Today I'm launching an occasional series about movies that changed the way I look at the world which I'm calling "World Shift." One of the things I love about movies is the ability to escape into another time and place and, occasionally, a moment of inspiration or clarity where things just click. Every so often, every couple of years or so, there's a movie that comes along that just really makes me reconsider how I perceive things.

In The Republic Plato uses an allegory of people trapped in a cave with a shadow play in front of them which they mistake for reality. They have to be freed from the illusion to climb out into the real world.

Ironically sometimes it takes me sitting in a darkened cave of a room with a shadow play of images before me to rethink and look anew at the real world around me.

Also, as I'm sure you'll find out, the Allegory of the Cave is a theme which is prominent in some of my favorite movies.

I hope you enjoy this series and feel free to share your own world shifting movie moments.