Both Hancock and Wanted came out in 2008, exploring their respective angles on an issue that resonated with my own personal crisis during a particularly challenging period of my life.

They both look at people living a shell of existence because they have no clarity about where they come from, who they are, what their story is; and, as the truth of their pasts become clear, they find a new sense of identity that enables them to put their gifts, talents and skills to productive use.

I'd heard a story about a class of Japanese students learning about the African slave trade; many of them were moved to tears that a group of people might have no knowledge about their ancestry as, for those students, ancestry is a primary source of their entire identities. The reinforcement here is that there is a strong sense of self that derives from the story of our past.

It's been over ten years since I first began to finally gain some clarity on my family history; these two movies helped me appreciate that being messed up as a result of not knowing my past is a thing.

Should we all be superheroes or freakishly gifted? Well, hey, it's Hollywood - fiction tends to hyperbolize in order to make a more indelible impression; but, the message is clear - there is power in the stories of our lives.