Ok, so I’m a very sensitive, emotional person. There are many scenes that I have found overwhelming, leaving me bawling like a baby. Some of them are cathartic and fulfilling, such as the ending of The Notebook. Some of them are horrifying and nightmarish, such as the Russian Roulette scene in The Deer Hunter, or the electrocution scene in The Green Mile. I couldn’t get past that scene in the first movie, so never finished it, and had to leave the room during the scene in the second movie.
Another intense one is the suicide scene in The House of Sand and Fog. The car-crash rescue scene in
Shadowlands, with Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis, had about 5 tear-jerking endings in a row. I started out being deeply affected, but by the end, I was just feeling manipulated and pissed-off.
Contrived as it was, the car scene in Crash also had me on the edge of my seat. That was good work.
If the topic is ‘scenes that left you crying’… there were a few scenes in Malcolm X that had that effect on me. Probably his last scene and the eulogy, but it’s been a long time since I’ve seen it.
Oh yeah. I read the book but never saw the movie. I don’t know if I’d be able to handle that.
There is something about me that allows an emotional visual scenario to just devastate me emotionally. In other areas of my life, I’m a very strong woman and could go toe to toe with the biggest brute- but intense movie scenes just break me. I once knew a man like this- he was worse, though- a commercial could make him cry, while I’ve never cried over an ad.
in City of God there is a scene where a drug lord catches two little delinquent boys and he is telling them he is going to shoot each in either the hand or the foot for not obeying his orders and one of them, can’t be but 5 or 6, is bawling his head off. And then, IIRC, he tells one to shoot the other. It is TOUGH to watch.
I’m a Christian, but even if I wasn’t, I would’ve been sobbing through that whole thing. (I was, by the way.) That had to be the most intense thing I’ve ever seen.
Another that comes to mind is from Polansky’s The Pianist. The first time we see some Nazi thugs terrorize a Jewish family (e.g., push grandpa in the wheelchair off a 5-story balcony) that was tough to swallow, due in large part because the understanding (from historical accounts and such) is that actions like that weren’t uncommon.
Of course, that was more emotionally excrutiating than excruciatingly emotional. ;j
Less than a minute into Grave of the Fireflies I was prostrate on the couch, sobbing uncontrollably, feeling like I’d been kicked in the face, and trying to breathe. The first time I saw it, I remained that way throughout most of the movie. “Emotionally excruciating” doesn’t quite say enough; it was almost a physically painful experience.
(And I’m not exaggerating about the amount of time it took. I just checked (and spent a minute crying over it) and it takes about 45 seconds to get me.)
Another scene that I find almost inexplicably emotionally stirring is the rainstorm in Jean de Florette — I think that’s the moment when it has built up to the point that it snaps for me.
Many of the scenes from A Color Purple - when Celie’s sister is taken away, when she’s reunited with her children, and even more so when we see Mister watching from a distance.
Out of Africa, when Bror gives Karen the bad news…
House of Sand and Fog, when Kingsley is praying in the hospital. Damn, that was some seriously fine acting. I truly wept.
The “My friends, you bow to no one” scene, from ROTK.
Ahh, I need me a good cry… Maybe I’ll dig out Out of Africa.
Homeward Bound when Shadow comes over the hill (OK, so I’m a sap)
I recently caught The Notebook and I got an idea from the synopsis what the “hook” was.
So I’m sitting there, with my chest tight with tears, knowing what’s coming, and from the moment James Garner tells his children, “She’s my sweetheart, I can’t leave her” I was sobbing uncontrollably to the end of the movie.
I’m going to have to go find the book now.
If you’re looking for emotionally intense, the D-Day scene of Saving Private Ryan has to rank up there.
I’m with trublmakr. I read the book, but never saw Sophie’s Choice in the theater. I couldn’t even begin having to make that decision.
That scene in Sophie’s Choice is the worst. I have never been so upset or so bothered by anything in a movie before. It’s definitely one of the saddest scenes ever put on film.
The scene in “My Neighbor Totoro” where the daughter wants to give her mother the ear of corn gets me too.
