# Bleakest movie you have ever seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 9, 2013, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901 "2013-05-09T16:32:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/101 "2013-05-10T03:41:16Z")
> [@Surbey](#): > > I’ve been told Grave of the Fireflies. Aye. **Rabbit-Proof Fence** as well. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/102 "2013-05-10T03:46:36Z")
The ones I would have mentioned are already here _Johnny got his Gun_ is another anti-war film that’s bleak. I can’t remember the plot (C.R.S. Syndrome) but I do remember that _Salton Sea_ left me feeling hollow. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/103 "2013-05-10T03:49:27Z")
I haven’t seen many of those movies you all have mentioned. But the two movies that physically depressed me that fit the rules of the OP would be \*\*Irreversible \*\*and, perhaps oddly, **The Human Centipede**. A lot of people think that \*\*Centipede \*\*is one of the grossest movies ever but I just found it unrelentingly depressing. \*\*Irreversible \*\*had me shaken up for days, I was quite sad for a good while after watching it and I’d never watch it again, but a fantastic movie. ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/104 "2013-05-10T04:03:45Z")
The Cook, the thief and his lover. Man that was messed up for a young bloke to see. Still spooky. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/105 "2013-05-10T04:28:02Z")
Possibly _Eraserhead_. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/106 "2013-05-10T04:34:51Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > …Alexandro Jodorowski’s El Topo … > > …The Russian roulette scene in church is downright funny, at least if you’ve been watching El Topo for an hour or so already and you’re still there 😃 [Russian roulette in church](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxzeGCQVcHE) ---
**Author:** ![whc.03grady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a6a055/32.png) [@whc.03grady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whc.03grady)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/107 "2013-05-10T05:29:45Z")
If documentaries are allowed, then _[Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son about His Father](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Zachary:_A_Letter_to_a_Son_About_His_Father)_. Depression and furious rage at once. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/108 "2013-05-10T05:50:51Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > _Seventh Seal_ in my opinion or _Dr. Strangelove_ Hmmm, I think **Dr. Strangelove** is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen. Dark but hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/109 "2013-05-10T06:07:49Z")
_The Life and Death of Peter Sellers_ hasn’t been mentioned but left me feeling dumbstruck and despondent. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/110 "2013-05-10T08:39:31Z")
Once Were Warriors. God, their lives were shit, and very believable. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/111 "2013-05-10T08:55:59Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Roberto Rossellini’s _Germany, Year Zero_, about a family trying to scrape by in the rubble of Berlin after the war. The 13-year-old boy has to support the entire family through stealing, because the others are either too sick or too scared of being found out as former SS to leave the apartment. He sells himself to a pederast, who suggests he poison and kill his sick father to leave more food for the rest. \*Then \*it gets bleak. This. An odd one - Das Boot. Sent out hunting without adequate supplies, stuck on the bottom after a depth charge bombings trying to scrounge enough to get the boat off the bottom to go repair, come in to get an aerial bombing in the sub pens of Brest [I think it was Brest.] It sort of points out oddly that when you see a movie shot in Germany between say 1935 and 1939, by 1945 most of the males in the film will be dead as a result of war. One that should be, but isn’t is [Wings of Desire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_Desire). Shot in black and white, Berlin pre-wall coming down era. A pair of angels wanders around listening in to isolated lonely humans. Should be depressing but it isn’t because the angels see that the humans do make connections. Great acting by Peter Falk as himself on a film shoot. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 10:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/112 "2013-05-10T10:28:19Z")
Ones not mentioned: [Funny Games](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Games_%281997_film%29). I was nearly beaten up for taking a group to see it 🙂 [Aguirre, The Wrath of God](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aguirre,_the_Wrath_of_God) Kinski is just brilliant, but man, the ending… ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/113 "2013-05-10T12:22:25Z")
The ending to Aguirre is fantastic. Hmmm…a lot of my choices have already been mentioned so I’ll go with Angels of the Universe. If you look hard enough you can find the R2 DVD… ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/114 "2013-05-10T12:36:44Z")
> [@stegon66](#): > > The ending to Aguirre is fantastic. Oh yes, brilliant. But bleak. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/115 "2013-05-10T14:29:36Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > _Man on Fire_ with Denzel Washington. I couldn’t finish watching it and got a friend to tell me how it ended. Telling misses a lot of the impact. I love that movie but cry at the ending every time. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/116 "2013-05-10T15:46:38Z")
> [@SykoSkotty](#): > > I can’t recall the name of it, but Jeremy Irons played twin brothers who were drug addicted surgeons. Disturbing and unsettling, to say the least. _Dead Ringers_. Also, ick. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/117 "2013-05-10T17:21:35Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Ones not mentioned: > [Funny Games](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funny_Games_%281997_film%29). I was nearly beaten up for taking a group to see it 🙂 Are you talking about the German version? I saw that recently. Wow. That was intense. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/118 "2013-05-10T18:06:41Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > One that should be, but isn’t is [Wings of Desire](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wings_of_Desire). Shot in black and white, Berlin pre-wall coming down era. A pair of angels wanders around listening in to isolated lonely humans. Should be depressing but it isn’t because the angels see that the humans do make connections. Great acting by Peter Falk as himself on a film shoot. **Wings of Desire** is one of my favorite films. I saw it in a German Cinema class about 20 years ago and I’ve loved it ever since. I agree, Peter Falk is great. ---
**Author:** ![Magicicada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c67d28/32.png) [@Magicicada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magicicada)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/119 "2013-05-10T18:23:55Z")
One that come to my mind is the 1980’s movie Cal. A teenage Catholic boy trapped in a dead-end life in Belfast, trying to escape past involvement with the IRA. He manages to have a very brief period of happiness, but by the end everything comes back on him. ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2013, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901/120 "2013-05-10T18:30:23Z")
_Perhaps this would be for another thread and I apologize in advance_ I’ve heard numerous things about “The Human Centipede.” Never seen it. Can someone provide a brief description and possibly touch on why it’s so shocking? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bleakest-movie-you-have-ever-seen/657901.md?page=7)