What's the most dis-spiriting movie you have ever seen? Mine is "Mississippi Burning." I watched it last night on the tube. Gene Hackman. Willem Dafoe. Frances McDormand. Others you would know. The brutality and senselessness of that time and place is really discouraging to me. Hard to believe that that was in my lifetime.
Amistad. hands down...a really tough watch. Philadelphia would be a close second. Why do I keep watching movies that involve such human suffering?
"Old Yeller" This is quite honestly the saddest movie I have ever seen. No boy should ever have to shoot his dog.....ever.
I don't think I ever watched the movie, but I read the book. It really got me sad, especially since I have a thing for dogs. (that's right, I'm bi-species. J/K.) It really got me sad. I didn't watch all of Amistad, but I did see some in our History class. It did look pretty dis-spiriting. I can't really remember any other movies that really made me sad or anything.
Requiem for a Dream. The last 15 minutes or so of that movie are about the most depressing, disturbing 15 minutes I have ever seen.
Two I saw recently on DVD that fit the bill in my book are "Black Hawk Down" and "Training Day." Neither one is exactly a "pick-me-up" kind of flick.
Although I like Kubrick, "A Clockwork Orange" is a very disturbing movie. I would say that 50% of the people who saw it were repulsed by it.
Catharsis, pathos, Aristotle's empathy...whatever you want to call it, it is nothing new and his been part of the human psyche for thousands of years. Saving Private Ryan was really hard for me because it was such tripe...it was extra disturbing because it had been billed as such a great movie (thank god I saw it on free cable). Makes me question humanity...oh, the horror! Raven, Screw the last 15 minutes...all of the screen time involving the damn mother still gives me nightmares.
Really? I read the book first and really enjoyed it, so I knew what was coming. I guess the "ultra-violence" was a bit overwehlming at times, though it seems so tame by today's standards. Plus Alex, as played by Malcolm McDowell did have an intelligence and a sense of humor to him that made him somewhat more sympathetic. Interestingly, the book, as published in every other country, had 21 chapters. This represented Alex's journey into adulthood. The final chapter consisted him renouncing his violent ways and deciding to settle down and begin a family. The American publisher decided that wouldn't fly in anti-hero, 1960s America, so they cut that final chapter. Kubrick's version reflects that omission. It wasn't until 1988 that the final chapter was restored in American versions of the book.
Another Kubrick movie I would suggest is Paths of Glory. That movie doesn't leave you with at good feeling at all. I would also cast a vote for Deliverance. I know im missing one here, maby I will think of it later.
Are you seriously trying to say the SPR is a bad movie? I think this is one of the best movies of all time. To say that this movie is any less is a shame.
I thought the worst movie ever made that I was so disgusted in seeing was Dogma. It made me wonder why those people who were in it were wanting to do such a repulsive movie....
I still, to this day, cannot watch Shindler's List. I just can't manage it. Philadelphia was, personally, very difficult for me to watch. I watched it one night before I had a gig. It finished about an hour before I had to leave and I think I sobbed for about thirty minutes. When I got to my gig, I guess my eyes were swollen and red and everyone was like, "Are you ok???" It was hard because I felt so awful for growing up as I did and being so hard on gay people. It really brought back a lot of rough memories of making fun of people and being generally derogatory. I felt like, while hard to watch, it really helped me to move on and get over a part of my past. Saving Private Ryan was tough as well. To be honest, I've only seen my father cry once and that was at ET. Both his parents passed away this year and he was far more composed than at that movie. Old Yellar is brutal. As for disturbing, Event Horizon pretty much freaked me out as did Carrie, The Omen, The Exorcist and Poltergeist.
It is derivative, predictable, driven by a poor/cheap story, formulaic, and filled with sappy tear-jerker "hooks" that were so obvious and poorly done they were rendered meaningless and insulting. All of this is just my opinion, of course...but that is what this thread was about. Call me shameful, I guess.
consider it done. Jeff - good call on Schindler's List, one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. Great movie.
About 20 years ago I went to see the exorcist ..while tripping on acid ...I'm still not over that one.
I somehow forgot about Shindler's List until Jeff mentioned it. This has got to be the most depressing movie I have ever seen. Its one of those movies that I can’t possibly imagine watching again.
