From sand worms to singing witches, 2024 has been a dramatic year for cinema. There have been tales of scheming priests, Russian oligarchs, tennis love triangles, 60s music revolutionaries, stolen African artefacts and refugees on the Polish Border.

Cinema might be more important than ever in 2024. In a time of polarisationWhen people tend to flock towards extreme opposite points of view. Some think that polarisation is bad for politics, because it makes co-operation between people on opposing sides of a debate less likely. Others welcome it, however, because it offers voters clear alternatives in elections. and misinformation, watching a film can bring people together. And it can also help us to learn about others.

Here are five of the year's best offerings to stream over Christmas.

1. Weird world. La Chimera follows a British treasure hunter (Josh O'Connor) in rural Italy. It conjures up a world of tomb raiding, crumbling palaces and doomed romance. The film shows that life can be stranger than it seems. And it asks questions about who has the right to historical treasures.¹

2. Fuzzy feeling. I Saw the TV Glow tells the story of two isolated teenagers who bond over a fictional 90s TV show. It offers a thoughtful exploration of youth and the challenges faced by LGBT teens.²

3. Summertime sadness. Janet Planet is a quiet drama about a summer in the life of the 11-year-old Lacy and her mother Janet. It shows the complexities of the relationship between parents and children.³

4. Shaggy dog tale. One of the year's quirkiest and most delightful films, Robot Dreams is an almost wordless Spanish-French animation about the friendship between a robot and a dog. But for all its whimsyPlayfully quaint or fanciful behaviour or humour., Robot Dreams contains a powerful depiction of friendship.⁴

5. Sucker punch. The Iranian My Favourite Cake shows an elderly widow inviting an old widower to her apartment so that she can bake him a cake. Yet it is a very subversiveSeeking to disrupt a long established system. film. Its heroine Mahin drinks alcohol and dances with a man, which is banned in Iran. The heartwarming story is also an act of resistance.⁵

Can movies make us better people?

Yes: Films teach us about the world. And more than any other art form, film allows us to see closely the lives of others. It can teach us to respect and empathise with a variety of people.

No: We often leave the cinema filled with thoughts about injustice, or cruelty, or the darkness inside humanity. But those thoughts rarely stay with us for very long before we move onto the next thing.

Or... They might make us better. But they can also make us worse - think of the criminals inspired by on-screen villains, or the selfish bankers who take Wolf of Wall Street as a model.