# What's the most powerful emotional reaction you've had at the movies? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2012, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663 "2012-11-11T06:26:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/1 "2012-11-11T06:26:30Z")
Fear, sadness, anger, joy, excitement, etc: What movie, and specific scene, evoked a memorably strong response? ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/2 "2012-11-11T06:32:42Z")
“Titanic” - I just sat and couldn’t leave for a couple of minutes afterward. It was the whole movie - the sadness of it just overwhelmed me. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/3 "2012-11-11T06:37:28Z")
I saw Schindler’s list when I was 11. Thinking about the scene where Schindler talks about how selling his pin could have saved one more had an effect on me and I had a tear close to my eye as I exited the theater. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/4 "2012-11-11T06:52:56Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > I saw Schindler’s list when I was 11. Thinking about the scene where Schindler talks about how selling his pin could have saved one more had an effect on me and I had a tear close to my eye as I exited the theater. Yeah, I was 12. My father thought it would be important to take me, to his credit. Seeing Amon Goeth casually snipe helpless Jews from his balcony was horrifying and astounding – definitely an early insight into true evil. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/5 "2012-11-11T07:38:25Z")
Sadness at the misfortune of others. I cried all the way through The Color Purple. Sometimes they were tears of anger but mostly I felt the loss of what could have been. Had about the same reaction to Precious years later. A Better Life made me cry hard (choked back) hot tears. Talking about Schindler’s List…in the early '60s TV was still new. We only got two channels in our mountainous area, but one network showed a kind of documentary about the concentration camps. The ovens, the starving faces staring from behind wire. I’ll never forget the spindly bodies sliding down chutes into mass graves. And the Neumberg trials. Stuff that I don’t think they’d show now. Like the Vietnam War; intestines trailing off of lifted cots, broadcast during the dinner hour. It was the first telecast war and they went overboard with their accessibility. They have reined it in since then and don’t get that graphic now. But yes, sadness at the misfortune of others. Tears while you’re eating your spaghetti. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/6 "2012-11-11T07:46:12Z")
Joy Luck Club…thought I wouldnt like it but it was so powerful. The last 20 minutes were brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![InternetLegend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/internetlegend/32/13154_2.png) [@InternetLegend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InternetLegend)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/7 "2012-11-11T07:46:13Z")
_Schindler’s List_ for me as well. My daughters talked me into taking them along to the movie, and I agreed reluctantly because I was afraid it would be too intense for them - about halfway through, when I was crying uncontrollably, my younger one leaned over and asked me if _I_ was all right. [_Breaking the Waves_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breaking_the_Waves) was another one that really hit me. So I guess I’d have to say overwhelming grief is the strongest response I’ve had to movies. ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/8 "2012-11-11T07:47:58Z")
I took my daughter to see _Brave_ this spring. My mother had passed away a few weeks before, and I thought a trip to the movies would be a nice distraction, plus we’d been planning to see it since it was first announced. I cried uncontrollably during the final transformation scene, and it was my daughter who comforted me. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/9 "2012-11-11T09:47:55Z")
I passed out watching _The Piano Teacher_. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/10 "2012-11-11T14:34:59Z")
I think Brokeback Mountain. I sat there in numb silence at the end and was barely able to walk to my car. Once I got home I literally collapsed o the kitchen floor sobbing; my legs simly would not support me. Never had that happen before. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/11 "2012-11-11T14:50:03Z")
I pretty much realize movies are movies so my emotional response is somewhat muted. However… I was sacred shitless when I saw The Excorsist. During the dream scene I looked down and could see my shirt moving to the pounding of my heartbeat. But I think my biggest emotional response to a movie was ,curiously, to Taxi Driver. I was so caught up in the whole drama that when the final shoot out scene occurred I actually had the get up and go to the lobby. I’ve never had to do that before or since. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/12 "2012-11-11T14:52:45Z")
A short movie called “Cutting Moments” left me so nauseous I almost passed out. It was the first of three short movies but I basically missed the other two, keeping my head between my legs to stay conscious. There was just something in its brutal realism and sudden, hideously realistic self-harming horror combined that got to me. My blood sugar might’ve been low too, dunno. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/13 "2012-11-11T15:41:25Z")
On a slightly cheerier note, I can pass along this: I took my 4yo daughter to \*Independence Day \*and she loved it. When the scientists crack open the alien’s suit to reveal gooey yuckiness, she let out a loud and very genuine, “Ewwwwwwww!” in her little-girl voice, and cracked up the entire theater. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/14 "2012-11-11T15:45:07Z")
The movie that made me cry the most was Awakenings. I had a long walk from the theater to the train, and I remember crying the whole way, and then crying for hours afterwards. OTOH, the movie to which I had the most powerful positive emotional reaction was Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. I just remember the feeling of pure joy as I left the theater. I overheard a young girl in the crowd ask her parents, “Why can’t real life be like that?” That’s exactly how I felt. I went back to see the movie again the next day. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/15 "2012-11-11T17:23:00Z")
The Exorcist. I’m older and jaded now, movies don’t rile me up much any more. But when I saw the Exorcist at the movie theater when I was young, I was truly traumatized along with the bulk of the audience. Always like to mention in this kind of thing my 80 year old mom laughed so hard at Borat she actually fractured a rib, and I was close behind! ---
**Author:** ![figure9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@figure9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/figure9)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/16 "2012-11-11T17:50:37Z")
Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” left me feeling unsettled for a week. The combo of the music and images gave me a weird feeling of being uncomfortable in my own skin. Disney’s "Monster’s Inc. " made me cry because my little girl was just turning two. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/17 "2012-11-11T17:54:26Z")
_Watchmen_ had me in tears. tears of boredom. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/18 "2012-11-11T18:02:25Z")
Perhaps it was a leg cramp during the very last scene in **Carrie** had me jump out of my seat. It was probably something I ate, but I remember **The Shining** as making me physically ill. I might have caught some dust in my eye to cause that tear at the end of **Brokeback Mountain**. I am not stupid enough to fall for some story about sharks, so I think it was all that coffee that made me jittery during **Jaws**. So yeah, I ain’t never been affected by no movie - nope. Not me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/19 "2012-11-11T18:17:32Z")
The end of _Brazil_ affected me so deeply that I was still sitting there, stunned, after the credits had finished and the lights came back up in the theater. I was just emotionally gutted. I am frequently deeply affected by movies. I can be moved to tears, and some things make me laugh so hard that I can’t even breathe. The first time I saw _Spinal Tap_ was like that. I saw it as a sneak preview sponsored by the local rock radio station, so a good percentage of the audience appeared to be unaware that it was a satire. They just thought it was a film about a hard rock band that they thought they had heard of. That made it even funnier. I was sitting in the front row, and had to walk to the lobby at one point to catch my breath - I was in danger of passing out. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663/20 "2012-11-11T18:39:19Z")
> [@gaffa](#): > > The end of _Brazil_ affected me so deeply that I was still sitting there, stunned, after the credits had finished and the lights came back up in the theater. I was just emotionally gutted. > > I am frequently deeply affected by movies. I can be moved to tears, and some things make me laugh so hard that I can’t even breathe. The first time I saw _Spinal Tap_ was like that. I saw it as a sneak preview sponsored by the local rock radio station, so a good percentage of the audience appeared to be unaware that it was a satire. They just thought it was a film about a hard rock band that they thought they had heard of. That made it even funnier. I was sitting in the front row, and had to walk to the lobby at one point to catch my breath - I was in danger of passing out. I felt the same way about Brazil. It was like a punch in the stomach. I had tears and more during the entire time watching World Trade Center. I was thinking about my cousin who was in the FDNY and crushed by debris but I think I would have the same reaction without losing someone. Field of Dreams came out the same year my father died way too young. And I stopped playing catch with him much too soon. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-most-powerful-emotional-reaction-youve-had-at-the-movies/640663.md?page=2)