I wonder if people here have examples of great movies or books that feature protagonists making big moral decisions to save many people?
I find such examples inspiring. Those can be historic or fictional.
This was inspired by this comment by Benjamin Todd, who was interested in:
"In-depth stories of people who had a lot of impact, and the rules of thumb they used / how they navigated key decision points, with the intention of drawing lessons from them.
E.g. Interview Holden or Bostrom about each key moment in their career, challenges & decisions they faced, and how they navigated them.
In this case, it would not be "in-depth" but rather a good movie related to what they did. There are probably a lot of superhero stories (after all, it's their job saving the world!), which is fine if the movie is really good and inspiring, and if the hero is particularly smart and altruistic.
Examples include for non-fictional stories the Schindler's List. Fictional ones may actually involve Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, or similar.
They don't have to be as dark and sad, though! I'm looking for good movies to watch with friends to get an extra boost of motivation.
Haven't watched it yet, but there's also a new documentary called "Hilleman" who was a leading American microbiologist who and developed over 40 vaccines, estimated to save 8 million lives each year. There's a biography as well. He grew up in poverty on a farm in Montana, one of 8 children and apparently had an "interesting" personality: "Hilleman was a forceful man who was at the same time modest in his claims. None of his vaccines or discoveries are named after him. He ran his laboratory like a military unit, and he was the one in command. For a time, he kept a row of "shrunken heads" (actually fakes made by one of his children) in his office as trophies that represented each of his fired employees. He used profanity and tirades freely to drive his arguments home, and once, famously, refused to attend a mandatory "charm school" course intended to make Merck middle managers more civil. His subordinates were fiercely loyal to him." [source: wikipedia].