# Movies you'll probably never see because they're too depressing **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 2, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129 "2004-03-02T16:57:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/21 "2004-03-02T21:34:03Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > In a harsh, violent world such as ours, I need to see painfully depressing things to reaffirm that I can still feel empathy and sadness. I need to know that I’m not so conditioned that I become emotionless. I _want_ to be upset at life’s injustices. I don’t need to sit through a three hour movie for that. I just need to watch the morning news. My eyes well-up at least once a week just watching my local news and the _Today Show_. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/22 "2004-03-02T21:49:20Z")
> [@JuanitaTech](#): > > I don’t need to sit through a three hour movie for that. I just need to watch the morning news. My eyes well-up at least once a week just watching my local news and the _Today Show_. Well, with all respect, I suggest that your tendency to cry at the morning news–a highly artificialized form of information–is because perhaps you are not as aware of the entire scope of real-world human behavior. Watching Shoah will sure give you some perspective, and make you that much more grateful for every day above ground. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/23 "2004-03-02T21:55:37Z")
Has anyone ever seen _Grave of the Fireflies_ more than once? I was in tears about 10 minutes in. That said, the movie is very good. It is just very sad. _The English Patient_ will depress you because you will wonder why everybody liked it so much. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2004, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/24 "2004-03-02T21:56:21Z")
One more for _Grave of Fireflies_, except the kicker is, I _own_ a copy of it. Bought about five years ago. Never have managed to work up the nerve to watch it. ---
**Author:** ![UrbanChic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9dc877/32.png) [@UrbanChic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UrbanChic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/25 "2004-03-03T00:05:29Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > Well, with all respect, I suggest that your tendency to cry at the morning news–a highly artificialized form of information–is because perhaps you are not as aware of the entire scope of real-world human behavior. > > Watching Shoah will sure give you some perspective, and make you that much more grateful for every day above ground. With all respect, my tendency, if you must call it that, to well up at highly a ‘highly artificialized form of entertainment’ has nothing to do with my awareneness, or lack thereof, as you suggest, of real-world human behavior. When I hear, for example, a little girl died in a fire and her mother received burns over fifty percent of her body trying desperately and ultimately in vain to save her, my lachrymal glands tend to secrete a bit. When I hear about a newspaper reporter’s throat being slit by religious zealots and that his pregnant wife who is left to raise their child all alone will never see her husband again, never get to celebrate the joy of the birth of their child with him, my eyes get a bit misty. When the anchorperson tells viewers a mother beat her children to death with rocks, one of whom was eight years old, the same age my son at the time, forgive me, but watching _Shoah_ to gain some perspective is the _last_ thing I want to do. Thanks so much for the suggestion, though. ---
**Author:** ![depocali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@depocali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/depocali)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/26 "2004-03-03T00:20:07Z")
I saw this movie, I think it is actually one of the best movies I have ever seen, and having said that I will never, ever watch it again, I just can’t. > **[The Killing Fields (1984) - IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087553/)** > > The Killing Fields: Directed by Roland Joffé. With Sam Waterston, Haing S. Ngor, John Malkovich, Julian Sands. A journalist is trapped in Cambodia during tyrant Pol Pot's bloody 'Year Zero' cleansing campaign, which claimed the lives of two million... ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/27 "2004-03-03T00:50:06Z")
Terry Gilliam’s _Brazil._ ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/28 "2004-03-03T01:00:26Z")
Schindler’s List The Passion of the Christ Sophie’s Choice The House of Sand and Fog Reds ---
**Author:** ![bookbuster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9bd4f/32.png) [@bookbuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bookbuster)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/29 "2004-03-03T01:03:02Z")
I am some sort of movie freak and I pride myself in seeing lots and lots of stuff. A lot of the Holocaust documentaries I’ve seen are a testament to human strength more than anything else. I will pretty much watch anything, nothing will stop me. I like CKY and Jackass TV show as well. Then I heard about the movie [Bum Fights](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0337907/) . It was interesting because it was basically self-censored within the internet community. The messageboards on the net all pretty much completely frown upon it. The only thing I have ever heard the intenet community so riled up against is child pornography. In other words I had to see it (of course not child pornography silly). A friend and I made a pact to make it all the way through the movie, as we had heard that it was going to be gruesome. Well, we could not do it. They were picking out random homeless people on the street and paying them $10 or 40 oz. of beer to -fight each other -hurt themselves -degrade themselves with public displays of nudity (that ended in arrests -also on camera) Then they had this thing where they wandered around a park with homeless people and spraypainted?? them?? until they woke up??? What kind of people could do this? Then the “Bumhunter” (a parody of the Crodile Hunter) would jump out of a van and tie up a sleeping homeless person, and then gag him/her. He would procede to describe the height, size, weight, “markings” of the bum. Like they were animals. Needless to say the filmakers are in JAIL now like they deserve. I don’t really know what they were charged with and how long they got – does anyone know?? So then recently Bum Fights Volume II has been circulating around the internet, apparently made before the “Bumfight Krew” were sent to jail. Well it had been a couple of years and the imagery was numbed in my mind. And we just had to see what they could do next. Another pact was broken. ---
**Author:** ![Eutychus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Eutychus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eutychus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/30 "2004-03-03T01:37:13Z")
I very much have to disagree with _Life is Beautiful_. Go see it. Yes, it does have it’s down moments, but in the end it’s one of the most life _affirming_ movies you might ever see. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/31 "2004-03-03T02:13:35Z")
**Girls Don’t Cry**. I don’t want to see a movie that ends with a murder. **Irreversible** , everyting I’ve read about the rape scene makes me want to go nowhere near this thing. ( **Schindler’s List** is overwhelmingly _uplifting,_ btw. Don’t let the holocaust stuff scare you away) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/32 "2004-03-03T02:28:41Z")
_Saving Private Ryan_. Own it; watched it once. Don’t think I’ll ever do so again. ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/33 "2004-03-03T02:54:27Z")
Loved your last post in this thread **JuanitaTech**. I too find reality pretty depressing at times and prefer escapism in my movies. I will probably never see _Schindler’s List_ or _Saving Private Ryan_ although that is partly because of my ambiguity towards the works of Stephen Spielberg. I suspect I will never see _Passion of the Christ._ I could see myself watching _Life is Beautiful_ sometime. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/34 "2004-03-03T03:29:00Z")
Hmm… for me there are a number of movies that I won’t watch, often because I have no interest in seeing a movie made from events I’m already familiar with, or because I don’t feel a need to injest more filth to meet some kind of sadness quotient. Hearing that suggestion leaves me feeling mad, honestly. However, if a film is well done I may watch it, even knowing it’s a downer. The same is true of books, too. So, while I knew what would be happening in _Grave of the Fireflies_, I bought and watched it. It’s a great film, with very little by the way of redepmtion, but avoids leaving one with the impression of being hit over the head with a club to get the point through. Having said that, I’ve yet to see _Schindler’s List_. I’m not ruling it out, I just havn’t seen it, yet. For me it’s the movies where the main character isn’t sympathetic. _American Beauty_ being one of the top at that category: I tried watching it, really, and by the end of half an hour saw no reason to keep viewing. For the most part, I choose to select my movie viewing based on what will be entertaining, not which film is going to affirm my ability to feel pain. I could, for example, appreciate the skill and artistry of _Fargo_ but I didn’t enjoy the movie, and will not be seeing it again. Ever. Nor do I plan to see _The Passion_, _Girls Don’t Cry_, or even _Fight Club_. I rarely see movies about historical events, either. And, most of the time I’ve broken this rule I’ve come to regret it. (Does anyone else remember the disappointment that was _Titanic_?) There have been exceptions, I’m sure… I can’t think of any at the moment, but that’s not conclusive. 😃 I’d enjoyed _Saving Private Ryan_ and _Platoon_. But I don’t expect I’ll see either film ever again. I don’t plan to see _Enemy at the Gates_, but that’s a philosophical objection more than anything else: to reduce the battle at Staingrad to simply a sniper’s duel strikes me as the worst sort of cheap sensationalism. A more horrifyingly accurate microcosm of the battle would have been the fighting over the one really good hill in the city for artillery spotting, Mamalev Kurgan. At one point, when Zhukov lost control of that hill, he sent a newly arrived division of Cossack cavalry to retake it, plus whatever else he could scrape up. That division of 10,000 men ceased to exist after that battle. That would have been a more complete picture of the battle, showing the costs, and scale, of that struggle. Or better still to focus on some of the men and women working at the Tractor Works factory, throughout the battle. I expect I’ll see, eventually, _The Madness of King George_, but I don’t feel any rush to be about it. If I’m looking for a glimpse of something like the Halocaust, I think that a good book on the subject, or a return to The National Halocaust Museum is better than any movie. Instead of being led by someone else’s view of it, at their pace, with no time for reflection, I can take my own time to look and think. (As an example: the exhibit of shoes and hair taken from people being processed stunned me for half an hour, or more… just looking at the different shades of hair, the different walks of life represented by the shoes moved me more than any film would be able to do to me.) For slavery here in the States, I’d rather go to the Frederick Douglass House. > [@lissener](#): > > Well, with all respect, I suggest that your tendency to cry at the morning news–a highly artificialized form of information–is because perhaps you are not as aware of the entire scope of real-world human behavior. Finally, **Lissener** to complain about morning news being artificialized while advocating any movie seems a bit two-faced. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/35 "2004-03-03T03:29:42Z")
I will not see **The Passion** because it sounds like an exercise in extreme sadism. **House of Sand and Fog** never got to the point of making me depressed, because I was too busy rolling my eyes at nearly every character’s dumb decisions. **Requiem for a Dream** …Oh, man, this is one downer of a film and tough to watch. It may be worth it to you for the performances, however. ---
**Author:** ![gooti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/eb8c5e/32.png) [@gooti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gooti)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/36 "2004-03-03T04:16:54Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Movies I wish I _hadn’t_ watched (because they were so damn depressing): > > Breaking the Waves > > Requiem for a Dream > > Dancer in the Dark > > I don’t mind a dark film if there is some sort of redemption in it, something life-affirming, but these movies just make you want to stick your head in an oven. What’s the point of making a movie like that? I haven’t seen the other two, but _Requiem for a Dream_ is one of my favorite movies. I’ve seen it all the way through twice now, but I really have to be in a certain mood to watch it. There’s just something about it that draws me in. OTOH, _KIDS_ is a movie that I’ve only watched once and I never, ever want to see it again, although I think it is a great movie. There’s just something about children barely in their teens engaging in self-destructive behavior that I can’t stomach. I’ll never see _Shindler’s List \* because I watched \* Shoah_ in high school and those images have stayed with me until now. As a black person, I find it very difficult to watch anything that features violence spawned by racism. Movies like that just rip my heart to pieces and makes me dwell on how evil people can be to each other for no reason for days on end. My husband has tried to get me to watch \* American History X\* on several occasions and I simply refuse to watch it because I know I will be depressed for a long time after seeing it. I’m sure it’s a good movie, or else he wouldn’t want me to watch it so badly, but I know my limits and I just can’t do it. The same goes for movies like _Amistad_ and _Glory_. I also have a problem with movies that depict very graphic violence in a realistic way. I’ve never seen _Scarface_ or any of the _Godfather_ movies or _Reservoir Dogs_, but I love cheesy horror films. I think it’s just the realization that there really are people in the world that would do these horrible things to each other, most of the time without remorse. Ironically, or hipocritally rather, I’m very eager to see _The Passion of the Christ_. But that may be because I consider myself a nominal Christain and I’ve always been fascinated by religion in general and Jesus specifically. ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/37 "2004-03-03T04:23:31Z")
There’s probably nothing I wouldn’t watch at least once. Though some movies like _Passion of the Christ_ I don’t plan on seeing but if the opportunity comes up I probably would. However some movies I really have no interest in seeing again, like _Schindlers List_, _Saving Private Ryan_ and probably some others I can’t think of. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Rieux](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@Dr.Rieux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Rieux)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/38 "2004-03-03T04:30:57Z")
The only movie too depressing for me to watch again is _Rain Man_. It just hits too close to home. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/39 "2004-03-03T05:16:54Z")
I just thought of another one. Is **American Splendor** as depressing as the comic book version of his life story that they printed in EW made it out to be? ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2004, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129/40 "2004-03-03T06:05:28Z")
**Smack Fu** , we loved _American Splendor_! It was too funny to be permanently depressing – and too clever. Here’s an old, old one that I think is the most depressing fiction that I’ve ever seen: **They Shoot Horses Don’t They** It came out in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. It has plenty of familiar faces in it. See it when you just want to wallow in your misery, but not when you are seriously clinically depressed. If I remember correctly, the actor who played the role of “Master of Ceremonies” later murdered his new wife and then took his own life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-youll-probably-never-see-because-theyre-too-depressing/232129.md?page=3)