# Most depressing movie **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 27, 2019, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509 "2019-01-27T23:50:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/41 "2019-01-28T11:30:27Z")
_Sophie’s Choice_ ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/42 "2019-01-28T12:55:00Z")
Just thinking about _Requiem for a Dream_gives me that empty,depresses, slightly dirty feeling that stayed with me for days the one and only time I saw it. Since it’s already mentioned, and I can’t possibly top it, I’ll throw in _Slingblade_. Great film that I’m still not ready to watch again. ---
**Author:** ![williambaskerville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f14d63/32.png) [@williambaskerville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williambaskerville)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/43 "2019-01-28T14:03:28Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > [The Grey Zone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Grey_Zone). On a similar theme, Son Of Saul. [Son of Saul - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Saul) ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/44 "2019-01-28T14:09:26Z")
> [@williambaskerville](#): > > On a similar theme, Son Of Saul. [Son of Saul - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Son_of_Saul) Oy vey ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/45 "2019-01-28T14:19:41Z")
Requiem for a Dream was already mentioned, so my top answer is already out there. But I’ll also nominate Martyrs. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/46 "2019-01-28T14:23:45Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > **Schindler’s List** I can see where that’s coming from but for me it was the story of one German who took it upon himself to save as many Jews as he could. My nominee- Perfect Storm. The boat sinks and they all die. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/47 "2019-01-28T15:06:01Z")
Many good ones mentioned. I would add: _The Pianist_. The best film I will never ever watch again _Children of Men_. The scene with the empty school really brings it home. _Titanic_ is a mere sad film compared to these. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/48 "2019-01-28T15:24:08Z")
Lord of War with Nicolas Cage also deserves a mention. **They say, “Evil prevails when good men fail to act.” What they oughta say is, "Evil prevails."** ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/49 "2019-01-28T15:29:36Z")
_ **When the Wind Blows** _ (1986) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/50 "2019-01-28T15:43:11Z")
As all the other ones I was going to mention have been mentioned I’ll add Don Hertzfeldt’s short film **World of Tomorrow**. It’s an absurdist existential horror-comedy where humanity is doomed to death or a horrific meta-existence, and even the robots and aliens face a future of nothing but fear and despair. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/51 "2019-01-28T15:46:26Z")
I forget films soon after I watch them\*, but this is easy because I just watched it yesterday! [As Tears Go By (1988)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/As_Tears_Go_By_(film)) gets 7.1 IMDB points and was nominated for several Hongkong film awards, but I do NOT recommend it. I almost abandoned it before the end — it’s just too sad, predictably sad. (Then again, I’m a sentimentalist, often hoping for happy endings even when that would spoil the theme of the movie.) - I don’t always _completely_ forget the movies I watch 🙂 — but it’s hard to call them up from memory to answer questions like OP’s. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/52 "2019-01-28T15:47:19Z")
[Germany, Year Zero.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany,_Year_Zero) ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/53 "2019-01-28T16:06:35Z")
The Mist. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/54 "2019-01-28T16:39:47Z")
**Requiem for a Dream** is my go-to for depressing movies. It’s so depressing, it actually helped a friend of mine out of his depression. Basically, he was depressed, and wanted to watch a depressing movie. So he came over, and I put on **Requiem**. I think it actually pushed his depression completely around the loop, and when it was over he was actually talking with us like normal. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/55 "2019-01-28T17:16:28Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > **terentii** , is Russkie cinema as soul crushing and happiness sucking as their literature? Check out Vladimir Voinovich, particularly _The Life and Extraordinary Adventures of Private Ivan Chonkin_ [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/56 "2019-01-28T17:17:53Z")
Are we allowed documentaries? **Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age** > **[Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half_Life:_A_Parable_for_the_Nuclear_Age)** > > Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age is a 1985 Australian documentary film directed by Dennis O'Rourke, concerning the American Castle Bravo nuclear testing at the Marshall Islands in 1954. > The film features interviews with residents of the nearby Rongelap and Utirik Atolls who were affected by nuclear fallout from the tests. Unlike in previous nuclear tests and despite the considerably more powerful nuclear explosion involved, these residents were not relocated to a safer location. Declas... An almost unbelievable example of man’s inhumanity to man. j ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/57 "2019-01-28T17:28:04Z")
[Come and See](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Come_and_See) a 1985 Soviet film about a teenage boy in Nazi-occupied Belarus during WWII. A great film, but a horribly depressing one. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/58 "2019-01-28T17:32:26Z")
[What Dreams May Come](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come_(film)) Reading the summary, it seems to have a happy ending but I never made it that far, it was too depressing to get there. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/59 "2019-01-28T17:55:30Z")
For me, it was **Miracle Mile** > **[Miracle Mile (film)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_Mile_(film))** > > Miracle Mile is a 1988 American apocalyptic thriller drama film written and directed by Steve De Jarnatt and starring Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. The film depicts the panic surrounding a supposed doomsday brought on by a sudden outbreak of war and its oncoming nuclear holocaust. The story takes place in a single day and mostly in real-time. It is titled after the Miracle Mile neighborhood of Los Angeles where most of the events take place. > Harry Washello and Julie Peters meet at the L... > [@](#): > > A young man meets and falls in love with a young woman at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles. This area is known as Miracle Mile, and the whole movie takes place there. They make a date, which he misses, and while he is searching for her, he accidentally finds out that we (the United States) are about to start a nuclear war with the Soviet Union. He frantically searches for her so that they can escape Los Angeles. He was not successful ---
**Author:** ![puddleglum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puddleglum/32/137_2.png) [@puddleglum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puddleglum)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2019, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509/60 "2019-01-28T18:13:23Z")
Snoopy, Come Home. Snoopy’s original owner is sick and in the hospital and Snoopy travels to go visit her encountering discrimination along the way. He is briefly kidnapped by a mean girl. The sick girl wants him to leave Charlie Brown and come live with her. He refuses but she is so heart broken he changes his mind. He tells Charlie Brown he is leaving him, but when he gets to her apartment they find out dogs are banned in the building. He returns to Charlie Brown, who is resentful that Snoopy chose the sick girl over him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-depressing-movie/828509.md?page=4)