What the single-most depressing movie you've seen?
 

Ok...so i just watched 'Requiem for a Dream' for the first time...ever...and it literally depressed the shit out of me. I'd heard stories about how graphic and depressing, but i didn't take heed.

For those of you who've seen it, you know exactly what i'm talking about.

But it got me to thinking...my reactions to films of this sort isn't usually this intense. I was literally about to cry because i felt so bad for these characters and the events that were unfolding.

My question to you guys is this...What is the single-most depressing movie you encountered? ...not 'which movie made you cry?'...i wanna know which movie hurled you into a depressed, gut-wrenching world of emotional hurt...so bad that you can barely stand entertaining the thought of ever watching it again.

I'd love to hear your input guys...lay it on me!

Tied for first...
Happiness
Trees Lounge

I dunno - I try not to watch depressing stuff. That being said, CRASH was damned depressing. I did a lot of crying during that.

Juwanaman...it broke my heart.

Schindlers list, Passion of the Christ, King Kong (original), King Kong (recent), Syriana, Constant Gardner, Hero, and The Exorcist: New Beginning.

City of God.

We finally turned it off, when the one kids had to execute one of his friends, in order to show loyalty to the older gang members. I can't think of anything much more depressing than the endless cycle of retaliatory violence depicted in this movie.

ugh.

Passion of the Christ.....I was depressed and emotionally wrecked for days after I saw it

Thirteen... the end of the movie things might improve but i couldn't get there, it was just so unbelievably depressing....

Most war films depress the shit out of me. Humanity has a long way to go.

Another that had a strong impact on me was Das Experiment. It was based off the Stanford Prison Experiments. Some heavy shit, especially when you know that such things happen for real.

Saving Private Ryan was also very depressing to me

OMG i totally forgot about that.... I saw it as a screener and then took the train from NYC to visit my mom in Princeton, NJ.

I was so moved and saddened that I called my mom while riding the train just to hear her voice.

Armageddon. Was fucking rubbish.

Schindler's List is far and away the most depressing movie I've ever seen. The most depressing scene I've seen recently is in Cinderella Man when Spoiler: James Braddock goes on Public Assistance and then has to beg from the Boxing Commission men in order to get the rest of the money to get his electricity turned back on. That really hit me.

"The Pianist" was very depressing. As was "A Beautiful Mind".

A.I. Artificial Intellegence, depressed me. It just kept on getting worse.

I'll go back a few years and say "Brian's Song"

"Nobody Knows" is really sad =(

American History X.

Danny came so far...

"Mean Creek" made me feel like shit.

Uh, yeah, I think we get that joke about "bad" movies making you sad, but that's not really what this thread is about. It's sad movies that make you sad, not movies that you don't like, right?

So for me, it'd have to be 50 First Dates. Just the whole thing that you have to remind poor Lucy that you're married to her, and that she even has kids with you, every morning for the rest of your life... I mean. Man.

Chalk another one up for Requiem for a Dream, too.

OH! And Donnie Darko depressed me too.

The Machinist. The general mood and feel of the movie were so depressing we turned it off after half an hour. Schindler's List was also incredibly depressing; I couldn't watch much of it at all.

Hell yea man...that movie was the ish! I forgot about it...even though it's one of my all time favorite movies!

Makes you realize just how much of a bitch life can be.

I concur...
 

I remember seeing this movie at the theater with some friends of mine...afterwards, i was just in this surreal state of mind. That movie really did a number on me, the way it unfolded and how everybody was inter-connected...excellent (but depressing as hell) movie.

I concur...
 

Yet another excellent selection. Cheers to you sadistikdreams.

RFAD, history x, shindler's list,

ohh!! OSAMA was super depressing!

I don't know of a single person who has been able to watch that movie without blubbering like a little girl at the end...

The Champ ranks up there too - but Brians Song really tugs at your heart..

Requiem For A Dream

That movie puts people in psych wards it's so depressing...

Baise Moi was also a downer.

I watched a Korean flick the other day - Oldboy, bizarre, twisted and depressing. Another Korean movie, Memories of Murder is also good & depressing. But the most for me, is Woodsman by Kevin Bacon.

I'll have to agree with snowy and say The Machinist. I own it, and still watch it every now and then, but I always get kind of depressed afterward.

Gummo. That movie is just too depressing all the way through, like The Machinist, but completely different...

Leaving Las Vegas. Even though I knew what was going to happen less than halfway through, I still wasn't ready for it when it did actually happen.

Schindlers list and A.I. both had me near tears for like the entire movie.

Pay it Forward depressed me as well

ditto on Pay It Forward and Schindler's List. Also The Green Mile...I actually bought it, but can't make myself watch it again. I'm sure there are others I can't think of right now.

hmm. I saw Schindler's List in a different light. Oscar Schindler was a hero. Yes, of course, the backdrop was heartwrenching but he saved lives. I found the story redeeming. I had more trouble with the bigotry and contempt displayed in 'Philadelpia.'

The Bicycle Thief was probably the most depressing movie I have seen recently.

A good description from IMDB "Before Life was Beautiful, life was bleak and depressing, as depicted in de Sica's classic example of Italian Neorealism."

Life is Beautiful, The Green Mile, Road to Perdition, Shawshank Redemption.

This past holiday season, I noted that every Christmas movie made in the last ten years had a plot that revolved around a fmaily recovering from a dead mother or child. And the Hallmark and Family Channels showed them relentlessly.

I don't get why many think Life Is Beautiful was depressing. I thought it was uplifting and reaffirming. The message, the theme of this film is rebirth, finding joy through suffering, happiness in times of complete loss.

I know there was lots of sad 'stuff' but it was trumped by the 'beauty' and the laughter.

Well, it was kind of the same for Shawshank and Green Mile, but it's still depressing. Shawshank ultimately has an uplifting and reaffirming end, but it's kind of soul crushing to see Brooksy commit suicide after finding no place in society, and then Red ends up in Brooksy's old room.

The father in Life is Beautiful doing a comic march in the alleyway to amuse his son, ugh... it's a tremendous moment, but damn.

I can't really add anything to it. You guys have listed some excellent choices. I'll cast some more votes for:

Schindler's List - Probably the only movie that I literally just could not keep watching.
Cinderella Man - That movie touched me deeply. Great job Ron Howard.
Brian's Song - He just wants to PLAY!!! THAT'S ALL!! And when he finally tells his wife he loves her.....Jesus Christ.

Allright, I know this is a big time chick flick, but I thought that it was a hellaciously moving love story....The Notebook. Yeah that's right. I said it. But that damn movie was just so sad, the whole idea of having the person that you've loved so much your entire life not even remember you...that's rough man, I don't care who you are.

Hotel Rwanda and the film bjork made which i think was called dancer in the dark.

About Schmidt was pretty depressing too

Just saw Munich, talk about depressing, but thought it was very good.

Murder in the First, Mystic River, I am Sam, Awakenings, Monster, Pay it Forward, Se7en, American Beauty, Life of David Gale (Damn that Spacey is depressing :) )

Irreversible, the first movie to make me actually feel ill and days to recover from watching.

Very suprised to see that noone said "Million Dollar Baby". After seeing Clint as a tough guy all these years it just pulled the right strings for me - a bit depressing to say the least.

Yes, Requiem for a dream had me staring motionless at the Black screen for 2 minutes after I turned he movie off.
I really want to say Catwoman, because it makes me extremely sad.(but that's just my comic book geek side)
A Streetcar named Desire creatses discomfort.
25th Hour. Jesus, I was crying like a baby at the end. Such a beautiful but sad ending..it'll get any new yorker like myself to cry.
American History X...you feel like everything's gonna be fine, and god damn! it never stops.
The same feeling of perpetuated violence, that sense of helplessness is also in City Of God.

Requiem for a Dream
Irréversible

Overall, I have a strong preference for depressing films - so much so that I've seen Requiem 4 times and Irréversible twice all in the past 2 years - so it's difficult to have any stand out to me as particularly depressing most of the time. These two films, though, do stand out above (or is it below? :p) the rest.

This is a great thread btw...now I know what other depressing movies to get that I might like :lol:

The House of Sand and Fog. OMFG, I was such a wreck after watching that. Cried for days.
Also The Green Mile, and Saving Private Ryan.

I have to second Hotel Rwanda. Watching the horrible things that people can do to each other, while millions of other people just kind of stand by and watch, was horrible. I was sick at the end of the movie.

Quite depressing. You can see the guy might have a chance, but he blows it.

I went out and watched Requiem for a Dream, and damn, yall were right. That movie is depressing.

In a very personal sense Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind makes me feel very depressed. Yes some might say the ending is not that depressing but I just connect one of my recent huge problems with it all the time... and I know such an ending would never happen to me/us, maybe not never, I don't know. Sometimes the idea of hope makes one depressed.

Otherwise a lot of movies make me feel depressed... I nearly never watch movies that make me smile/laugh.

^carn: Nice signature. Come catch me.

Yes...seeing Clint Eastwood cry hurt. I seem to recall that my friends and I all got drunk after seeing that movie in an attempt to blunt the depression.

It's depressing but I love "Schindlers List" though...it's worth it to stick it out to the end, which is so beautiful and maudlin. I re-watch it every year at Passover time. The sound track is totally outstanding if you like Itzak Perlman.

Also I thought "Blue Velvet" was incredibly depressing in a psycho sort of way...sad waste of talent with everyone involved in that pic.

You've just guaranteed that I will never see that movie :p

I don't enjoy seeing any man cry, much less one of my heroes. Thanks for warning me before I watched the movie not knowing what was in store :D

Is it just me or am I the coldest son of a bitch to walk into a movie theatre?

Here's a list of films that most certainly did not depress me:

Requiem for a Dream - Disturbing, not depressing. Firstly is pushed way too hard towards the end and concluded on a note that rang false to me. It was manipulative, but ultimately I could brush it aside due to the 'worst ever possible scenario, ever, failing that involving a bear with rocket launcher hands' ending.

Schindler's List - Not deeply depressing to me at all. The ending is upbeat. Spielberg's message is one of hope, of the humane and ethical triumphing in the most horrible of scenarios. I've seen the actual footage of soldiers cleaning up the death camps, that was depressing.

Saving Private Ryan - Are people kidding me? The film started off with a scene that could have led to a great movie, instead of guys talking about 'Mom's apple pies' and 'earn it' and so forth. For me, Saving Private Ryan is once more about redemption and humanity in bad situations.

Hotel Rwanda - Pretty much the same as Schindler's List, finding hope and redemption in a genocide and so forth. Frankly, in many ways to me Hotel Rwanda commits the very crime it tries to indict, that is brushing off the Rwandan genocide and focusing on the one single good thing they could find. No doubt that it was a great act and he saved lives, but that's putting rose coloured lens on the camera for the sake of people's delicacy and distaste for being confronted with what really happened, which might I add, the film never even comes close to even suggesting.

The Shawshank Redemption - Um, he escapes right? I felt a twinge of depression at the laboured fairy tale ending where Red meets up with Andy on the beach of their dreams and they can set about fixing up their boat and so forth. Apart from that I was fine.

The Green Mile - Just didn't effect me. Ambivalence is the word.

A.I. - The film itself, not any good. Watching Kubrick's vision gurgling and choking to death in the background of Spilberg's hubris? That was depressing.

The Machinist - I was amused and pissed off in equal measure after it became blatantly clear about half an hour in the Ivan was Tyler. No tears here.

I'll get back to you on movies that DID depress me later. Obviously I'm a man of stone, or you're all marshmallows or something.

Kostya, you make some really great points about the distinction between disturbing and depressing. And I do agree with you on a lot of those movies that may be hard to watch at points throughout the film, but ultimately have a hopeful message. And if you were able to figure out The Machinist that quickly then I'm really impressed! (or really slow :lol: )

12 monkeys was depressing and so was the dirty dozen, and the first final destination movie.

Kostya, i might be another cold-blooded bastard who goes to the pictures...

there are movies that depress me, but surely not really any among the ones mentioned by the majority here...

Oh I have to add 'dancer in the dark' is by björk, yes. (I remember someone was not sure in one of the earlier posts)

Then again, I don't think movies that gives you a weird/empty/speechless feeling go into the depressing category... so I can't think of too many really depressing movies. If you want movies that gives a true weird feeling, feel free to ask me though (my recommendations might be crap for whoever wants to know, but why not giving it a try?)

p.s. I know my signature makes me look like someone who hates film and cinema... no I don't. :)

Grave of the Fireflies. It's the saddest cartoon you'll ever see.

You know what, you're right: "disturbing" is a far more accurate word to describe my reaction to Irreversible and Requiem for a Dream than "depressing." And, no, the end of Requiem isn't particularly believable, but neither is Hamlet, and I don't see people holding that against it. ;)

when i saw the title to this thread, i immediately thought "requiem for a dream"
it is a seriously messed up movie.
kinda hit home a little bit too because i used to do drugs when i was younger. never shot anything into my arms or snorted, but did tons of ecstasy.

Movies that deal with downfall due to drugs always depress me for some reason: Requiem, Blow, Scarface, etc... Don't know why, I've never even known anyone to do that kind of drugs, but just seeing it coming and their being so caught up that they can't seem to do anything...

Dead Man Walking was pretty depressing. What Dreams May Come had me crying all the way through, but when all was said and done, I loved that movie and could watch it a million times.

Ok for the record and all the people who think my heart is encrusted with icicles here is:

The Official List of Films that Made Kostya Depressed

Grave of the Fireflies - Isao Takahata. Props out to rlblonde86 for submitting this one. This is one that is both shattering and affirming, shattering because of its tender, subdued depiction of the everyday joys of human relations and the ultimate tragedy written into those same relations, affirming because it is not a 'war film' that falls for cheap sermonising, political agendas or moral terrorism. It could just as easily have been an earthquake, flood or famine that precipitated the events of 'Grave of the Fireflies', the only thing that makes war a more poignant backdrop is that it is of human making. I can't begin to say how great, and sad this film is, and I'm not ashamed to say it makes me cry every time I watch it, which is a lot.

Once Were Warriors - Lee Tamahori. A New Zealand production which follows the life and times of a Maori family headed by the sociopathic, violent misogynist Jake played with frightening intensity by Temura Morrison (last seen miscast as Jango Fett.) Though it has a ghost of a happy ending, at its heart, 'Once Were Warriors' is about a man for whom there is to be no redemption, and those around him condemned to suffer and die for it. A testament to the people who live and die in the horrors of domestic abuse, poverty and hopelessness who inhabit the peripheral vision of Western societies.

Threads - The British version of the outcome of a nuclear apocalypse. It stays true to its premise, and presents us with a shameless and naked scenario of immense suffering devoid of hope. In viewing it I was deeply disturbed by the images it presented, but in the days that followed, the desolation and honesty of the ending haunted me much more.

Tokyo Story - Yasujiro Ozu. I can't quite explain the gentle sense of sadness with which Ozu observes the mundane routine of life.

Ran - Akira Kurosawa. Kurosawa gives us a story about human beings that is unafraid to suggest that what dominates our lives is chaos (Ran is Japanese for chaos) destruction, violence and horror. This is a story where the kind and gentle people are abused and helpless, where the ruthless, deceitful and violent are rewarded. What is depressing is that Kurosawa makes me believe it.

Just some FYI in case you didn't know, Ran is a modern adaptation of King Lear, and yes, Tradegy is still the best way to describe it.

Yeah I was down with the King Lear factor. Kurosawa also did an interpretation of Macbeth called Throne of Blood. Not quite so wrenching, but brilliant film making.

I think we can all agree that Requiem For A Dream is the undisputed champion in this category. Hell, that movie made me look at vitamins and aspirin differently. Here are a few not mentioned contenders:
1)A Midnight Clear - The best, most and truthful war movie ever made.
2)The Mission - De Niro and Irons. Enough said
3)A River Runs Through It. I realize Brad Pitts undoing was entirely of his own making but when the father asks/finds out about his hands at the end does it to me everytime.
4)Legends Of The Fall - Speaking of Brad Pitt. Back when he choose to act.....

Just a few that came to mind

Yeah I was suprised it took 3 pages before anyone mentioned this one too. I've seen most of the movies in this thread, and none of them came close to making me feel as down as Million Dollar Baby did.

Oh yeah, there's also "A Simple Plan". The characters compromise so much of themselves, more and more, and ultimately, for less than nothing...god.
$hit. Now I'm depressed just thinking about it again, heh.

Leaving Las Vegas really threw me for a loop when I watched it..

Donnie Darko was depressing, good flick though. Pay it Forward, read the book which killed me too. A Lion in Winter was depressing. GodFather III, cause just about everyone dies. Dark Water - no I'm not saying that just because it sucked, it really was depressing.

The Mission is a great and underrated film. I don't know if I'd say it was unusually saddening for me, but it's definitely not one to make you feel good!

Oh, wow, yes. I saw that movie senior year of hs and had to write an essay on it. Very, very powerful film.

I have to echo MrKlixx and say "Awakenings." To see a man gain such happiness and then have it slowly taken from him....terrible. What a complete downer of a movie!!!

The War Zone by Tim Roth. I was horrified and speechless after seeing this film.

Elephant Man was pretty depressing, as was Paris, TX.
I'll also second the Bicycle Thief,

And the last images of Ran were just the greatest, most tragic ending of all time.

Dirty Pretty Things was a bit depressing, but I loved it.

i think 'cast away' was kinda depressing. good movie, but sad.

How about "On the Beach"? It's got to be the single most depressing movie ever made since everybody dies. And I mean everybody. I think that Gregory Peck was in it, but I could be wrong. Fantastic book, too.

And why hasn't anyone listed "Ole Yeller"? If there's a movie more sure to bring me to inconsolable tears, I don't know what it is.

How about Raise the Red Lantern?

I thought it was an absolutely beautiful movie, but came out of it needing an IV of sunshine and rainbows. I have no problem recommending the movie to people for its gorgeous shots and symbolism, but please take it in while holding a newborn puppy or something.