The 20 most emotionally devastating scenes

Like the other entries in Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers has many emotionally devastating scenes. The most heartbreaking, though, has to be the moment in the Battle of Helm’s Deep when Haldir is struck down by a Uruk-hai blade. It’s always sad to see one of Tolkien’s Elves killed, but it’s particularly upsetting to see in the context of Helm’s Deep, which has already brought about the demise of so many brave Elves and Men of Rohan. The battle to defeat evil always comes with a great cost.

Even though the 1980s wasn’t a particularly strong period for Disney, it did nevertheless produce a film that scarred a whole generation: The Fox and the Hound. Its story about a fox and a dog who somehow strike up a friendship is by turns touching and heartbreaking, particularly once they grow up and their lives take very different turns. The last scene in the film, in which they have reached a truce but acknowledged that their friendship can no longer work, is arguably one of the saddest in the history of Disney.

Atonement features remarkable performances from Saoirse Ronan, James McAvoy, and Keira Knightley, the latter of whom star as a pair of doomed lovers who are separated by a girl’s false accusation of sexual assault. While the film lures the viewer into believing they eventually reunite, this is ultimately revealed to be a fiction written by the girl, Briony, who is dying of dementia and hopes her fiction can act as an atonement for the wrong she committed. Vanessa Redgrave gives one of the best performances of her career, and one can feel her heartbreak and devastation at what she wrought as a younger woman.

Steven Spielberg knows how to make an epic piece of cinema, and Schindler’s List  is a hallmark of 20th-century cinema. Its story about the horrors of the Holocaust and the efforts of Liam Neeson’s Oskar Schindler to protect at least some of the Jews being murdered by the Nazis is wrenching and, at times, incredibly difficult to watch. It all leads to his remarkable speech, in which he realizes that, despite all the good he has done, he ultimately couldn’t stop the overall Holocaust. It’s a haunting reminder of the limits of human agency in the face of genocide.

Ridley Scott’s Gladiator  is a powerful piece of epic cinema, and it features Russell Crowe in what is arguably the best role of his career. His general-turned-gladiator Maximus is the ultimate epic hero, but he suffers enormously along the way. Perhaps the saddest moment is when he races home — having survived an assassination attempt — only to find that his wife and son have already been slaughtered by Emperor Commodus’ agents. For a time, it robs him of his will to live, but paradoxically, it also serves as the motivation for his eventual pursuit of vengeance against the man who destroyed his life.

Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain  is filled with many heartbreaking moments, but none are quite as devastating as the final one. By this point, Heath Ledger’s Ennis has endured major heartbreak since Jack, the love of his life, has been killed. It’s revealed, though, that he kept Jack’s shirt — stained with his own blood from one of their fights — through all of the years. It’s a wrenching reminder of just how much their love meant to both of them, even though they were surrounded by a deeply homophobic culture and had to keep it secret, to their detriment.

Colman Domingo gives one of his most powerful performances in Sing Sing, in which he plays one of the inmates at the titular prison. As part of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program, he gives a lot of himself so that his fellow inmates can avoid falling into despair, though it comes at a cost. Finally, as the film ends, he is finally released, and seeing him get his first breath of freedom in years is a gut punch to the feelings. As such, it’s a reminder of just how soul-destroying time in prison often can be for the inmates.

Directed by Todd Haynes and based on the novel The Price of Salt by Patricia Highsmith, Carol  follows the romance between Therese (Rooney Mara) and Carol (Cate Blanchett). Given that their love unfolds against the backdrop of the 1950s, it remains unclear to the very end whether they will end up together. In the end, though, Therese realizes that she is happiest with Carol, and the look on the latter’s face when her lover comes to find her is piercing, poignant, and a testament to Blanchett’s remarkable talents as an actress. 

The Star Wars prequel trilogy contains many emotionally wrenching and devastating scenes, but none hit quite as hard as the climactic moment in Revenge of the Sith when Obi-Wan has his final battle with Anakin. It’s a remarkable piece of filmmaking, and it breaks one’s heart to see the extent to which the young Skywalker has fallen completely to the Dark Side. Having seen just how much these two men have meant to one another, this scene marks the moment of no return. From now on, Anakin will be nothing more than Darth Vader.

The 1980s films of Don Bluth were rightly noted for their emotional rawness and authenticity. They don’t come more raw than The Land Before Time, and the moment when Littlefoot’s mother dies after a vicious fight with a T. rex is one that has seared itself into the minds of many millennial viewers. She continues to be a ghostly presence in her son’s life, and anyone who watches the film should definitely have a box of tissues handy for the inevitable waterworks.

While the many works of Stephen King have had a mixed history when it comes to their big-screen adaptations, one of the better offerings is The Mist. It definitely dials up the horror, immersing the viewer in a grocery store being terrorized by creatures from another dimension. It’s the ending, however, that really packs an emotional punch since the main character, David Drayton, ends up killing the other survivors to spare them further horror, only to realize the American military has begun to fight back against them. It’s full-blown horror, and the viewer can’t help but vicariously feel his anguish.

The death of Tiny Tim is arguably one of the most devastating in the history of literature, and few on-screen representations of it hit quite as hard as that in The Muppet Christmas Carol. There’s something uniquely upsetting about seeing beloved Muppet Kermit the Frog tearing up at the memory of his beloved son, and it’s easy to see why it has such an impact on Ebenezer Scrooge. Making the entire sequence even more upsetting is the fact that Bob, rather than succumbing entirely to grief and upsetting his surviving children, instead offers them a piece of wisdom about the need to accept loss as a part of life.

Goblet of Fire is the point at which the Harry Potter saga really starts to get dark. The most devastating moment in the film is the abrupt death of Cedric Diggory, which seems to come out of nowhere. What makes it even more emotionally wounding is his father’s response, and Jeff Rawle perfectly captures the anguish of a father who has just had his son ripped away from him without explanation. It’s one of the most haunting moments in the entire film series.

Big Fish may not be regarded as one of Tim Burton’s finest films, but it still has its appeal. It is, more than anything else, a story about a son attempting to make peace with his father’s imminent death. For most of the film, he seems to think that his father’s stories are nothing more than fiction until near the end when the attendees of his funeral show that the stories were all true (even if slightly embellished). It’s a scene that is designed to hit the viewer right in the feelings.

Disney has long excelled at creating devastating parent deaths, and Mufasa’s demise looms above all the rest. It’s not just the fact that he’s brutally murdered by his own brother; it’s the way that Simba desperately tries to rouse him, mistaking death for sleep. This is one of those cinematic moments that has seared itself into the minds and emotions of many millennial viewers, and, in terms of the film itself, it’s something that Simba spends the rest of his life attempting to overcome. 

The ending of Avengers: Infinity War is one of the most notable and memorable films in the entirety of the MCU. Though many characters are wiped from existence thanks to Thanos and the Snap, Spider-Man’s is arguably the most wrenching. His sad little commentary to Iron Man that he doesn’t feel so good immediately brings tears, and his death is made all the more haunting by the fact that he is one of the youngest of the superheroes who have been trying to keep Thanos from enacting his genocidal plan.

Few scenes are quite as emotionally devastating as the death of Old Yeller in the film that bears his name. The fact that he has contracted rabies is wrenching since it means that there is nothing that can be done for him. As if all of this weren’t enough, he’s ultimately shot by Travis, the young man who had already given so much of himself to care for his beloved dog, which is like an arrow to the heart. The film is a perpetual reminder of the extraordinary bond between a boy and his dog.

Sean Bean’s Boromir is the only member of the Fellowship of the Ring who actually dies, and his sacrifice is, in many ways, an atonement for his effort to steal the Ring from Frodo. Even though he had a moment of weakness and was almost led astray, giving his life in an attempt to save Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-hai helps to even the scales. His last tearful conversation with Aragorn — in which he swears his loyalty to a man he once saw as his rival — definitely pulls at the heartstrings.

Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings  trilogy is a true masterpiece of cinema. It captures the emotional richness and depth of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original novel, including the moment when Frodo Baggins — having succeeded in destroying the One Ring — ultimately departs across the Sea to find peace and healing in the land of Valinor. Coming as it does at the very end of the film, it reminds the viewer and the character that no ending is ever completely happy and that even a successful epic quest often requires genuine sacrifice. 

Disney has always had a knack for tugging on the heartstrings, and few scenes in the studio’s output have been as devastating as the moment when the baby elephant Dumbo is cradled by his mother. Even though she has been put into solitary confinement for attacking the kids who were tormenting her baby, she still shows him all of the love he so desperately deserves. “Baby Mine” just makes the scene all that much more wrenching. This is animation with a heart and a soul.