Powder vs Phenomenon
I watched both movies when I was in my teens.
Now I'm 35 and both movies still resonate in me. Kinda like when you are being 'with' yourself and looking inside of you, themes from these two movies will well up and ripple.
I guess the underlying theme of all great movies is 'humanity', and these two movies alone touched on this theme pretty deep - whenever there is 'someone' different from 'us' (the common masses), 'we' will start segragating, separating or distancing ourselves from that 'someone', so quick to brand the person as 'freak' (sounds familiar?). A common example would be the 'social ostracization' by people who do not wish to have that 'someone' in the group, be it in a school, a working place or even amongst friends.
It is from here that dislike began to brew and boil, and hatred being distilled and collected. Then, with the hatred seeping deep and long enough, flowers and fruits of it was bore and out came 'wars' - genocide and apartheid were some of the best examples WHY we simply cannot see through the barriers of skin colour, language, culture or simply living patterns. We seek differences to justify all acts of violence, be it verbal or physical, and use them to consolidate 'our' own identities. How sad.
For both characters in the two movies, they eventually sacrificed themselves to be 'one' with nature - they realised that the only way to attain genuine inner peace and away from all daily, rubbish pettiness was to move on to a higher plane. It was the ONLY way to direct the almost unsalvageable humanity to a brighter and greater good.