What were the most tragic movies you actually liked?

[equatorial]

It's easy to like tragic movies with cathartic endings. "Okay, everyone's dead but they died for something, so it's uplifting in the end". But there are also tragic movies without such an escape latch. The top three in my opinion are "Come and See", "Army of Shadows" and "Irreversible". Well, in "Army of Shadows" people die for something but there isn't anything remotely heroic in their self-sacrifice.

[BittyBug]

Boyz In the Hood - totally captured the essence of South Central LA, all the chaos, despair, violence and hope. I thought it was tragic because of how many lives were lost and when the carnage was basically over, only Trey and his gf "survived". The rest of them either died or didn't change their lives for the better.

I had forgotten about this movie, and agree that it was incredibly tragic. All the more so because even though it was fiction, it so closely paralleled the reality of South Central L.A. at the time.

[Cachoo]

It's easy to like tragic movies with cathartic endings. "Okay, everyone's dead but they died for something, so it's uplifting in the end". But there are also tragic movies without such an escape latch. The top three in my opinion are "Come and See", "Army of Shadows" and "Irreversible". Well, in "Army of Shadows" people die for something but there isn't anything remotely heroic in their self-sacrifice.

Good point. I was thinking about a horror film that upset me as it wasn't just your run-of-the-mill slice and dice fare. It was called 30 Days of Night and I don't think the ending could be called cathartic or happy. I really cared for the people who were in constant hiding from vampires who were nothing like the current tv crop of vampires except for blood lust. As dark as it is the film has become one my favorites in the genre and I think it fits this thread's category as well.

[danceronice]

Regarding the plot and character development related to the "love story" (along with the character assassination, in many cases, of several of the ship's officers/crew and passengers who were on the Titanic in real life), Cameron's Titanic is pure suckage.

I've said this before in previous threads about it, but when it comes to the technical aspects of moviemaking, Titanic is an absolute masterpiece. The special effects, editing, and sound did a good job to show what went on down in the bowels of the ship (specifically the boiler rooms and the crew working on the electrical/generators) as well as the horror and terror experienced by those who didn't make it into the lifeboats.

Oh, TECHNICALLY, it's a stunning movie. (Despite minor goofs like Pacific white-sided dolphins in the north Atlantic and the ship being a tad too short.) As far as the plot, while I increasingly appreciate Leo DiCaprio (he does a very nice bit when Rose is on the raft and you can see him realizing "If I want her to live, I'm dead") the overt slandering of the officers, crew and Ismay, the Flanderization of characters like "Molly" Brown, the fact that the only two other secondary fictional characters besides Rose's mother and Cal are basically talking ethnic stereotypes, the total absence of the entire second class....the real tragedy was the script. But the treatment of William Murdoch alone would have earned them a pillorying even if the rest weren't a mess. FTR, I'm in the relatively small camp who thinks if there WAS a suicide, the most likely candidate was Sixth Officer Moody, and I don't think there was enough evidence for anyone to include it overtly. As it was, it says a lot Fox sent a VP to Murdoch's hometown to apologize in person to his nephew and the village.

I don't know if "Gettysburg" is a tragedy or not. The so-called 'right' side won, more or less, but it's not like anyone came out of it mentally or physically unscathed, and you know they've got two more years of this and it's not getting any less bloody....

[taf2002]

In response to an earlier post about the availability of Holocaust on Netflix--it is available. I watched it a couple of years ago.

Seems that I remember another Holocaust mini-series on American TV years ago, but I may be mistaken. There was a scene of a bunch of people either hiding or locked into a barn-like building, and a woman was giving birth at the exact moment that the Nazis burst in. That scene made such an impact on me. I don't think it was from The Holocaust. Does anyone else remember anything like this?

The lead-in scene to every episode of Holocaust is a bunch of Jews of all ages being forced into a temple which was wooden & very barn-like & then the Nazis barring the door & setting it on fire. I don't think I have forgotten many details from that movie.

It was the 1st time I had seen Meryl Streep & James Wood & I was very impressed with both. But the whole cast was wonderful.

The darkest movie I have ever seen is Capote. It was about how Truman Capote wrote his novel "In Cold Blood", which was based on a news story about a farm family who was murdered in the middle of the night in 1950's Ohio. Capote started following the story and when they captured the suspects he begain interviewing them.

Capote started at a superior cynical New York writer, but as the trial progressed and the killers were condemned to death, the one killer started to get into his head. He began to realize the killer and he shared the same abusive childhood filled with rejection, and while he felt repulsed by the killer, he begins to feel a reluctant empathy. Capote couldn't escape the feeling that for a few twists of fate, it could have been him. His most telling quote was 'it was as if we had grown up in the same house, only I went out the front door and he went out the back'. In the end, the killer invites him to his hanging, and though Capote was horrified at the thought, he felt compelled to go because the killer had no one else.

Capote never wrote another novel after "In Cold Blood".

The book & the movie was equally chilling. Robert Blake played that character...he was so obsessed by the fact that people lose control of their functions when being hung that he would not eat or drink for several days beforehand. The last scene of the movie is shot below the gallows. When the he falls thru the trapdoor the camera focuses on his pants & you see a stain spreading in the crotch. :shudder:

[Vagabond]

Is that play very well-known where you are?

Of course.

Spoiler

That she created the fantasy world in her mind to cope with the horrific reality of her life

Spoiler

In order for the world of the faun to be anything other than a product of Ofelia's imagination, either (1) the faun would have appeared to her even if none of the horrific events had taken place or (2) the faun is real but nevertheless appears only because of the horrific events. There is no support in the script for either of these possibilities, and I very much doubt that Del Toro would say that either of them is true. In fact, they are downright silly.

The reason why some people who have seen Pan's Labyrinth think that the ending is in any way a happy one is either because they have fundamentally misunderstood it or because they, like Ofelia, are imagining things in order to make sense of the horror.

[Rex]

I had forgotten about this movie, and agree that it was incredibly tragic. All the more so because even though it was fiction, it so closely paralleled the reality of South Central L.A. at the time.

It totally resonated with me since so many people I grew up with are dead or in jail or on hardcore drugs. So many young people lost to violence, AIDS as well. But BITH captured the desolateness of that neighborhood. I've been to that area a couple of times - I had shipmates who were from that area and spent a Memorial Day and a Thanksgiving in South Central, and John Singleton did an excellent job of capturing the mood and atmosphere.

[skatingfan5]

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly -- the was compounded by the fact that it's a true story, based on an almost unimaginable sort of existence -- and yet the author managed to create this amazing, heart-breaking memoir. When I read the book, I was alternately moved to awe, to horror, and to tears.

[nubka]

Love Story (fitting for a figure skating board)

For me, the end was too unrealistic to be tragic. Jenny is lying in a hospital bed, dying of leukemia. She still has a full head of hair, and not a single tube going in or out of her.

[DAngel]

Spoiler

(1) the faun would have appeared to her even if none of the horrific events had taken place

Why would this sound rather silly?

Spoiler

The reason why some people who have seen Pan's Labyrinth think that the ending is in any way a happy one is either because they have fundamentally misunderstood it

I don't think Del Toro have misunderstood his own work. Anyway, I'm not saying that it was a happy ending. It was more of a bitter-sweet ending, but not outright tragic...

Spoiler

or because they, like Ofelia, are imagining things in order to make sense of the horror.

Or we see the clues that the director/writer have put in the film and interpret them as he intended. Are you saying only your interpretation is correct?

[modern_muslimah]

Oh dear, I'd forgotten about The Constant Gardener. Wonderful film. Terribly sad.

ITA. I totally forgot about that one.

Boyz In the Hood - totally captured the essence of South Central LA, all the chaos, despair, violence and hope. I thought it was tragic because of how many lives were lost and when the carnage was basically over, only Trey and his gf "survived". The rest of them either died or didn't change their lives for the better.

How could I forget this one?! Boyz In the Hood is definitely one of the most tragic movies I've ever seen.

Another profoundly tragic movie to add to the list (I'm not sure if someone mentioned it already) is Paradise Lost. The ending in so sad and mad even sad by the fact that it isn't so far off from reality for some Palestinians.

[Buzz]

At Close Range - What makes this movie even more tragic is the fact that it is based on a true story.

[leesaleesa]

Welcome To The Dollhouse

Great movie.

Audition
Fast Sofa
Gran Torino

[jbjanderson]

I loved Atonement, (plus it had some hot scenes!)

cheesy, but still I love A Walk to Remember.

[Tinami Amori]

What were the most tragic movies you actually liked?

I am a sucker for happy endings in movies.

I am a sucker for a realistic ending... Happy fake predictable endings is what makes a movie tragic.

More than half of the movies which I like usually are tragedies, and to name a few:

Sunset Boulevard
Shoeshine
Mrs. Minerva
A Place in the Sun (An American Tragedy)
Yearling
Andrey Rublev
Mayerling
La Strada
The Stationmaster’s Wife
Ship of Fools
The Cow
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next
Man Who Fell to Earth
Marriage of Maria Braun
Veronica Voss
Sophie’s Choice
Deer Hunter
Chinatown
Nello and Patrash (The Dog of Flanders)
The Elephan Man
Kiss of the Spiderwoman
Jude
Ethan Frome
Little Vera
Light the Red Lantern
The Inner Circle
Ran
1984
Soylent Green
The Garden of the Finzi Continis
Hillary and Jackie
House of Sand and Fog
Basel
Of Mice and Men
The Professional
Burnt By The Sun
The English Patient
Modigliani
Camille Claudelle
Mambo Kings
Enemies: A Love Story
Edmond
Elena (Zvyagintsev)
The Return (Zvyagintsev)

[danceronice]

Great movie.

Gran Torino

Oooh, I'm torn on that being a tragedy... Tragedy would imply no redemption for Walt the cranky racist jerk and that his actions don't improve anything. Walt not only

Spoiler

sacrifices himself to make sure the gang who raped and beat Su and were threatening his neighbors get put away, and succeeds, he becomes a father figure to the boy, comes to terms with his wife's death and his own mortality, and as the cherry on the top of the redemption sundae, makes sure his greedy, self-absorbed family hardly benefits from his death.

The fact a major character ends the movie in a box doesn't automatically mean it's a tragedy.

I mean, yeah, the area it's SET in is a tragedy, but that's just reality. Detroit and certain burbs (it's set in Highland Park) have been going to crap for nigh on fifty years but that's just how it is there.

Likewise I don't think I would call "Schindler's List" a tragedy. Yes, it's set in the Holocaust. Yes, obviously, as such, people die. HOWEVER, the main character is, again, redeemed, and saves 1200 people. The entire color end sequence in Jerusalem at the real Schindler's grave is sort of the opposite of tragedy--it's flinging the survival of these people and their descendants into the face of the attempt to destroy them. Just because something is SET in tragic circumstances doesn't mean the plot is a tragedy. I think one could make a stronger argument that "Saving Private Ryan" is a tragedy...

Now, "Throne of Blood" is a tragedy. But that's because it's Macbeth in feudal Japan. (Unfortunately it's also really expensive on DVD...all Kurosawa's stuff is.) One could also make a strong argument that "The Seven Samurai" is a tragedy (and ergo so is "The Magnificent Seven" as that's almost a shot-for-shot remake), at least for the titular characters.

[kwanfan1818]

Tess of the d'Urbervilles. First when Angel Clare rejects her for doing the same damn thing he did. Then, the ending.

[Civic]

At least he didn't write "Love Story: Breaking Dawn". (Even though I believe there was an Oliver's Story)

Yes, there was a sequel novel, "Oliver's Story". It wasn't bad and gave you some insight into Oliver's relationship with his father.

Good point. I was thinking about a horror film that upset me as it wasn't just your run-of-the-mill slice and dice fare. It was called 30 Days of Night and I don't think the ending could be called cathartic or happy. I really cared for the people who were in constant hiding from vampires who were nothing like the current tv crop of vampires except for blood lust. As dark as it is the film has become one my favorites in the genre and I think it fits this thread's category as well.

That was the scariest vampire film I've seen. They were just so malevolent and utterly ruthless. Speaking of vampires, one of the saddest and most unsettling films I've seen was "Let Me In". It's a Swedish film about a lonely young boy and his friendship with a child vampire. The Skeleton Key is another horror film with a sad ending.

[dinakt]

Galipoli

That's a great movie- i think one of the best anti- war movies I've seen ( and growing up in Soviet Union with a shodow of WW2 always there, I've seen many war movies).
"Deerhunter" is in the same category.

And I have to mention Kieslowski's "Bleu" ("Blue"- part of his " Blue", 'White" "Red" trilogy). I cried throughout the whole darn movie, and yet still think of it as a transendent uplifting piece of art. Utterly tragic, and utterly beautiful.

[tarotx]

I love Titanic and A night to remember. I think Night as more a truth movie and Titanic as more a perception/pov movie even if it's not 100% the case either way. Night feels like it's telling a true story while Titanic is Rose's memory. Either way I don't consider Titanic tragic because the center story, Jack changed Rose's life for the better.

As for Pan, An after life doesn't take away the tragic. I was devastated watching that movie. Traumatized!!

I watched 6 weeks a couple days ago and It's a pretty good movie although I always cry when watching it. It does have some corniness to it though. I think any movie kids die is tragic. I never cried in Love story. The book nor the movie. I cried over the tv movie Alex: The Life of a Child.

I couldn't watch the movie Boy in striped pajama's. The Book destroyed me. Nor my sister's keeper.

Yesterday I was watching From here to eternity. Prewitt's story is a tragedy. I always have to watch red river or The search afterwards.