Top Ten Give Thanks Thanksgiving Movies

Now that another Thanksgiving has come and gone, it's time to really think about what you have to be thankful for. Do you have a home to live in? How about clothes to wear each day? If you're having difficulty being thankful for what you've got, watch these give thanks movies. They will definitely make you appreciate what you have!

1. The Color Purple (1985). Anytime you're feeling sorry for yourself or depressed, think about what Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) went through in the movie The Color Purple. Her own father raped her and got her pregnant. Imagine being pregnant by your own flesh and blood, and then having your two children sent away so that you don't see them until they are teenagers. On top of all of this, Celie then is forced to marry a much older man and take care of his children after the man's wife dies. She doesn't love him, and he treats her like a slave. What if you had to live this life?

2. Surrogates (2009). Bruce Willis stars in a futuristic movie where noone actually leaves their home anymore. Surrogates go out and do your job, live your life. Think about not actually getting to feel what it's like to hear your boss give you a promotion, because you aren't there when it happens. You can no longer feel the rain on your face on a quiet spring morning, or the sunshine on your shoulders when you step out into the afternoon sun. You don't get to catch the sunrise or sunset, or witness the spectacular colors of an unexpected rainbow.

3. Planet of the Apes (2001). Imagine if apes were the intelligent life on the planet earth. What if humans were not the ones who ended up dominating everything? Think about life where humans are captured and studied like monkeys are today. Humans happen to be lucky enough to be the beings on earth that tend to control much of what happens. But, what if things were different? Be glad to have things the way they are!

4. War of the Worlds (2005). Think about it. You're sitting in your home watching a movie, when all of a sudden aliens attack and take the city under siege. You have to run out of the house in your pajamas and try to escape the deathly rays coming from their machines! Run for your life! It will be days before the planet earth protects its own and earth's own 'germs' destroy the aliens, who don't have antibodies like earthlings do. By then you might already be dead! Be thankful that you can safely stay at home, at least so far in your life, and not have to worry about being invaded by aliens.

5. Nowhere in Africa (2003). It's 1938, and you are a Jewish person in Germany. Well, that's no good! So, you have to give up everything you know and move to another country to survive. Just imagine, one minute you are a successful lawyer, and the next minute you must become a farmer slaving the fields every day to earn your keep. The life you once knew is over in a flash. And all this happened because your heritage was different than someone else's. So, are you feeling thankful yet for what you have?

6. The Blue Lagoon (1983). You are a young child, with everything to look forward to. Then, it all changes when you are stranded on a desert island. Brooke Shields and Christopher Atkins are all alone. They must grow up without someone to guide them as to what pregnancy is, the birds and the bees, or anything else they might need to know to survive. The comforts of modern day living are all gone in a flash.

7. John Q (2002). Denzel Washington is a father who has a child in need of a heart transplant. Of course, he doesn't have the money to pay for it, and health insurance won't cover the costs! So, what would you do? All you wanted was to be able to protect your children, and now you are faced with a life and death issue where your own child will die without receiving a new heart. John Q takes the matters into his own hands, and tries to take an emergency room wing hostage in a desperate attempt to save his son. So, is your health starting to mean something to you? Are you thankful that your children are healthy?

8. Transsiberian (2008). You're out in the middle of nowhere on a train in a foreign country. You don't know the laws, you don't know the land. You meet up with some people who you realize may have broken some laws, and they might be out to get you too! So, where's your protection? How do you keep yourself safe? That's what the couple in this movie face, as they try to just make it out of the frozen wilderness alive! Let me ask you, did you sleep in a warm bed last night and just have to get up for work this morning? Well, then you're off to a much better start than these folks!

9. Gattaca (1997). In the future, children can be conceived the natural way, or through the help of DNA selection. Any child who is conceived this way, is considered a 'valid,' and gets the best jobs and life. Vincent (Ethan Hawke) is conceived the old fashioned way, and he is considered an 'invalid,' and would be consigned to a medial job. So, he finds someone who is now paralyzed from an accident, and buys his identity. He is able to work at Gattaca Space Corporation, by using this man's DNA in the form of blood, tissue and hair. Imagine having to go to this incredible trouble every morning just to be able to get through the door at work to earn a living. He has to get rid of all traces of his own DNA, by shaving, wiping off his dead skin cells and more. Well, you can guess that one day, he doesn't complete the task, and leaves a trace of his own DNA at his office desk. And, naturally, it's right when someone is murdered near his desk. The adventure ensues. Next time you want to complain about your morning work commute, watch this movie.

10. Alive (1993). Remember the rugby team whose plane crashed in the Andes mountains on a trip back from playing another team in another country in South America? These guys had to resort to cannibalism to survive. Think about being stranded on the top of a snow-covered mountain with no food, and hardly any protection from the winter stormy weather. How do you get off the mountain and back to civilization? How do you get the energy you're going to need to hike out of those mountains? You think you had a tough choice deciding whether to quit your job and take a new one, these guys had to decide whether or not to eat someone whom had been their best friend hours before. Would you even be able to live with yourself after doing something like this?

What movies make you thankful for everything you have?