Films echoing stories students have lived
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When asked to name their favorite true-story films, three students didn’t just give titles—they told why those stories refused to leave them. For Chaoboran Oroum, Rachel Garside and Sono Fifita, the films that stayed were the ones bound to their own histories and relationships. Those are stories they could see themselves in, and lessons that pushed them to act long after the credits rolled.
Real life stories connect in ways fiction can’t, said Oroum, a junior in business management from Cambodia. Whether the story echoes their own experiences or those of family members, he added, “it then becomes a movie that helps you understand the feeling even more.”
From zero
Oroum said he saw his family’s story reflected in “First, They Killed My Father,” a movie Angeline Jolie directed based on the devastating Cambodian Civil War in the 1970s. Though he’d learned about that tragic history in high school, “It was first just like a story because I wasn’t there,” he said. “After I watched this movie, it helped me understand what my parents, then minors, and my grandparents experienced.”
“This war should never have happened,” expressed Oroum explaining how Cambodia’s once-strong economy was destroyed during the conflict. “It took us 30 to 40 years to build back our economy,” he continued. Elderly Cambodians now teach the younger generation that education is the greatest investment to escape poverty, he said. This advice strengthened his determination to study hard, not just for himself but also for his next generations. “No one knows when we might have to start from zero again,” he said.
This lesson on the value of education wasn’t just rooted in history; it mirrored Oroum’s own life. He recalled his “wasted” teenager time, failing high school twice, living without purpose or a vision for the future. But with his mother’s care and reminders about the value of learning, he turned his life around. “This could be my based-on-true story,” he said, “about how I changed my life 180 degrees to realize that only education can prepare me for the future.”
With a pause followed by a shaky voice, Oroum recounted one of the most emotional scenes in the film: the last moment between father and daughter, when the father knew his death was near. His mother, he noted, also lost a younger brother during the war emphasizing his deep connection to this scene.
If it were fiction, he said, “it wouldn’t really connect to my feelings.” Watching a true story, Oroum said, has helped him to be “more human”. Taking both a gospel and secular view, he said being human means having the empathy to treat others as you would want to be treated. “That emotion,” he added, “is what differentiates us from artificial intelligence and robots.”
Surrounds you
Business management and marketing junior from Texas Garside shared “The Blind Side” (2009), a movie about football offensive lineman Michael Oher, saying it mirrored the sports-centered dynamic of her own family. She identified with the female lead—the mom who “pulled over and reached out” to the then-loner male lead. “It just reminds me how there’s always that one person who’ll always reach out and be relied on. I really see myself in that movie … with just what I did to my family.”
Growing up, both Garside and her brother competed in sports, which made it “almost impossible” for the family to spend time together amid overlapping practices, games, and tournaments. Still, they made a point to share at least one meal together.
Although she doesn’t watch true story movies specifically, Garside enjoys documentaries. “I like watching the serial killer ones. I can’t relate to those, but I like learning about other people’s brains, behavior and others.” As a psychology minor, she finds it fascinating to analyze and understand motives.
Crime-scene documentaries have also made her be more alert and attentive to her surroundings. “It makes me think about the people around me or someone sitting next to me. There might be someone who’s actually going through this without me knowing—what happened in their life, what they’ve experienced.”
On one hand, her media communications class has taught her to be cautious about films labeled ‘based on a true story.’ “Because it’s also a film, I never know if it’s 100% true. It could be true, but there could be a lot of fakes and exaggerations in it.”
Still, Garside said real people’s stories show that “literally anything can happen to someone’s life,” even to those close to her. Calling them “eye-openers,” she said they push her to check in with friends she hasn’t spoken to in a while. “I want to do it because it could change their lives—like how it all happened in the movies I watched.” While she notices that people on social media have become more open about personal matters, she knows it’s still possible to miss what’s really going on.
Cinematic compass
The “Titanic” (1997) stirred emotions similar to those felt during a real-life tragedy in Tonga, said Sono Fifita, a junior from Tonga majoring in finance. She compared the film’s sinking ship to the 2010s disaster of an inter-island ferry in her home country, which claimed the lives of several distant relatives. Having watched the movie more than five times, she said it still moves her to tears and the emotions lingered for an entire day.
Fifita said she turns to true story movies expecting a meaningful message. “I expect them to teach me something because they’re based on real stories. That’s why I should watch them,” she said. Such films, she found, inspire her to be more loving and charitable toward others.
She was especially touched by Titanic’s message to “love and care about the people more today because you don’t know what might happen tomorrow.” One scene remains vivid in her mind: when the female lead realizes the male lead will die before releasing his grip on a piece of debris in the ocean. Fifita could feel the love they had for each other—the kind of love not anyone can have, she shared.
The movie’s impact goes beyond emotion for Fifita—it motivates her to act. After watching, she tries to be more attentive toward her loved ones, though she admits she sometimes forgets. “That’s why I go back to those movies. They remind me how to love better,” she said.
While most true story films she’s watched are sad, Fifita said she’s drawn to them because they keep her grounded. “It reminds me that life is so hard. This happens to some people and what I’m struggling with is nothing compared to what they’re going through,” she explained.
Reflecting on her life, Fifita said her cancer journey in 2024 could be a powerful true story movie with the theme of trusting Heavenly Father confidently. During that time, she said she still showed up for her responsibility at school, work and church. “The lesson I want everyone to know is that I don’t want to focus on myself. I never even cared about my family and all I did was just to trust Heavenly Father so much,” she shared. “I want to make it a movie in Tongan style,” she added with a laugh.
Fifita’s connection to films extends beyond true stories. “I’m so crazy about taking action from a movie,” she said, explaining how a film’s genre can influence her mood and appearance. “If it’s a girly movie, my friends notice me wearing a dress to work or taking better care of my hair. If it’s a gangster movie, I’d dress up likewise.” Whether true story or fiction, she said she brings the emotions of the screen into her everyday life.
