Five great film scenes that can help improve your English

Steffanie Zazulak
A woman sat on a sofa with a tv controller

Watching films can be a great way for people to learn English. We all have our favourite movie moments and, even as passive viewers, they're probably teaching you more than you realise. Here's a selection of our favourite scenes, along with the reasons why they're educational as well as entertaining.

Jaws
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1. Jaws (1975)

We'll start with one of the most famous – and quoted – speeches in cinema. Here, intrepid shark hunter Quint explains that his hatred of sharks stems from experiencing the sinking of the USS Indianapolis warship during World War II, and witnessing his fellow survivors being picked off by sharks.

The scene is based on real events, and the story of its creation is as fascinating as the dialogue itself. Originally conceived by uncredited writer Harold Sackler, the scene was later expanded to 10 pages by director Steven Spielberg’s friend John Milius – before Robert Shaw, the actor playing Quint, did an edit that took the speech down to five pages.

This highlights how impactful language can be even with – and sometimes due to – fewer words, while the story of its creation shows how important it is to review and edit what we write to make it more effective.

SKYFALL | 007 Meets Silva – Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem | James Bond
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2. Skyfall (2012)

This scene is interesting for two reasons: firstly, it illustrates how tone can dictate the context of speech. The villain, Raoul Silva, introduces himself to James Bond with a story about how, as a child, he used to stay with his grandmother on an island, which he recalls as “a paradise”.

As his speech progresses, however, it takes a more sinister turn as he describes how the island became infested by rats, which he and his grandmother trapped in a barrel. The starving rats resorted to eating each other to survive. The two surviving rats, he suggests, are him and Bond – two men that have been forged by violent lives – effectively demonstrating the illustrative power of metaphors.

Secondly, the scene is notable because Silva's actor, Javier Bardem, is Spanish. Despite having a successful career in Spain, Javier learnt English and soon became a Hollywood star via films like Skyfall and No Country for Old Men. For that reason, he’s definitely an English learning role model.

Matrix architect scene
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3. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)

This notoriously wordy scene – in which the film’s hero, Neo, meets The Architect of The Matrix – is both an illustration of advanced English and an example of how using complicated words can make your message harder to understand. Using simple language helps ensure clarity and accessibility and reduces misunderstandings.

You may even want to watch the scene with a pad and pen and write down any of the words you don’t understand, so that you can look up their meanings later. Even advanced speakers might not know the meaning of words like "concordantly", "inherent", "eventuality", "anomaly" and "assiduously".

Blade Runner - Roy Batty's monologue
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5. Blade Runner (1982)

We end with another monologue that, like Jaws', is among the most powerful in film history. It’s also a great example of how beautifully the English language can conjure up mental imagery. In the scene, Roy Batty – a dying bioengineered "replicant" – tells Deckard (played by Harrison Ford) about the things he has experienced in his life.

These include “attack ships on fire off the Shoulder of Orion” and “C-beams glitter in the dark near Tannhäuser Gate”. And though we never see the places he’s describing, the dialogue evokes some powerful imagery. Additionally, the scene ends with a line that shows how poetic the English language can be: “All these moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.”

As with Jaws, the scene was the subject of numerous re-writes, including one by the Dutch actor who played Roy Batty, Rutger Hauer. Rutger – like Javier Bardem – learned English as a foreign language and therefore is another English learning role model.

Read our posts 'Easy tricks for improving your English skills' and 'Translating sayings into English – with some funny results'.

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    • Grammar review game (5 minutes)
    • Speaking activity (10 minutes)

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