Looking Back, Bleakly: Best Movies of the 2000s About the Search for Closure

A handful of diverse movies from the late 2000s specifically feature stories about people returning to their homelands and looking back at their bleak pasts. These characters include immigrants and discriminated citizens who want to trace their roots, or go back to personal concerns they long left behind without closure. These critically acclaimed films feature a variety of settings, including America, the Middle East, and Europe.

"Forging a Nation" (2006)

"Forging a Nation" is a documentary in which filmmaker David Blaustein retraces the steps of his Jewish ancestors through the help of family and relatives. The movie reveals how the earlier generation fled Europe during the 1920s to start life anew in Argentina, their land of hope in the midst of the tumultuous conditions oppressing Jews.

This motion picture tells a gripping tale that profiles the lives of Blaustein's immigrant relatives and their impact on Argentina as it is known today. The film also briefly touches on their encounters with other immigrants who have their own share of stories about the lives they face in the country.

"The Kite Runner" (2007)

Based on Khaled Hosseini's bestselling novel of the same title, "The Kite Runner" explores the life of a well-to-do boy from Kabul who is tormented by the guilt of abandoning his friend -- the son of the family servant, who has always served as his loyal protector -- in the worst moment of his childhood life. Set against the chaotic backdrop of the fall of Afghanistan's monarchy through the Soviet Invasion, the film features the wealthy boy and his father, along with other Afghan refugees, fleeing to other countries, from nearby Pakistan to the distant United States. After about two decades of living in California, he returns to Afghanistan to help the son of his old friend, who is in deep trouble in their hometown, now under the iron-fisted rule of the Taliban.

This Oscar-nominated film by Marc Foster explores the power of childhood friendship and how it endures even after many years of being separated by war and death. Although torn apart by endless wars, the two inseparable boys' bond still lingers way beyond their many childhood experiences together, highlighted by the memory of their glorious victory in a kite-fighting tournament. Returning to Afghanistan as an adult, the protagonist finally faces the irrepressible secrets of his past. He searches for the chance to make peace with what he left behind as a young, cowardly boy.

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (2007)

Based on the Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler Tony Award-winning horror musical of the same name, "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" tells the story of an English barber's vengeful return to London after many years of imprisonment. This Tim Burton cinematic masterpiece begins with a loving young family's tragedy at the hands of an evil and powerful judge, who has his eye on the barber's beautiful wife. During the wrongly imprisoned man's comeback, he is determined to seek revenge.

From here, the story starts exploring a Victorian melodrama about the mysterious, skilled barber who murders his customers with the razor he uses for work. He connives with his female accomplice, who processes their corpses into bestselling meat pies.

Heading to the movies? Get an instant mobile coupon to use at select theaters for free popcorn!