In celebration of Father’s Day on June 16, 2013, IBTimes-AU takes a look at the best films in Hollywood that focus on fatherhood and ones that feature relationship of a father to his children.

From Brad Pitt’s World War Z to animation film, Finding Nemo to classic film, Bicycle Thief, these films have served as great representations of the challenges of being a father and the things a father would do to protect his children. They also look into the happiness of being a father the ‘lifestyle’ as first time Dad, Channing Tatum put it of being a parent, a father.

Here are the top 10 films considered as Best Dad films in Hollywood:

1. Bicycle Thief
The story looks into the interplay of the father-son relationship in the classic film considered one of the most highly-acclaimed film of all time. The film looks into the relationship of a father and son. With the setting during the times of war and poverty in 1948, the film by Vittorio de Sica shows the powerful love and protection of a father to his family.

The bicycle was used as a strong element to show the powerful connection between the father and his son, who admires his father dearly. The loss of the father’s bicycle has let the son see his father in more complex dimension. One never stop to tear when seeing the struggles of a father to win back his bicycle which also weaved a whole web of conflicts in the story: loss of job, difficulties in finding a job, providing for a family and the pain of his failure, the love and respect of his family, especially his son.The Bicycle Thief is one classic film that remains relevant today.

2. Life is Beautiful
Life is beautiful is a film that captures “the power of love” of a father to his son. In his effort to shield his son from the pain and cruelty of the realities of a concentration camp, the father decided to turn it into a “game for his son to win.” It looks into the courage of a father to be on guard at all times to ensure that his son does not see the horrific experiences at the camp. The film won the Best Actor Award at The Oscars .

It’s one of the few films that can leave anyone tearful, touched by heart and breathless to see the struggles of a loving father in providing protection to his family.

3. The Godfather
The Godfather is by far one of the top trilogies that “gives great insights on fatherhood.” Amidst violence and politics and power in play, the head of the family, the Godfather is able to show love for his family and balance the good and evil. It’s the kind of father whom you would despise for all the bloods in his hands. But you can hardly do so with the kind of love and protection he gives to your family. At the end of the day, and at the end of the film, it will not be a surprise if the viewer finds himself or herself to have a father like Don Corleone who said, family and the values one must stick to till death. To quote Don Corleone, “A man who doesn’t spend time with his family can never be a real man.”

4. Finding Nemo
Finding Nemo comes on top five of this list because of the great lengths Nemo’s Dad had to go through to get back his son who was captured by a diver in an open sea.

The virtue of a father who never gives up to ensure the safety of his son is successfully captured in the film. One of the most powerful image in the film was when the camera zoomed out from below the water to the sky, looking down on Nemo’s Dad, Marlin and suddenly he became just a minute dot in the powerful, open sea.

This was an image to prepare the audience of the challenges that lie ahead. And Nemo’s dad had to go through all that, thanks to the company of his friend, Dory. Father’s love never fails to get his son back and to give a happy ending in the film.

5. Big Fish
Big Fish has remained to be one of the highly acclaimed Tim Burton films for his combination of an odd and creativity that keeps its audience wondering all throughout the film if any of the stories of a father is actually true. The viewers feel the son with strained relationship with his father. But all these changed in the end, when his father got sick and almost dying that the son realized all the stories, which seemingly unlikely to happen, were all true. The anti-climax of the story came when all the characters in the story repetitively told by his father showed up to their house and one can never have more goosebumps than this sequence has to offer to its viewers. This film focuses on the struggles of a son, common to many these days on finding love back to his father. It was moving and surreal at the same time.

6. Road to Perdition
The story is about a father working for a mob and his struggles to protect his son from them when all hell broke loose and he had a fall out with the crime group. Played by Tom Hanks, the story revolves around the father who “led his son to a life of a criminal” but whose values he was still able to instill in him even after his death. The film tells the audience that a child can still make a difference in his life, a far cry from what he was brought into, with strong love and foundation from his parents.

7. Taken
Nothing a son or a daughter wants but a father who can take out any body that harms your way. This is what father, Bryan Mills played by Liam Neeson, had shown us in the two film series of Taken. Girls grow up wanting to have a dad or a boyfriend in uniform in the belief that they get more protection when surrounded by a loving father exuding strength. The film looks into the bravery of a father, notwithstanding his skills as a retired government agent, to track and rescue his 17-year-old daughter who was kidnapped by human traffickers. He did with all his set of skills and experience. The film has become more powerful when the lead character was able to save hundreds of other victims of trafficking.

8. World War Z
Brad Pitt played the role of an ex-U.N. employee who happened to be in the middle of a daunting task to find out the root of brain-eating zombies. It’s contemporary yet it captures the struggles of a father who battles the zombies in order to protect his family, and the whole world.

9. John Q
Tears. Love and more love and tears for his family. The story is about man who took hostage the entire hospital after the insurance executives repeatedly rejected insurance claims for his son in need of a transplant. It’s a story of “end justifies the means.” He may have used violence and force to get what he needed for his ill son but in the end he succeeded with his good-natured personality. The media loves him. Even his hostages fell in love with John Q. This prompted doctors that it would not hurt to perform their duties for free!

10. The Pursuit of Happyness
The Pursuit Of Happyness is based on a true story of a father and his struggles amidst unemployment and homelessness and his daunting task to raise his son by himself. The story is emotionally uplifting as it gives one hope that things can get better in the end with determination and hardwork. The film chronicled how a father can go beyond any limits to provide for his family. This is the first film Will Smith and son Jaden work together in a film.

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