The Best Films Showing Courage and What It Really Looks Like
13 movies with scenes or storylines of incredible courage and bravery
How do you define courage? What does it mean to do the brave thing?
Is it facing danger? Standing up for what you believe in? Starting again after loss? Choosing kindness when life gives you every reason not to?
The answer, I think, is all of the above. Courage can take many different shapes and sizes, across all kinds of people and places and situations.
That's one of the reasons I love films so much, because the stories they tell give us the chance to see courage from every possible angle, and give us new reasons to believe in ourselves, and the world around us. So this week’s blog post is all about spotlighting some of my favourite films about courage, and what each one taught me about what bravery really looks like.
As with all my listicles and fun round-ups, these are just what I personally love. Please feel free to share in the comments your own favourites! Also, correction: my sub-heading that went out to email subscribers said 15 films because apparently, I can’t do basic maths lol.
About a Boy (2002)
Director: Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz
Plot Summary: Will (Hugh Grant) enjoys a carefree lifestyle until an unlikely friendship with twelve-year-old Marcus (Nicholas Hoult) changes his daily routine. As they spend time together, they each begin to see life from a different point of view.
Courage is: loving someone more than you care about being embarrassed
Throughout About a Boy, we see that Marcus consistently shows courage, as he tries to stay true to who he is; all while dealing with being bullied, plus everything that’s happening with his mum.
When he chooses to sing Killing Me Softly in the talent show, he knows he will face ridicule. But bringing a bit of light into his mum’s world is all Marcus cares about, and so he does it for her, because he loves her more than he cares about how people view him. He knows it will make her happy, and that’s all that matters.
That takes a lot of guts. How many of us could say we would stand up in front of a crowd of judgmental teenagers and sing? Especially to carry on singing, even when people are laughing and yelling out things like, you’re rubbish.
And then Will’s journey provides a different angle on courage. He begins the film hiding behind a wall of superficiality, terrified of any sort of commitment. When he comes out onto the stage playing the guitar at the school, to essentially take the heat away from Marcus, it’s him finally being brave enough to realise that being cool is no longer as important as making sure someone he cares about feels supported.
And, again, that takes guts. No matter what age you are, whether you’re an adult or a child, stepping out of your comfort zone to do something kind for someone else is a display of bravery we can all learn from.
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
Director: Peter Jackson
Plot summary: As the fate of Middle-earth hangs in the balance, Frodo (Elijah Wood) and Sam (Sean Astin) continue their dangerous journey towards Mount Doom. Meanwhile, Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) prepares to lead the forces of good in a final stand against Sauron.
Courage is: doing the difficult thing although you wish you could stop
While we all know Lord of the Rings for its epic battles, the emotional core of its message about bravery belongs to moments like Sam carrying Frodo up Mount Doom in Return of the King.
Because Sam shows us how to find courage in moments where things seem defeated. This guy isn’t swooping in to save the day to cover himself in glory; he does it because he loves his friend, and he promised he’d help him finish this impossible task.
“I can't carry it for you... but I can carry you.”
It’s such a simple notion, albeit for it a pretty un-simple and treacherous task, but it highlights that when the task itself becomes completely overwhelming and you have no answers left, courage is sometimes simply narrowing your focus to the next immediate right action. Sam cannot carry the Ring, and he cannot fix the broken world, but he can physically lift his collapsing friend.
His courage also grows from hope. Throughout the trilogy, Sam holds onto the belief that their story can have a happy ending, even when every sign points in the opposite direction. That hope keeps him moving, and it gives Frodo the strength to keep moving as well. Sam tries to not lose sight of what matters, and often, it’s his perseverance that becomes the difference between success and failure.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Director: Frank Darabont
Plot summary: Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) is sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering his wife and her lover. While serving his sentence, he forms a lasting friendship with fellow inmate Red (Morgan Freeman) and has to find ways to survive within the walls of Shawshank Prison.
Courage is: holding on to hope when it would be easier to let it fade
Let me tell you something my friend. Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane.
The core of Andy's courage is he knows who he is: he knows he is an innocent man who does not belong behind those bars. And who we believe ourselves to be in our hearts can help anchor us, particularly as life rarely follows the path we expect.
Andy could have given up, and lots of people would have, but his determination is strong, and he knows that it’s up to him to get himself out of the situation. Nobody is coming to save him. Years pass inside Shawshank with very little change on the surface, yet Andy makes the choice to keep looking ahead, even when the road forward is impossible to see.
The story reveals that what can be the ultimate form of bravery is the preservation of hope. Not giving up and surrendering to your situation, but deciding that you’re going to do something about it. Staying true to what you know about yourself, even when you’re given a new label - a criminal, a prisoner - that you know you don’t deserve.
Andy, and eventually Red, show that even in the darkest circumstances, the human spirit can remain free if we possess the strength to believe in something better.
Remember Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.
Chicken Run (2000)
Director: Nick Park, Peter Lord
Plot summary: When a group of chickens realise their farm has become increasingly dangerous, Ginger (Julia Sawalha) sets out to find a way to escape. With help from newcomer Rocky (Mel Gibson), they hatch an ambitious plan for freedom.
Courage is: refusing to accept the future someone else has chosen for you
One of the reasons Chicken Run has remained such a beloved family film over the years is because its message feels so universal. We all get knocked down by life sometimes, and, in this film, every setback and every obstacle only strengthens Ginger’s determination to keep trying.
Ginger doesn’t have any guarantees that her plan is going to work either. The other chickens are putting their trust in her, and she’s having to bear a lot of the responsibility. But she knows that there’s more out there for them, and she refuses to sit back and let things happen.
And it takes courage to attempt to do something you’ve never done before. You might look silly for a little while, or you might fail. You might just stuff it all up and make a meal out of it. But even if it doesn’t work, at least you tried.
Many of us have experienced moments where things haven’t worked out as we’d hoped, and Chicken Run shows that courage often means keeping faith in the future, even when the odds feel stacked against you. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is try one more time.
Bunty: In all my life I’ve never heard such a fantastic... load of tripe! Oh, face the facts, ducks. The chances of us gettin’ out of here are a million to one.
Ginger: Then there’s still a chance.
Matilda (1996)
Director: Danny DeVito
Plot summary: Matilda Wormwood (Mara Wilson) is a gifted young girl who finds comfort in books while growing up in a family that rarely understands her. When she starts school, the kindness of Miss Honey (Embeth Davidtz) offers hope, although the terrifying Miss Trunchbull (Pam Ferris) rules the school with an iron fist.
Courage is: standing up to people who misuse their power
From the start, we know that Matilda is a child failed by the people meant to protect her. Her parents dismiss her as a nuisance, and Miss Trunchbull rules the school through fear. Any child who experiences that could, and most likely would have, retreated into themselves; to protect themselves, to cope with what was happening to them.
Instead, Matilda reads; she thinks. She fights back, first with sharp wit and clever pranks, and later with the extraordinary power she discovers within herself.
Matilda’s decision to stand up to the Trunchbull may be helped along a little by childlike optimism and slight giddiness, but she displays incredible courage in doing so. We don’t always have the ability to stand up to bullies, just like Miss Honey doesn’t, but Matilda, in all her wonderful ways, does. She’s not going to let a bully get away with being a bully, not when she’s in a position to stop it. She looks at the broken spirit of her favourite teacher, and decides that the risk of facing a monster is worth it if it means restoring fairness and dignity to someone who has been beaten down by someone else misusing their authority.
Plus, Matilda’s clever in her courage, she’s not boastful. She has some fun with it because why not, life should be fun, but her goal is to free others from being treated badly. She succeeds, of course, but even if she hadn’t, it’s a hell of a brave thing to do in the first place.
Wild Child (2008)
Director: Nick Moore
Plot summary: Spoilt teenager Poppy Moore (Emma Roberts) is sent from California to a strict English boarding school after pushing her father's patience too far. Surrounded by unfamiliar rules and new friendships, she begins to discover a different side of herself.
Courage is: letting yourself grow into someone you didn’t expect to be
Teen movies can often be full of unexpected fantastic advice, and what Wild Child does is remind us that it’s brave to realise who you were before is no longer serving where you want to go in the future.
We see this peak during the honour court scene, where Poppy stands up and takes accountability for a fire she believes she accidentally caused. Her defences, her armour, her usual way of coping with difficult circumstances have finally been taken away, and nobody was pandering to her or enabling her selfish behaviour anymore. So all that was left to do was to decide who she wanted to be, and subsequently step up and become it.
And that takes courage, especially when it means admitting you were wrong about yourself before. In times like that, you have to be brave enough to be vulnerable enough to take a new turn in the spotlight as someone different; someone you want to be better. Poppy does just that, and she shows us that you don’t have to let what you used to think define what you think right now.
Wicked: For Good (2025)
Director: Jon M. Chu
Plot Summary: Picking up where the first film left off, as Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) lives as Oz’s most wanted woman while Glinda (Ariana Grande) embraces her new public role. As their lives follow different paths, both are forced to make choices that will shape the future of Oz.
Courage is: choosing who you want to be when the world has already decided for you
Elphaba has spent her whole life being told exactly what she is before anyone’s bothered to get to know her: the villain, the outsider, the girl to be feared. The easiest path for her would be to fade into the background or try desperately to conform to expectations to earn a shred of public acceptance. Instead, she chooses, again and again, to become who she actually is, whatever that costs her.
Then Glinda has a different journey. She has always been accepted; she has the popularity and the comfort of knowing she fits neatly into the world around her. Her courage appears when she starts to question the version of herself that everyone else celebrates. Because to the public, to the citizens of Oz, Glinda has no real reason to rock the boat and change who she is. She’s perfect, right? Glinda the Good.
But she loves Elphaba and she loves Fiyero (Jonathan Bailey), and neither of them have respect for her as she continues to benefit from the corrupt system they themselves are being affected by. Glinda’s bravery emerges when she realises that she must choose to help change it, for the better of all, even if it skews things out of her favour personally.
Wicked: For Good shows that courage can be both sides of the coin. Sometimes it means standing in open defiance against injustice, and then sometimes it means admitting you were wrong and choosing a different path for the future.
The Full Monty (1997)
Director: Peter Cattaneo
Plot Summary: After losing their jobs following the collapse of Sheffield’s steel industry, Gaz (Robert Carlyle) and a group of unemployed men come up with an unlikely plan to earn money by forming a male striptease act. As rehearsals begin, each man is forced to confront his own insecurities and sense of self-worth.
Courage is: finding pride in yourself when the world keeps knocking you down
This whole film has such a big heart. These are ordinary, working-class men who life had dealt some pretty bad hands to.
Gaz is trying to keep his relationship with his son afloat while everything around him feels like it’s slipping. Dave (Mark Addy) is dealing with his confidence taking hit after hit. Gerald (Tom Wilkinson) is pretending he still has a job because he can’t face telling his wife. And Lomper (Steve Huison) gets pulled into the group at a moment when he really needs someone to notice him.
The decision to put together a striptease act is initially born out of desperate financial need, but it quickly evolves into a profound reclamation of dignity. By standing on that stage and baring everything, they are performing a radical act of self-acceptance, as they refuse to let their circumstances define their value as human beings.
The Full Monty reminds us that courage is often found in asking for help, and leaning on other people. It celebrates ordinary people facing extraordinary circumstances with humour and heart, showing that some of the bravest moments in life happen when we allow ourselves to be seen exactly as we are.
P.S. I Love You (2007)
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Plot Summary: Following the loss of her husband Gerry (Gerard Butler), Holly (Hilary Swank) discovers he has left behind a series of letters to help guide her through grief. Each message encourages her to embrace new experiences and look towards the future.
Courage is: finding a way forward when grief has taken the ground from beneath you
Losing someone you love is horrific. Anyone who has ever experienced grief in any form knows that, and knows that words will never be enough. And in that sort of heartbreak and sadness, the easiest thing is to surrender to the darkness. We see that with Holly in the aftermath of Gerry’s death, as she, understandably, falls to bits.
Her greatest challenge becomes something she never expected it to be: waking up each morning, and learning how to exist in a world that no longer includes the person she thought she would spend the rest of her life with.
Then Gerry’s letters come and help pull her back into the world step by step; giving her reasons to get out of the house, to laugh again, to try things she would never have tried on her own. The turning point comes when the letters eventually stop, and she has to now find her own way forward without Gerry guiding her.
P.S. I Love You reminds us that courage can simply be in times like when you pick up the phone to talk to a friend, even when you feel like you want to retreat into your shell. Allowing yourself to laugh, even for a moment, when you never felt like you’d ever have anything to laugh about ever again. Holly's journey is made up of these small moments, each one representing another step forward through grief.
Making the decision to keep living when your heart feels broken is brave. We often don’t see that as courage, but it is. One of this film’s greatest strengths is that it never suggests moving forward means leaving someone behind. Holly does not stop loving Gerry, nor is she expected to. Instead, she learns that carrying someone in your heart and continuing to live a full life can exist side by side.
Paddington (2014)
Director: Paul King
Plot summary: After travelling from Peru to London in search of a new home, a young bear called Paddington (Ben Whishaw) is taken in by the Brown family. While exploring the capital, his good nature and endless curiosity lead him into one unforgettable adventure after another.
Courage is: choosing kindness in a world that doesn’t always make it easy
From the moment Paddington arrives in London, he finds himself surrounded by people who see him in very different ways. Some welcome him with open arms, while others judge him before they’ve taken the time to know him. Yet through it all, Paddington never loses the warmth that defines who he is. He approaches every new situation with good intentions, even when things don’t go to plan.
That’s where his courage lives. It would be far easier to grow suspicious, to armour up, to meet coldness with coldness. Instead, Paddington keeps choosing to believe the best of people. His Aunt Lucy told him that if you’re kind and polite, the world will be right, and he takes that to heart in a city that doesn’t always return the favour.
You know, there was once a war in the explorer’s country. People in England sent their children by train with labels around their necks, so they could be taken care of by complete strangers in the countryside where it was safe. They will not have forgotten how to treat strangers.
Throughout this film (and, of course, Paddington 2 and Paddington 3) we see that kindness has a ripple effect. Paddington’s optimism spreads from one person to the next, creating a community that feels stronger because people choose to care about each other.
Paddington was just a little bear, in one of the biggest cities in the world, but his heart was full of courage, and it takes real bravery to keep offering kindness first when you’ve no guarantee it’ll be met halfway.
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Plot Summary: Jess Bhamra (Parminder Nagra) dreams of playing football despite her family's expectations for a very different future. With encouragement from new friend Jules (Keira Knightley), she chases new opportunities both on and off the pitch.
Courage is: following your own path, even when it disappoints people you love
In Jess’ world, the route for a woman is well established, and she’s grown up surrounded by the idea that her life should, and will, follow a familiar pattern. But Jess doesn’t want for that to be all that she is. She has found something outside of what she’s always been told, and she wants to pursue that.
So she is constantly forced to choose between pleasing everyone else, or being honest about who she is. She sneaks away to matches and carries the weight of disappointing her parents, all because she cannot imagine giving up the one thing that truly makes her happy.
And what this film does so well is show that Jess has a deep love and respect for her family and culture; she doesn’t want to fight against it. But, equally, she can’t ignore her passion for playing football, and for her, these two parts of her identity shouldn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
And here, courage, like a lot of the films on this list, begins at home. Jess is not facing a dangerous enemy or embarking on some sort of epic adventure. Instead, she is trying to follow a dream that clashes with the expectations of the people she cares about most.
Sometimes courage is simply having the confidence to say, “This is who I am,” and believing that your dreams deserve a chance, even if the journey towards them is far from easy.
Suffragette (2015)
Director: Sarah Gavron
Plot Summary: Set in 1912 London, Maud Watts (Carey Mulligan), a working-class laundress in London, becomes involved in the growing campaign for women's voting rights. As the movement gathers strength, she finds herself making difficult choices in pursuit of equality.
Courage is: risking your safety to change the world for those who come after you
Although the majority of the characters of Suffragette were fictionalised (aside from Emmeline Pankhurst, Emily Davison, and David Lloyd George), they still represented the real struggles and bravery that women of history displayed in order for women of today to have the right to vote.
Maud, for example, is subjected to police brutality on the streets, the physical torture of force-feeding during a prison hunger strike, and the ultimate heartbreak of watching her husband legally bar her from seeing their son, before giving him up for adoption. Yet, her courage is shown, undeniably, in her refusal to break, even when the state uses its full power to crush her spirit.
Dear Inspector Steed. I thought about your offer, and I have to say no. You see, I am a suffragette after all. You told me no one listens to girls like me. Well I can't have that anymore. All my life, I've been respectful, done what men told me. I know better now. I'm worth no more, no less than you. Mrs. Pankhurst said, “If it's right for men to fight for their freedom, then it's right for women to fight for theirs.” If the law says I can't see my son, I will fight to change that law. We're both foot soldiers, in our own way. Both fighting for our cause. I won't betray mine. Will you betray yours? If you thought I would, you were wrong about me. Yours sincerely, Maud Watts.
The suffragettes sacrificed so much personally for a better life for those ahead. They knew they would not be likely to be the ones to benefit from the movement they had put into place, but they continued on with it anyway, because they knew it was the right thing, and that future generations deserved to have those rights. Throughout Suffragette, we see that spirit and determination come to life, and we watch bravery in full bloom as the women stand up for what they believe in.
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Director: Irvin Kershner
Plot summary: Following a defeat for the Rebel Alliance, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) begins his Jedi training while Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and the others attempt to stay ahead of Darth Vader (David Prowse/James Earl Jones (voice)) and the Empire.
Courage is: making the difficult decision without knowing how it will end
We all know that Leia is a badass, and continuously shows us all what it means to fight for what’s right and what’s necessary, and, when Luke needs saving at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, she does it yet again.
Once she becomes aware that Luke may be in danger, without hesitation, she tells Lando to turn the ship around. She turns to face the danger and save Luke, when she could turn away and keep herself (and Lando and Chewie) safe. Because she has no way of knowing whether they'll make it in time, or whether they’ll fly straight back into what they just escaped from. All she knows is that leaving Luke behind isn’t an option.
And we can’t forget that Luke himself has shown bravery already, when he chooses to face Darth Vadar. Luke and Leia both remind us that courage often grows from love. Luke faces Vader because he refuses to abandon his friends; Leia returns because she refuses to abandon Luke. Neither of them knows whether they'll succeed, but they act anyway.
And perhaps that's what bravery comes down to in the end. It isn’t the certainty that everything will work out. It’s making the difficult choice because, in your heart, you know it's the right one.
You can watch the scene below:
That’s my list! What would have made your list of films about courage? Let me know in the comments!
Thank you for writing this. I had a good time. Your list has personality!
What a list! It's hard to top Sam in Return of the King to be honest. I have two more suggestions though if that's OK.
Spiderman 2 - Peter Parker has the courage to always do the right thing, even though that is not easy. He's constantly beaten down, and almost gives up due to the burnout, yet he knows deep down that helping others was what he was meant to do.
Aliens - Ellen Ripley literally facing her fears and trauma from Alien. When she goes back to rescue Newt, she's terrified but refuses to let her get taken and be submitted to what the aliens will do. Standing up to a literal demon in the alien queen is such a powerful moment.