24 Of The Most Heartbreaking Scenes In Movie History That We Just Can't Get Over
You're going to need a lot of tissues for this one.
Is it weird that we love crying because of movies? Yes, it might be painful and gut-wrenching at the moment, but we love getting a good cry out of a film.
We don't think we're sadists or anything like that, but maybe the reason we enjoy crying is that if a film makes us cry, it's kind of a good one because of how it wrenches the emotion out of us. Or maybe it's because sad films or sad moments make us actually feel for something. Do you feel the same way?
Seriously though, filmmakers who know how to create a good heart-wrenching moment are geniuses. They deeply understand how their audiences think and feel, and they know exactly what buttons to push to make them remember and feel for their film even years after it was released.
Moreover, they don't just affect one generation of people. Since films have a long lifespan, these filmmakers actually get to impact generation after generation with their work, and we love them for it.
With that, here are some of the most heart-wrenching movie moments in history that have completely torn us apart, with some still continuing to do damage today.
1. When Jumbo is separated from her young child, chained, and locked away in Dumbo
Disney / Via Disney+Watch how she reaches out with her trunk to gently rock her baby here:
2. When the beloved dog dies in Marley and Me
20th Century Fox / Via youtube.comWatch Owen Wilson's character say his final goodbyes to the poor pup here:
3. When Private Ryan visits Captain Miller's grave in Saving Private Ryan
DreamWorks Pictures / Via youtube.com
It's the line where he says, "Tell me I'm a good man; tell me I've led a good life" that shatters us over and over again in this scene:
4. When Asa decides to crawl under the fence to be with his friend Shmuel in The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
Miramax FIims / Via youtube.com
As soon as he crawls into the camp in this scene, everyone just knows what is going to happen:
5. When Hazel Grace reads Gus' letter to Peter Van Houten after he dies in The Fault in Our Stars
20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com
His beautiful words have haunted us. Watch the scene here:
6. When the dogs keep trying to swim toward the island they believe is their salvation, which probably doesn't exist, in The Plague Dogs
Embassy Pictures / Via youtube.com
It doesn't help that one of the dogs in the opening scene dies from drowning after getting too exhausted. Watch the ending of the movie here:
7. When Hawkeye and Black Widow have to fight each other to sacrifice themselves for the Soul Stone in Avengers: Endgame
Marvel / Via Disney+
8. When Mark completely dilutes Eduardo's shares of Facebook in The Social Network
Sony Pictures Releasing / Via youtube.com
It was absolutely painful to watch the end of their friendship in this scene:
9. When Okko breaks down in Okko's Inn after discovering that the man who killed her parents is staying at the inn
DLE / Via Netflix
Watch the trailer of the film here:
10. When Jody is forced to kill the deer he had come to love so much in The Yearling
MGM / Via youtube.com
Our hearts break every time for the boy, especially in this scene:
11. When little Dory overhears her parents' sad conversation in Finding Dory
Disney / Pixar / Via Disney+
12. When Jojo realizes his mother's body is hanging in the square in Jojo Rabbit
Fox Searchlight Pictures / Via youtube.com
The whole time, they focus on her shoes, which makes the realization in this scene much more painful:
13. When Ally performs her heartbreaking song "I'll Never Love Again" in memory of Jack in A Star Is Born
Warner Bros. Pictures / Via youtube.com
It becomes even more painful when they cut to the part of Jack singing the last part of the song:
14. When Joe Bradley walks away from the princess, knowing they'll never be together in Roman Holiday
Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com
15. When Beauty gets a chance to see Ginger one last time in Black Beauty (1994)
Warner Bros. / Via youtube.com
One moment, he's remembering his happiest days with Ginger, and then the next, he sees her being hauled away in a cart, dead:
16. When Spider-Man gets dusted in Avengers: Infinity War
Marvel / Via Disney+
This scene reminded everyone that despite his powers, he was just a kid:
17. When Tommy gets upset because he feels that his parents are too busy for him in The Rugrats Movie
Nickelodeon / Via youtube.com
We all wanted to hug Tommy here:
18. When Tom delivers the news that Sonny is dead in The Godfather
Paramount Pictures / Via youtube.com
He didn't have to cry for his grief to be palpable to us in this scene:
19. When Beth suddenly dies in Little Women (2019)
Sony Pictures Releasing / Via youtube.com
20. When Vada sees Thomas J in his coffin in My Girl
Columbia Pictures / Via youtube.com
The part where she says he needs his glasses breaks us every time:
21. When Bernice yells and chases after her dad as he leaves her behind in Hope Floats
20th Century Fox / Via youtube.com
It was so unexpectedly emotional and raw. Watch it here:
22. When Shoya is finally able to see the world around him with a new perspective in A Silent Voice
Shochiku / Via youtube.com
Overall, it's a beautiful film. Watch that scene here:
23. When Gamora realizes that her adoptive father is going to kill her in Avengers: Infinity War
Marvel / Via Disney+
The betrayal she must have felt. Watch the scene here:
24. When Charlie and Nicole's argument reaches its peak in Marriage Story, and Charlie says he wishes Nicole were dead so he didn't have to deal with the pain of losing his marriage and his son
Netflix / Via Netflix
The scene was just so raw and real that it was almost too painful to watch:
Most of these movie moments continue to haunt us even years after we've watched the film. We think that they're brilliant that way.
Every time we remember them, they still evoke the same kind of emotion they did the first time we watched them, and we believe that's the mark of a great film. How about you?
Which one of these sad movie moments affected you the most?
