Which Film Scene has got you. I mean REALLY got you ?

[Sam-]

The end of Warrior. Don't know why it's hardly a cinematic masterpiece but very emotional man love.

 

[Jimmy Come Lately]

For me, it's the early 70s sci fi film Silent Running.

Oh God, Silent Running is like some kind of kryptonite for manliness. Leaves me helplessly weak and there's no defence against it.

Eh, not that I had great reserves manliness to begin with. Other scenes of sacrifice that may have got to me in the past...

The Iron Giant (The Iron Giant)



Boromir (The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring)



(I'm aware of the irony in being moved by the nuanced acting of Vin Diesel and Sean Bean. I won't be at all surprised if the next scene that gets me blubbing features Jason Statham.)

 

[looney]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbxlqGXQeEM

 

[London Irish]

Obviously another vote for Up, a film perfectly designed to make you cry. Many years ago of course Silent Running although the weird thing there is it's because you feel sad for the surviving little robot who's all alone, not because of all the deaths of the lead characters.

The saddest experience I've had in cinema in recent years was watching the final scene of 500 Days of Summer when Zoey Deschanel tells Joe Gordon-Levett "I just woke up one day and I knew" "Knew what?" "What I was never sure of with you" - didn't cry but boy that smarted.

 

[Buzzer]

A few films that shocked me were ones with scenes of domestic violence or violence against the vulnerable. Read into that what you will, but the Nil By Mouth scene already mentioned but also in Once Were Warriors where Jake the Muscle absolutely batters his missus for daring to suggest he get his brother some food for once. Up to that point he was extremely likeable, rough round the edges but you felt he was a good chap. That scene changed everything and was completely unexpected.

Bladerunner from about when the robot designer onwards gets killed is very emotive, the monologue by Rutger Hauer is as good as any you'll ever see. Mona Lisa when the woman points the gun at Bob Hoskins and he loses it. Zulu, just before the Zulus withdraw really stirs me too.

The end of series one of Walking Dead when the lost girl walks out made me gasp out loud. That hasn't happened since Harley's penalty against Millwall.

But the daddy of them all is the end scene in Withnail and I. Mind you the end of Lady in Red where you see Kelly Brock's gorilla salad brought a tear to my eye a few times too.

 

[Buzzer]

Just remembered - the war film "In Which We Serve" written and starring Noel Coward and directed by David Lean. It's written with such brilliant minimalism and stirs the soul like no other film but refuses to pander to cheap emotion. It's often said that it's not what we, the English, say but what we don't say that reveals our thoughts. That's this film writ large and a masterclass in understatement. The black humour embodied the 'Keep Calm And Carry On' and 'More open than usual' spirit that kept the folk back home from crumbling from stress, fear and bereavement. Sadly, we seem to be throwing that all away and replacing with victim culture and the need to be seen to be hurting.

The scene where Coward as ship captain first visits every survivor in turn and then addresses them all also showed how war created a genuine respect between the classes back when upper and lower classes never mixed. I was a gibbering wreck at the end of that film. If you haven't seen it then treat yourself. A very young Sir John Mills plays the lead excellently too.

 

[Buzzer]

I'm jet-lagged, sleep deprived and pissed, hence the verbosity. Apologies.

 

[pastafarian]

Just remembered - the war film "In Which We Serve" written and starring Noel Coward and directed by David Lean.

enjoy it again , quite possibly the greatest war film ever made