy and it all feels familiar, but I end up crying every time so I hate it :laugh:


Other than that I feel a wonderful familiarity with Singing in the Rain, Rear Window and The Producers. Musicals in general are a huge love of mine, though if they're set at a time between the 20's-60's I adore them all the more~ :)


As for PL triggers, I can't think of anything current, but when I was about 9 or 10 there was an episode of Casualty with a 12 year old girl (that happened to have the same name as me) who was unknowingly pregnant and rushed into hospital to have her baby. I pretty much had a panic attack over it and had to turn the channel over, despite my sisters protests that she was watching the program. Death due to pregnancy in a PL perhaps??
 
Viking pls


Kmatjhwy and BriarRose,


We should start the Vikings Past Lives thread.


I watched the Blood Eagle scene, and although it was very intense to watch, viscerally, emotionally and mentally, I didn't have a feeling of familiarity like Briar had. I know it was acting, but I was very interested in the various reactions of the characters. There seemed to be the strong emotional reactions from the women, and the stoic (we must not show vulnerability) reactions from the men...in general. That could have been stereotyped for the show. But I was reading different things going on as well, and whether it was an overlay of my feelings and thoughts from this life or from past life, or whether they were intentionally conveyed, I'm not sure. In watching Vikings, so many things have resonated with me. Growing up, I had my strong interests in various cultures, and hadn't found Scandinavia to be among them before.
 
Beth, I noticed the faces of the women turning away, too. The prisoner's pregnant wife fainted. The men seemed excited by what they saw, in a very unwholesome way, if you understand my meaning. I find the show has so many complexities of character, religion, and metaphysical aspects that I watch them all two or three times. We do need a Viking thread. Well done historical shows used to be rare, but now there is one about Salem and the Witch Trials on the CW. All of those may provide triggers for PL memories for people like us.


Colours, "Singing in the Rain" and "Rear Window" seem to indicate an American PL. What do you think? Is "The Producers" the musical, with the song, "Springtime For Hitler"? I saw the Mel Brooks original when I was a teenager, and was so incensed that I left the theater. I had no sense of humor then, and took it all too seriously! :laugh:
 
Civil war anything filmed in the last 20 years


Ken Burns civil war etc.


Strangely I remember my civil war past life


By watching The episode I mentioned


before , The Field Where I Died


Still, get's too me still.


I remember the 20's from various films


of that era . Especially a Laural & Hardy short.


Where a woman had a small gun her purse.


And Ken Burns Prohibition mini series.
 
Have you seen either version of the "Great Gatsby", shadows? I would be interested to hear what you think?
 
'The Field Where I Died' X-files episode is one of the first things that really affected me. I had a past life in the American Civil War and so it pulled on a lot of emotional heartstrings for me. The same with the movie 'Gods and Generals.' It makes me feel extremely nostalgic to watch that movie.


'Der Untergang' is also hard for me to watch since I can empathize with so many of the feelings and emotions people were feeling there at the end as I myself experienced a lot of them. It's one of the few portrayals that actually shows us as people who really lost everything and that gets to me.
 
BriarRose said:
Have you seen either version of the "Great Gatsby", shadows? I would be interested to hear what you think?
So parts of the Robert Redford one.


It brought some memories out.


The resent Great Gatsby? I don't


know about it? I am holding back from seeing it,


for some reason. I can't figure out what it is?


Maybe I am afraid of more unpleasant memories


might come out.
 
My husband and I both watched "Der Undertag". I think it means "Downfall"? The film gave us better understanding of wartime Germans as people. I can't say we enjoyed the film, because we felt so bad for the children and wives who suffered, but we did watch with great interest. It gave us a look at history from another perspective.


I liked both versions of "Gatsby" and both were PL triggers for me, shadows. The incidents of reckless driving were very painful to see, as I lost someone in a car accident in that period.
 
I've always felt for the German's through the war as well Briar.


Many had no choice and were fighting for something that had little to do with them. I think they just wanted to be home with their families.


Caught a clip of a Roman Empire film earlier today. Really dislike anything from that era. Galdiator made me feel very uncomfortable.


Mama, I really love that Deer Hunter film, even the bad bits. I think it just feels so honest.
 
Now like before, I can sometimes get really into some movie on the Roman Empire. I was watching the first part of Gladiator the other night and Yes there were some triggers it seems. It seems I had several lives at least there during this time of the Roman Empire. One was as a early christian who was later myrtered by the Roman Empire. And also as a roman soldier. This as a roman soldier could have taken place at least part of the time on the northern frontiers of the Roman Empire. I missed most of that series entitled 'Rome' but have always wanted to see it. Whenever I see the Rome of today with the Vatican Church, it always somehow comes to my mind of how ... 'it is Not the same' and somehow I miss the days of how it looked like in the Roman Empire days.
 
Saving Private Ryan stirred some strange feelings in me when it came out. At that time, I was only a teenager, and it wasn't until my twenties that I started feeling a strong connection to the WWII period. But I remember watching that movie in the theater, and it felt so familiar to me. It felt like watching a memory. And I guess a lot of people got that sensation of having been there because of the realism of the movie, but for me it was more like touching on something I'd forgotten. It triggered something in me. I do remember being absorbed in the short scene with the family in France, and it was many years later that I discovered I was a French woman at that time.


Any WWII movie set in Europe will give me that PL feeling. Also movies set in 18th and 19th century Europe.
 
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