Lifted

2010

The chance to shine in a singing competition offers much-needed hope for a Southern middle-schooler who's drowning in worries, from bullies in the halls to turmoil at home -- and the news that his reservist father has been called back to Afghanistan.

4.3 Average Rating

Even the Rain

2010

In this provocative film-within-a-film, a director heads to Cochabamba, Bolivia, to shoot a movie about the trespasses of Christopher Columbus in the New World, only to find the locals protesting present-day exploitation of the poor.

4.0 Average Rating

Under the Same Moon

2007

In this tale illuminating the plight of illegal aliens, Kate del Castillo plays Rosario, a woman working illegally in the United States to provide a better life for her son Carlitos (Adrian Alonso), who remains at home in Mexico. Longing for his mother, Carlitos stows away on a van that's headed for the border. But an already treacherous journey becomes even more so when Carlitos is separated from his smugglers (Jesse Garcia and America Ferrera).

4.0 Average Rating

Arranged

2007

When Rochel (Zoe Lister Jones) and Nasira (Francis Benhamou) -- an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim, respectively -- meet as new teachers at a Brooklyn school, co-workers and students expect friction. But the women discover they have a shared expectation of entering into arranged marriages. As they experience tension between their traditional cultures and life in contemporary America, Rochel and Nasira form a special bond.

4.0 Average Rating

Europa Europa

1990

This irony-filled tale is based on the autobiography of Solomon Perel, a Jewish German who changes his name and joins the ranks of Hitler Youth in order to survive the Holocaust after he's discovered in a Polish orphanage. As he climbs higher in the Nazi ranks, being found out seems nearly inevitable -- especially when a gay officer and a severely anti-Semitic girlfriend are too close to discovering some irrefutable evidence.

3.9 Average Rating

The Women of Brewster Place

1989

Booted out of her parents' house after refusing to identify her unborn baby's father, Mattie Michael moves to a run-down housing project on Brewster Place, where she joins a group of strong-minded women battling poverty, bigotry and other woes.

3.9 Average Rating

Entre Nos

2009

Abruptly abandoned by her husband in a country completely foreign to her, Colombian native Mariana (Paola Mendoza) struggles to take care of herself and her two young children on the unforgiving streets of New York City. Sebastian Villada, Laura Montana and Anthony Chisholm also star in this gritty independent drama jointly written and directed by Mendoza and her collaborator Gloria La Morte.

3.9 Average Rating

Pay It Forward

2000

In this gentle drama from director Mimi Leder, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) responds to a school assignment with a plan to help three people who will, in turn, help three more, and so on, in an ever-widening circle. But Trevor touches more people than he expected, including his abused mother (Helen Hunt), his physically and emotionally scarred teacher (Kevin Spacey) and a journalist (Jay Mohr) who's investigating the plan.

3.8 Average Rating

Wildflower

1991

Diane Keaton directs this touching drama about a brother and a sister who befriend Alice, an epileptic forced to live in a barn, and decide to help her discover a kinder, more forgiving world.

3.8 Average Rating

After the Wedding

2006

To save the failing orphanage he runs in India, Danish transplant Jacob Petersen (Mads Mikkelsen) returns to his homeland to meet a self-indulgent businessman named Jørgen who's offered a generous donation -- and represents everything the noble-minded Jacob abhors. Complicating matters further are the unusual strings Jørgen has attached to his so-called gift. Rolf Lassgård co-stars in this Oscar-nominated emotional powerhouse of a drama.

3.8 Average Rating

Whale Rider

2003

A Maori tribe must contend with the distinctly nontraditional concept of having a female leader when the intended heir to the throne dies during childbirth, leaving his twin sister, Paikea, to prove herself in this inspiring coming-of-age tale.

3.8 Average Rating

Catherine Cookson's The Glass Virgin

1995

When wealthy socialite Annabella Lagrange learns that her real mother is a madam at the local brothel, she flees the family estate with a childhood friend, and the two begin a new life in the working-class world.

3.8 Average Rating

The Courage to Love

2000

This made-for-TV drama set in antebellum New Orleans stars Vanessa Williams as Henriette Delille, the first African-American canonized by the Vatican. A mixed-race woman who repudiates the hypocrisy of race, class and convention, Henriette chooses to accept a divine calling to help the downtrodden by founding a combination medical treatment center and school for the French community's black population. Diahann Carroll and Stacy Keach costar.

3.7 Average Rating

Winter's Bone

2010

In director Debra Granik's unflinching noir drama set deep in the Ozarks, resilient teen Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) goes on the trail of her missing, drug-dealing father when his absence jeopardizes the family's safety. Her deadbeat dad has a key court date pending, and Ree is determined that he show up -- despite the objections of the insular Dolly clan. The film earned Oscar and Independent Spirit Award nods for Best Picture and for Lawrence.

3.7 Average Rating

Cherry Blossoms

2008

After finding out that her husband, Rudi (Elmar Wepper), has a fatal illness, Trudi Angermeier (Hannelore Elsner) arranges a trip to Berlin so they can see their children (Maximilian Brückner and Nadja Uhl). Of course, the kids don't know the real reason they're visiting -- and the catch is, neither does Rudi. Complications ensue after a tragic, unexpected turn of events that leads Rudi to learn unsettling secrets about his wife.

3.7 Average Rating

Little Dorrit

1988

Through a relationship with seamstress Little Dorrit, a well-meaning middle-aged man is drawn into the plight of a group of debtor prisoners in this award-winning adaptation of Charles Dickens's novel.

3.7 Average Rating