What are some of the most powerful movie experiences of your life?

[TsarMatt]

I was asked on another site what were some of the most powerful films I have ever seen. This can be a fun way to generate some general film discussion and also become a notable source for recommendations. I'm sure we've all seen numerous films that we could subjectively describe as powerful. List them. Here are some of mine, with complimentary gifs

Close-Up (1990)
This is a hauntingly real and personal examination into fame and identity. Without getting into any personal explications, this was a work I could myself relating to on an immensely profound level. The notion of wanting to be your icons and your inspirations took me to a pretty dark spot as a viewer. Since this was based on a true story and Abbas Kiarostami used all the real people associated with the actual events in the film, it just made it feel all the more authentic and real. The ending is one of the most beautifully humane conclusions to any film I have ever seen. Admittedly, it made me weep like an infant.

Late Spring (1949)
Ozu was a visionary and well ahead of his time. Nobody could explore the contemporary, post-WWII Japanese family with more depth and humanity than him. This is such a simple, accessible drama, but so incredibly powerful. It's a film any daughter, son, father or mother can relate to on a wide range of different levels. A lot of people here, I'm assuming, probably have not heard of this film, but it's a masterwork and so powerful. Ozu's work were considered 'family dramas' back in 1940-1950s Japan, so it's a really simple film at its core. And that's why I adore it and why it is so very powerful.

The Terminator (1984)
This is a pretty strange addition for me. This is not powerful in the sense that it is poignant or moving, but it has a truly remarkable atmosphere. The amazing sequence at the Tech Noir nightclub is just a wonderful showcase for visual filmmaking. Perhaps nostalgia is playing a small part here, but I am totally, completely and 100% always immersed in this picture when I watch it. I'm still stunned at how adept Camera was from behind the camera. A truly sinister, dark, creepy slice of 80s science fiction horror.

Taxi Driver (1976)
This really is the ultimate film about dejection, loneliness, and insanity. As I may only slightly prefer The King of Comedy when it comes to Scorsese, I think this is a much more personal, intimate piece. It's not such the technical impeccability or De Niro's amazing performance, but the way Scorsese slowly and closely portrays the life of Travis Bickle. There are a handful of truly powerful moments, but the ultimate one has to be the scene where Bickle is watching television whilst Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky is playing. Simply stunning.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Having recently seen this masterwork in 70mm at the theatres, it'd be a crime not to bring this up. In my opinion, the most artificially complete, accomplished, ambitious and human of all films that I have seen. No other work in the science fiction comes close to the existentialism that Kubrick captures. Put it this way: if I was kidnapped by aliens and was forced to show them a film that depicts humanity at its most curious, audacious and expression, then I'd choose Kubrick's evocative masterpiece.

The Ascent (1977)
Out of all the films that I have ever seen, I believe this work shows war at its most tragic, brutal and harrowing. I'd even put it ahead of Come and See. This one wasn't so much an emotional experience, but just a forceful and depressing one. It gets under your skin and candidly confronts you with the grim realities of war. To think this came out of the Soviet Union, known for their artistic suppression, is rather amazing. It was also directed by a female - another rarity of the USSR film industry and the medium in general.

Paths of Glory (1957)
Another war film, although this was definitely much more poignant. The final act is one of the most tear-inducing scenes I have seen. This is just as much a political film as it is a war film and served as a huge thematic inspiration for The Wire. It's all about the repressive and dictatorial nature of our institutions and how they essentially serve the few at the expense of many. It also completely shatters the notion that Kubrick was a misanthrope - this film shows wonderful compassion for humanity.

The Elephant Man (1980)
Hands down, the most dejecting film I have ever seen. I have intentionally avoided seeing it on a numerous occasions because, frankly, it upsets me way too much. Not only is Lynch a brilliant surrealist, but he can clearly handle the dramatic without coming across as schmaltzy or overly-sentimental. This entire work is just one depressing blow after another. This one kept me down for days after I saw it for the first time.

Mulholland Drive (2001)
This is one of the most indescribably powerful movie viewing experiences of my life. I'm not sure what I feel when I watch this film, but it's something I've never managed to forget. I like to think that Lynch appeals more to the emotions first than he does the intellect, and this movie achieves that. It's an abstract experience, almost, akin to Inland Empire or 2001: A Space Odyssey. Beyond that, however, it's a wonderfully grim look into the show business industry. It has a handful of truly eerie and creepy moments, too.

The Girl Next Door (2007)
This has to be up there as one of the most upsetting and disturbing films I have seen. It truly makes you feel helpless and despondent. It's brutal and hard to watch. This is not a powerful experience I embrace but one I try to shrug off. I guess it is powerful in a negative way because it makes you feel so utterly dejected. But any film that has this impact on you must be represented.

Sling Blade (1996)
A beautifully restrained slice of Southern Gothic storytelling. A very simple film, but so.... poetic, for lack of better word. There is a calmness to this film. It could have easily fell victim to sentimentality if it were in the hands of a different director. This did not make me cry, but it certainly was a touching and beautiful experience. Billy Bob Thornton at his prime, as an actor, writer and director. The level of talent he exhibits here is off-the-wall.

Tokyo Story (1954)
Another Ozu, and like Late Spring, an accessible, simple family drama, but so incredibly touching and increasingly relevant in today's Western world. This one brought me to tears purely because it's a film everyone, on some level, can relate to. It's just staggering how far ahead of his time Ozu was. A truly unmatchable talent and this is generally regarded as his finest movie.

Detachment (2011)
I've reserved this until last because it's arguably the film I can relate to most. It felt like it was made for me because it mirrored so much of my life. Discarding that, however, it's an ambitious work, beautifully photographed and wonderfully written. It also echoes so much truth about our educational systems and the youth of today's world. I think about this frequently and it's one of the reasons why I want to be a filmmaker. This is how you tell a story.​

There are so many others, too! List yours, TT.

 

[shawnbm]

I can't begin to go through and create a post like yours, TT--but that was damned enjoyable. There are movies that scare you (Alien and Jaws--back when I was young) and those that stay with you long after (Burnt Offerings and The Exorcist), but then there are those that don't scare or haunt you later, but really hit you hard when you first see them. Schindler's List comes to mind, as did A Clockwork Orange when I saw it as a young teen. (The latter really disturbed me; years later, Jacob's Ladder did the same). But certainly one of the most powerful movies I ever saw was The Deer Hunter--simply amazingly powerful in both its violent and soft moments (the last scene around the table singing a patriotic tune). Foreign films have also worked a number on me. Pan's Labyrinth (el laberinto de Pan) was one of them, in large part because I have studied a bit about the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Another was Breaker Morant--still one of my all-time favorites. "Shoot straight you bastards, try and not make a mess of it!" (one of the most memorable final five minutes of a film to my mind). Nice thread here--I look forward to other replies.

 

[DarthFed]

I echo Shawn's sentiments. Great thread and I will admit to being too lazy to go into all the reasons certain movies affected me but will list ones that come to mind:

Saving Private Ryan
The Deer Hunter
Crash
United 93

There have definitely been more but those come to mind right away.

Edit: A few others already:

Once Upon a Time in America
Sleepers
Seven (This one mostly for just being disturbing and forcing yourself to think what you'd do to the Space Cadet if you were Brad Pitt)

 

[TsarMatt]

I can't begin to go through and create a post like yours, TT--but that was damned enjoyable. There are movies that scare you (Alien and Jaws--back when I was young) and those that stay with you long after (Burnt Offerings and The Exorcist), but then there are those that don't scare or haunt you later, but really hit you hard when you first see them. Schindler's List comes to mind, as did A Clockwork Orange when I saw it as a young teen. (The latter really disturbed me; years later, Jacob's Ladder did the same). But certainly one of the most powerful movies I ever saw was The Deer Hunter--simply amazingly powerful in both its violent and soft moments (the last scene around the table singing a patriotic tune). Foreign films have also worked a number on me. Pan's Labyrinth (el laberinto de Pan) was one of them, in large part because I have studied a bit about the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. Another was Breaker Morant--still one of my all-time favorites. "Shoot straight you bastards, try and not make a mess of it!" (one of the most memorable final five minutes of a film to my mind). Nice thread here--I look forward to other replies.

Haha, I don't expect anyone to write a post like mine. I just get a little carried away. Thanks for the reply.

You've listed some great films. I agree with The Exorcist and Alien - two highly atmospheric, impeccably crafted works. A Clockwork Orange really disturbed me, too, upon my first viewing, but today I see it more as a hilarious black comedy than anything else. Kubrick was such a genius with his brand of satire. I love your inclusion of Breaker Morant - a really overlooked Australian classic. The Deer Hunter had a handful of powerful moments, but that wedding sequence just went on too long! But yeah, good call on that.

I echo Shawn's sentiments. Great thread and I will admit to being too lazy to go into all the reasons certain movies affected me but will list ones that come to mind:

Saving Private Ryan
The Deer Hunter
Crash
United 93

There have definitely been more but those come to mind right away.

Edit: A few others already:

Once Upon a Time in America
Sleepers
Seven (This one mostly for just being disturbing and forcing yourself to think what you'd do to the Space Cadet if you were Brad Pitt)

Thanks for the reply, Fed. As I said to Shawn, I don't expect anyone to write anything extensive. Listing films is great.

I like your addition of Se7en - I still think this is Fincher's best work and a really eerie, well-crafted horror/thriller. The cinematography is amazing. I can't agree with OUaTiA, however - I thought that film was really tedious and over-long.

United 93 is a pretty impacting film, especially if 9/11 had a profound impact on you. And yup, The Deer Hunter is a problematic but great work on the whole.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Man, so many movies, so little time (and memory)

I remember being scared poopless by The Exorcist. Where I am from, there were no age restrictions to go to movies at the time so I saw it when I was 6 in a theater where the only other person was a homeless dude sitting at the very front. You can understand how it can affect a kid...

I have always been a huge Star Wars fan , the original trilogy. The moment I saw the first one, I was sold. The idea that someone could create another universe like that , in such detail, was amazing to see.

Always been a Stephen King fan so some of his movie adaptations had lasting impressions on me, like Stand By Me, The Shining , Pet Sematary. But the biggest of them all was The Shawshank Redemption. Every character in that book came to life in the movie version. I can easily say for me, if there was ever a movie better than the book, or at least as good as the book, it was that movie.

Like I said, tough to remember all the movies that deeply effected me...the first Godfather movie, Jaws, Rocky movies (just because), ET,The Maltese Falcon,12 Angry Men, Aliens, Aeroplane (loved those!)...goes on and on.

 

[Riotbeard]

Gonna get back to this, but i wanna give it justice as a fellow movie lover. Great picks so far!

 

[Kieran]

You've a great broad range in film taste, Matt, there's some great selections there, some unfamiliar, although I must out myself here - I'm not a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick.

Films that pack the punch of a Rafa fist-pump? Well, Goodfellas left me fairly dazed. I left the cinema looking over my shoulder after that one. Leave aside the fact that I'd gone in expecting a comedy - don't ask :huh: - but I knew before the opening scene it was a gangster flick instead. I still wasn't prepared.

Se7en is a great call too. I watched it on the large screen in the Savoy Cinema on O'Connell Street, and after Morgan Freeman's character set the metronome in motion, and Nine Inch Nails music slid in over the opening credits, there was a collective groan and sense of ill-foreboding in the cinema. To paraphrase another great movie, it went medieval on our a$s. The ending left me gasping for air, almost, I was so shocked.

In a similar way, with an ending that stifles and grabs you and makes you shake your fist at the wrongness - but the excellence, too, of the film-making - The Pledge, with Jack Nicholson, left me frustrated, the same way his character was. Not so gigantic a film experience, maybe, but a similarly powerful ending.

The movie Pi gripped me, but the people I went to see it with dropped out halfway through. The mix of religiosity, intensity, threat, insanity, it's fairly intoxicating in that one, and it's been years since I've seen it.

In westerns, Unforgiven. Staple stuff now, but I loved the Old Testament feel to it, the moral tale, the myth of the west in embryo. Of course, the Sergeio Leone westerns, you get to see them when you're young and they become something of a dogma in film. It's impossible to find fault, but they also visually and aurally overwhelm and excite to such a level. They're like Renaissance art set to Mozart.

I must admit, I was of an age when I first saw 9 1/2 Weeks, and trust me, that belted me full force and never left me. Still have a crush on my mates French missus because she bares a faint resemblance to Kimmy. :heart: :basiate :heart: :basiate :heart:

A film I saw a few years back, The Island, a Russian film about a man with a past who enters a remote monastery appealed to me, as did Depardieu and Pialat's Under The Sun of Satan, both of which left me thinking about them, not just for days after, but even now, years later. They presented a situation, let's put it like that.

There are more and it's morning now, they'll come to me later, but the ones with the biggest impact are maybe Goodfellas and Se7en, just for that visceral wham. Oh yeah, and Kimmy... :heart:

 

[shawnbm]

Thank you, Br. Kieran, for mentioning The Pledge--one I ought to have recalled. 91/2 weeks I recall well, but in terms of Mickey Rourke, I was hit more by Angel Heart.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I also would like to mention, without derailing the great thread that for me, as a musician, the soundtrack of a movie is immensely important to the effect a movie has on me. To this day when I hear Tubular Bells from Mike Oldfield, a chill goes down my spine. I cannot even imagine The Exorcist without that tune....Soundtrack of Godfather, ditto...."If I didn't care" from the 50's band Ink Spots, at the beginning of Shawshank Redemption, when Andy Dufrense is contemplating murdering his wife and his lover in his car, drunk...

Even the tunes that were being played by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes in the seedy bar in Mos Eisley in the first Star Wars movie are etched in my brain forever.

 

[TsarMatt]

Man, so many movies, so little time (and memory)

I remember being scared poopless by The Exorcist. Where I am from, there were no age restrictions to go to movies at the time so I saw it when I was 6 in a theater where the only other person was a homeless dude sitting at the very front. You can understand how it can affect a kid...

I have always been a huge Star Wars fan , the original trilogy. The moment I saw the first one, I was sold. The idea that someone could create another universe like that , in such detail, was amazing to see.

Always been a Stephen King fan so some of his movie adaptations had lasting impressions on me, like Stand By Me, The Shining , Pet Sematary. But the biggest of them all was The Shawshank Redemption. Every character in that book came to life in the movie version. I can easily say for me, if there was ever a movie better than the book, or at least as good as the book, it was that movie.

Like I said, tough to remember all the movies that deeply effected me...the first Godfather movie, Jaws, Rocky movies (just because), ET,The Maltese Falcon,12 Angry Men, Aliens, Aeroplane (loved those!)...goes on and on.

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, I can only imagine the impact The Exorcist had on you if were 6 and saw it in the theatres. I sort of wish I could have experienced that, even if it doesn't sound particularly good.

I love your other picks, too, especially Rocky. That's inspirational as hell.

You've a great broad range in film taste, Matt, there's some great selections there, some unfamiliar, although I must out myself here - I'm not a huge fan of Stanley Kubrick.

Films that pack the punch of a Rafa fist-pump? Well, Goodfellas left me fairly dazed. I left the cinema looking over my shoulder after that one. Leave aside the fact that I'd gone in expecting a comedy - don't ask :huh: - but I knew before the opening scene it was a gangster flick instead. I still wasn't prepared.

Se7en is a great call too. I watched it on the large screen in the Savoy Cinema on O'Connell Street, and after Morgan Freeman's character set the metronome in motion, and Nine Inch Nails music slid in over the opening credits, there was a collective groan and sense of ill-foreboding in the cinema. To paraphrase another great movie, it went medieval on our a$s. The ending left me gasping for air, almost, I was so shocked.

In a similar way, with an ending that stifles and grabs you and makes you shake your fist at the wrongness - but the excellence, too, of the film-making - The Pledge, with Jack Nicholson, left me frustrated, the same way his character was. Not so gigantic a film experience, maybe, but a similarly powerful ending.

The movie Pi gripped me, but the people I went to see it with dropped out halfway through. The mix of religiosity, intensity, threat, insanity, it's fairly intoxicating in that one, and it's been years since I've seen it.

In westerns, Unforgiven. Staple stuff now, but I loved the Old Testament feel to it, the moral tale, the myth of the west in embryo. Of course, the Sergeio Leone westerns, you get to see them when you're young and they become something of a dogma in film. It's impossible to find fault, but they also visually and aurally overwhelm and excite to such a level. They're like Renaissance art set to Mozart.

I must admit, I was of an age when I first saw 9 1/2 Weeks, and trust me, that belted me full force and never left me. Still have a crush on my mates French missus because she bares a faint resemblance to Kimmy. :heart: :basiate :heart: :basiate :heart:

A film I saw a few years back, The Island, a Russian film about a man with a past who enters a remote monastery appealed to me, as did Depardieu and Pialat's Under The Sun of Satan, both of which left me thinking about them, not just for days after, but even now, years later. They presented a situation, let's put it like that.

There are more and it's morning now, they'll come to me later, but the ones with the biggest impact are maybe Goodfellas and Se7en, just for that visceral wham. Oh yeah, and Kimmy... :heart:

You're not a Stanley Kubrick fan? :eyepop

Excellent post, though, and some great films! I must say that I prefer a large handful of Scorsese's work to Goodfellas - that one nearly really appealed to me. I much prefer the stylistically similar Casino. Se7en is a great example - highly atmospheric, impeccably crafted thriller.

I've yet to see The Pledge and Pi, although they've both been on my viewing lists for quite some time now. It's been years since I've seen Unforgiven, but yeah, it was quite an impressive work. I can't say I've heard of The Island or Under the Sun of Satan, but they both look excellent.

I also would like to mention, without derailing the great thread that for me, as a musician, the soundtrack of a movie is immensely important to the effect a movie has on me. To this day when I hear Tubular Bells from Mike Oldfield, a chill goes down my spine. I cannot even imagine The Exorcist without that tune....Soundtrack of Godfather, ditto...."If I didn't care" from the 50's band Ink Spots, at the beginning of Shawshank Redemption, when Andy Dufrense is contemplating murdering his wife and his lover in his car, drunk...

Even the tunes that were being played by Figrin D'an and the Modal Nodes in the seedy bar in Mos Eisley in the first Star Wars movie are etched in my brain forever.

I completely agree. So many of my favourite moments in films all have a memorable score or piece of music accompanied with the visuals. Music is such an integral component to the effectiveness of a film. As the great Stanley Kubrick once said:

"A film is - or should be - more like music than like fiction."

 

[tented]

Great thread, TsarMatt!

Notice how many films in these lists of "the most powerful movie experiences" contain some combination of war, violence, and killing. It's easy to activate the reptilian part of the brain. This is how horror movies work, of course. It's much more difficult to get people to respond on the other end of the spectrum.

In his review of Peter Jackson's "The Lovely Bones" David Denby wrote: "Heaven is notoriously harder to make interesting than Hell." In this case, he meant it literally since the film depicts a murdered girl's spirit, but the general idea remains true in a figurative sense as well. The Russian roulette scene in "The Deer Hunter" is clearly a version of hell.

The first film I thought of was the original French version of "The Vanishing". Without getting into spoilers, I'll just say I wish I never saw the last few minutes of this film. A truly unforgettable example of Denby's maxim.

Another movie I had a hard time shaking off was "8mm". A relentless, deepening journey through the most sordid parts of society, leading inevitably to the very bottom where you're surrounded by sociopaths. It's not a good movie, unlike "The Vanishing", but it bothered me a lot. To me, these are scary movies. Slasher flicks are too predictable, and often silly.

Other powerful movie experiences:

"Apocalypse Now" -- Can there be a beautiful war film? I think so, and this is it. Honorable mention: "The Thin Red Line" by Terrence Malick. Speaking of Malick ...

"The New World" -- Right from the opening shot of the ships arriving in America, accompanied by the beginning of Wagner's "Das Rheingold", this film swallowed me up, and took me on an unexpected, but beautiful journey. A once in a lifetime experience.

"Blue Velvet" -- I only saw it once, when it was first released, so I don't know how I would feel about it today, but it blew me away at the time. Dennis Hopper huffing gas, girls dancing on the roof of the car during a knife fight, the complete circle of the waving fireman at the end. It's a Freudian nightmare come to life in picture-perfect 50s-esque suburbia.

"Jaws" -- I was 10 when it opened, and living in Miami. Come to think of it, why did my parents take me to this?!

And my two favorite films, "8 1/2" and "Persona" -- After a steady diet of Hollywood while growing up, when I saw these two films in college it was like walking through the looking glass, and seeing, for the first time, the true potential of film as an artistic medium. They're both meta-films, too, so alike in a way, yet very different.

 

[brokenshoelace]

Incendies: It's a Canadian film about two twins who take a journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother's last wishes. The film is filled with flashbacks to the Lebanese civil war (without ever actually naming the country. It uses fictional city names but the director acknowledged it's based on Lebanon). This one hits close to home since the Lebanese civil war is what forced me and my family to leave the country when I was a little kid, and is the reason I currently live in Canada. The film is extremely powerful and disturbing (but not for the sake of being disturbing).

City of God: Absolutely fantastic Brazilian movie, touching on the life of violence, gangs and drugs that infests Rio's neighborhoods. A true masterpiece.

The Shining: I watched this for the first time when I was 11. All I'm saying is, later that night, despite a desperate urge to pee, I refused to get out of bed because I was too terrified to walk down the hallway and into the bathroom due to being haunted by images of the little twins and the blood flooding the hotel.

Requiem for a Dream: Really disturbing. I always feel uneasy when heroin addiction is a subject matter.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy: It's powerful in a much different sense. It's my favorite movie (I really look at the three as one big movie) of all time and I'll never get tired of watching it. That's pretty powerful in my book.

Saving Private Ryan: That death scene in the end when the American soldier gets stabbed is, for some reason, one of the most horrific and disturbing I've seen. It's truly brilliantly done, because it's the least graphic in the entire film, yet the most powerful.

Gladiator: "They tell me your son...squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife... moaned like a whore when they ravaged her again and again... and again."

 

[DarthFed]

Incendies: It's a Canadian film about two twins who take a journey to the Middle East to discover their family history, and fulfill their mother's last wishes. The film is filled with flashbacks to the Lebanese civil war (without ever actually naming the country. It uses fictional city names but the director acknowledged it's based on Lebanon). This one hits close to home since the Lebanese civil war is what forced me and my family to leave the country when I was a little kid, and is the reason I currently live in Canada. The film is extremely powerful and disturbing (but not for the sake of being disturbing).

City of God: Absolutely fantastic Brazilian movie, touching on the life of violence, gangs and drugs that infests Rio's neighborhoods. A true masterpiece.

The Shining: I watched this for the first time when I was 11. All I'm saying, later that night, despite a desperate urge to pee, I refused to get out of bed because I was too terrified to walk down the hallway and into the bathroom because I was haunted by images of the little twins and the blood flooding the hotel.

Requiem for a Dream: Really disturbing. I always feel uneasy when heroin addiction is a subject matter.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy: It's powerful in a much different sense. It's my favorite movie (I really look at the three as one big movie) of all time and I'll never get tired of watching it. That's pretty powerful in my book.

Saving Private Ryan: That death scene in the end when the American soldier gets stabbed is, for some reason, one of the most horrific and disturbing I've seen. It's truly brilliantly done, because it's the least graphic in the entire film, yet the most powerful.

Gladiator: "They tell me your son...squealed like a girl when they nailed him to the cross. And your wife... moaned like a whore when they ravaged her again and again... and again."

Great call on Gladiator. Just watched it again the other day and it is a classic. It is quite the tale of revenge and those often make for powerful movies.

 

[shawnbm]

Requiem for a Dream--good call Broken. That was a powerfully disturbing film. The downward spiral of all the characters was the proverbial slow motion train wreck on screen.

tented mentioned another I forgot about--Blue Velvet. That movie packed a wallop for sure, and now I see tented saw Jaws in Miami, whereas I saw it in the theatre in Fort Lauderdale at the same age!!!

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

Saving Private Ryan: That death scene in the end when the American soldier gets stabbed is, for some reason, one of the most horrific and disturbing I've seen. It's truly brilliantly done, because it's the least graphic in the entire film, yet the most powerful.

Totally agree on that scene...and the guy doing the stabbing walks by Upham as if he does not exist...Powerful stuff.

 

[shawnbm]

Maybe one of you film buffs can remind me of a foreign film (Italian) I saw when I was probably twelve years old. It had to do with fascist Italy during the Second World War and a woman. There is a scene at the end as a man is shot in the back as he is running towards the auto and slides down the window of a car with either another man or the woman in the car shocked and horrified. It was that he was against some of the fascist mindset, got found out and was killed by another--they may have both been in the military. I can't recall the name, but it was memorable.

 

[tented]

Maybe one of you film buffs can remind me of a foreign film (Italian) I saw when I was probably twelve years old. It had to do with fascist Italy during the Second World War and a woman. There is a scene at the end as a man is shot in the back as he is running towards the auto and slides down the window of a car with either another man or the woman in the car shocked and horrified. It was that he was against some of the fascist mindset, got found out and was killed by another--they may have both been in the military. I can't recall the name, but it was memorable.

I'm not sure. Something by Antonioni, perhaps?

 

[tented]

Two more powerful, difficult movies:

"A Taste of Cherry" by Abbas Kiarostami, and "The Fire Within" by Louis Malle.

Each of these centers around a man preparing to kill himself. They're thought-provoking and philosophical, though, not melodramatic tearjerkers. Not exactly summer blockbuster material, I know, but they're great films.

---

"One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" -- The tension has escalated to an intolerable level by the time McMurphy (Nicholson) jumps on Nurse Ratched, grabs her by the throat, and wrestles her to the ground. But to this day, it's the most satisfying moment in all film. It's like you can finally exhale, yet you didn't realize you had been holding your breath for nearly two hours.

 

[Billie]

There are others, but these two movies, especially their endings always get to me, obviously because they are so sad and senseless:

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7eeijbtbnjQ[/video]

[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ah9XCamPyKA[/video]