Saddest movie?

[Tora Ziyal]

The Mission and The Killing Fields, both from the 1980's.

The first couple minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, especially Hermione's "obliviating" herself from her parents' memories.

[Mike Farley]

Tora Ziyal wrote:

---

The first couple minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, especially Hermione's "obliviating" herself from her parents' memories.

I know there was really no time for it, but that was a scene that was crying out to be mirrored with a reversal where Hermione returned her parents memories. Even a mention would have worked. "I've got to go fix my parents memories."

[Tora Ziyal]

Yeah, it would've been kind of nice to know what happened to both them and the Dursleys. Problem is, just mentioning it wouldn't have been very satisfying. I'm already wondering how and when she would do it, how they would feel afterwards, how they would relate, and so on. (Hmm, kind of reminds me of Picard coming back to his real life in "The Inner Light".) Wondering how Dudley turned out, too. I don't remember if it showed in the movie, but he was definitely maturing in the last book.

[Admiral2]

Don't know if anybody's said it yet. If you have, I am with you.

What Dreams May Come

Even in heaven everybody's sad.

[solariabsg25]

Saving Private Ryan, especially Wade's death. The fact that he was the medic so the character knew exactly how screwed he was, and no "you'll be fine" would possibly have brought him solice, made his death even worse.

[bluedana]

To me, sad movies are not necessarily depressing. I have two that will make me sob every single time I watch them.

We Are Marshall: entire football team dies in a plane crash, all except for the one team member who didn't go to the game because of his injured shoulder. He makes it his mission, along with the new coach, to take the field again with a new team. There is a scene where he is obviously playing in agony, and the coach repeatedly punches his shoulder to demonstrate that he cannot continue to play. He breaks down, because he is so wracked with survivor's guilt that he feels that he has to carry this whole team.

And one of the first scenes, as one of the athletes' dads runs toward the plane wreckage shouting, "Is that our boys?! Is that our boys?!"

OMG.

The other is Taking Chance, about an honor guard accompanying home the body of a soldier killed in Iraq. Passengers on the airplane lining up on the tarmac in silence as the casket is unloaded. The thousand little ways people pay tribute to this soldier they don't know, honoring his sacrifice. The stoic way the honor guard sits with the casket so that the dead soldier is never alone. I cried all the way through that movie.

[J. Allen]

It was said by tsq and several others, but Grave of the Fireflies was also the first movie I thought of upon seeing the title. Holy jebus, that movie is a metric fuckton of depression.

[Mojochi]

Life Is Beautiful. Something about the humor Benigni brings to it makes it even harder to swallow than Schindler's List

Braveheart probably deserves a mention in here,

And Million Dollar Baby, which I can't even watch, because it's just too hard

[CorporalCaptain]

Ironweed is near the top of my list, already mentioned upthread.

One of the things that makes it so great is that it is a personal tragedy that doesn't essentially require any grand events for its backdrop. It could happen to anyone, anywhere, anytime. Nicholson and Streep are, as reputed, outstanding. But it's a real downer.

[Winged Victory]

I love watching sad movies. Anyone catch The Impossible with Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor? Wow, depressing and sad. I bawled my eyes out during a scene where he makes a phone call home. Very sad, but I highly recommend the movie.

I don't know if it's still available on Netflix but I'll never forget this documentary, Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about his Father. Holy moly. Sad, angry, depressed, it makes you feel the whole gamut of emotions. True story too.

[Mooch]

Titanic. Deep Impact, mainly Tea Leoni's storyline. Melancholia too, at the end.

[Sagart]

The end of Toy Story 3 always destroys me. Every bloody time.

[arthur2sheds]

Somewhere in Time

Also the ending of Stand By Me

[Gov Kodos]

Harold and Maude, a wonderful black comedy romcom that is both sad and life affirming.

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Les Miserables (2012).

I mean, Hathaway had only 15 minutes of screen-time and she turned me into mush.