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Get Out The Tissues: People Break Down The All-Time Saddest Movie Scenes

Reddit user CallyB0225 asked: 'What is the saddest movie scene ever?'

A couple sitting in a movie theater
Felipe Bustillo/Unsplash

As Nicole Kidman wisely tells patrons of AMC movie theatres that we go to the movies to "laugh, to cry, to cry, to care."

"Because we need that. All of us."

And the movies that really make an impression on us are the ones that do all of the above as she described.

When characters are well-developed and the actors portraying them really connect with the audiences, they stay with us forever.

There's nothing more heartbreaking than seeing our favorite heroes–whether supernatural or based on actual, real people–suffer loss or meet their own untimely demise.

Curious to hear from moviegoers, Redditor CallyB0225 asked:

"What is the saddest movie scene ever?"

Don't underestimate the power of animated films.

Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

"The Fox and the Hound when the old woman has to leave Todd in the game preserve to save him and her tears as she drives away without him."

– snortybeagle

"Also the scene where Todd gets out and she’s running through the woods with a lantern calling for him. Reminds me of losing my cat."

– aaron_hoff

Baby Mine, Don't You Cry

"When Dumbo's mom rocked him from behind her cage 😭"

– LimpCauliflower8579

"Baby mine, don't you cry Baby mine, dry your eyes Rest your head close to my heart Never to part, baby of mine."

"F'k. I had to take a little baby possum to get euthanized because its mama had been hit by a car and killed along with its siblings. It was awful - you could see some of the babies had survived the impact and tried to crawl off, only to be hit themselves. This little one was the only one left when I got there, but it was too injured to make it. It sounds so dumb but I sang a bit of this song to it while I held it on my lap on the way to the vet. I know it's anthropomorphizing them too much, but possums seem like such good mamas."

– lizardingloudly

Dinosaurs Grieve Too

"The first movie in the Land Before Time. Broke my heart. Still does."

– HeelerDot18

"Littlefoot mistaking his shadow for his mother."

“Mother? Mother!”

– justputonsomemusic

"That scene KILLS me because I know that exact feeling. My mother died when I was 12, and for a long time after she died, I would see someone who looked like her and have this cruel, crazy stab of hope that my mom wasn’t really gone."

– captcha_trampstamp

A Cub Grows Up

"Simba begging Mufasa to wake up. That tiny little 'help.'"

– mossadspydolphin

"get up....we gotta go home...."

– imthe1nonlyD

Remember The Dead

"The scene in Coco where Miguel is trying to get mama Coco to remember her father. My daughters and I all cried at the theater. Mama Coco reminded us so much of my grandmother. At that point we had lost 3 of my grandparents. 1 each year. My grandmother was all we had left. She died a few years after the movie came out. My daughter hasn't watched it since because she knows she will cry even harder."

– thiswilltakeamiracle

When a character has an epiphany, we're right there with them.

Unsatisfied Hero

"The 'I could have saved more' scene where Schindler has an emotional breakdown after the workers gave him a ring engraved with the quotation: 'Whoever saves one life saves the world entire' and was then comforted by the workers in the movie Schindler's List."

– SuvenPan

The Gift Meant For Someone Else

"Emma Thompson in her bedroom after she receives the Joni Mitchell CD for Christmas."

– khendron

"Just phenomenal acting. I can’t remember who said it, but there’s a quote that watching someone trying not to cry is somehow sadder than watching someone cry and it’s so true."

– prunellazzz

Parting is such sweet sorrow.

The Last Bedtime Story

"When the mom tucks her kids in and the old couple go to bed together in Titanic knowing they’re going to die."

– enlenar

"The mother and children are Irish, and in that scene she’s telling them an old Irish story about going to a land of eternal youth and beauty. The only way she could attempt to comfort them knowing what is to come."

"As a mother I couldn’t imagine making that decision. To spend our last moments in utter chaos fighting for our lives, or going back to the quiet of the cabin and dying as a family there. Gut wrenching."

– SylviaKasen

The Most Loyal Dog Ever

"Hachiko waiting for his friend to come back every day at the train station."

– 33-9

"Omg, I think that would be number 1 on my list, I don’t think I’ve ever cried harder than at the end of Hachi."

– OP

A Soldier Dies

"When Giovanni Ribisi’s character dies in Saving Private Ryan, after telling the story about pretending to be asleep when his mom checked in on him."

– howdysteve

"His whole story about his mom and his final line "...I don't know why I did that..." really hits me hard, and I always shoot my mom a sloppy, cheesy text immediately after the scene."

– duskywindows

Meeting His Maker

"In the Green Mile when John Coffey (Michael Clarke Duncan) gets executed. "Don't put me in the dark." Gets me every time..."

– Vivid-Voyage

"That was the first movie to make me sob, not get teary eyed, but painful sobbing."

"Also RIP Michael Clarke Duncan."

– shewy92

While we go through tissues blowing our noses and wiping away our tears (hopefully not in that order), "somehow, heartbreak feels good in a place like this."

Yes, Nicole Kidman. We love to ugly cry in movie theaters.

But we'll never look as stunning as you while doing so. ​

People Break Down The Saddest TV Show Deaths Of All-Time
urbazon/GettyImages

TV audiences cheer when the terrorist or psycho-killer in their favorite shows gets killed off.

The offing of nefarious characters provides closure and brings us viewers a sense of relief in knowing that justice prevailed.

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People Break Down Their Absolute Saddest Secrets
Image by Wokandapix from Pixabay

There is a reason why we hide our most vulnerable selves from friends and family. We don't want them to worry.

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People Share The Saddest Thing They Ever Witnessed In School
Ulrike Mai from Pixabay

*The following article contains discussion of suicide/self-harm.

School is a chaotic zoo of adolescents jammed into a building day in and day out no matter how different their lives outside the school day might be.

But every once in a while, a tragedy strikes and it sheds light on someone's home or personal life. Suddenly, a school peer becomes the object of some very heavy emotions across their fellow students and teachers.

A recent Reddit thread asked users to share the saddest thing that they ever witness or heard about during their time at school.

Redditor SINFULOfficial asked:

"What's the scariest or saddest thing you ever dealt with or saw at school?"

Completely Changed 

"An old school friend found his mother dead due to a heart attack in his bathroom. From one moment to another he was like a whole different person."

"He became very emotional, dropped out of school a few years later, began doing drugs, even went to jail."

"Hope he is doing better today."

-- JeXXaY

Tragic Exploring 

"In college a student went missing for months until he was found by a custodian. Turns out he was alone drunk and stumbled into an electrical room."

"He electrocuted himself to death."

-- Trustme_im_a_doctor

Holding It All In 

"Saddest: Junior High. Kid was getting mercilessly picked on because he was wearing the same clothes for like the 3rd or 4th day straight. Super quiet kid didn't say anything back."

"We later found out he hadn't changed because his older brother who was his only caretaker had killed himself the prior weekend."

"This 7th grader was the only one left who knew and he was so emotionally f***ed he just silently carried on with school until a neighbor figured out something was wrong."

-- Vi1eOne

Irreparable Blow to Reputation 

"Saddest thing... In High School, a girl came to school and got stomach sick during class and literally sh** herself and had it come out the back of her pants. You just don't ever have people NOT think of that about you for the rest of your life."

"She was a nice girl and it was sad because she never had hardly any friends after that and eventually transferred to another school."

-- wlane13

Discovering the Conclusion as a Group 

"Kelsey Smith."

"She was a year ahead of me in high school. I didn't know her very well but had a couple classes with her and chatted maybe a handful of times. She was one of those people that pretty much everyone knew."

"Then one morning shortly after the end of the year my dad told me that 'some girl' from school had gone missing. I did what any teenager in 2007 would have done and jumped on Facebook, and found a whole deluge of posts from my friends asking for any information about Kelsey."

"Then I remember I was in the airport with a bunch of school friends getting ready to go on a class trip to Germany when we saw on the news in the terminal that a body had been found."

-- Magicmechanic103

Out of Her Control  

"The saddest was probably my neighbor. When she was in 5th grade, early middle school, she was trying to save up money for something, I don't remember what. Her parents were huge stoners, had enormous weed plants growing in their back yard, I could see them clear as day."

"One day she brought a gallon size bag full of weed to school and was planning on selling it to one of the older kids. The school found out and called the police."

"I remember coming home and watching them raid their house taking out plant after plant. Both the girls ended up in foster care for a long while after that."

-- Fuginshet

A Strong Presence Lost 

"There was a severely disabled kid who had several physical and mental disabilities such as extra fingers and confined to a stroller. He had the mental capacity of a infant. Unable to make speech but incoherent noises."

"That kid always had a smile on and was gleeful and no one said anything bad about him. They'd read to him or greet him as his liaison would push him about."

"One day I saw an ambulance leaving, his liaison was crying and running to her car. He had gone into cardiac arrest and died upon arrival to the hospital. He was only 9."


"I was in special ed at the time and the hardest news to break to the more severe kids was our friend had passed away. The staff breaking the news to the kids."

"Sadly the school didn't do a day of morning for him because the principal was tired of kids using them as excuses to skip class and f*** around."

"I still can hear my friend smiling making his loud cooing noise."

-- rickrolo24

Scariest And The Saddest

"Grew up in a pretty poor district. Got some that people would probably consider 'worse' (vicious fights, drugs, guns, teacher on student violence and vice versa) but here's a couple that stick out."

"Scariest: High School. Kid assaulted a girl at a party. Following Monday her bf caught him in the parking lot. He beat and stomped him ruthlessly and actually imprinted a Nike Swoosh in the kid's face. I saw the aftermath and that kid was a mess. His lips had somehow split and peeled back exposing all the teeth on the left side of his face. Facial reconstruction for sure. No idea how he did after that day."

"Saddest: Junior High. Kid was getting mercilessly picked on because he was wearing the same clothes for like the 3rd or 4th day straight. Super quiet kid didn't say anything back. We later found out he hadn't changed because his older brother who was his only caretaker had killed himself the prior weekend. This 7th grader was the only one left who knew and he was so emotionally fucked he just silently carried on with school until a neighbor figured out something was wrong."

"Edit:: Jesus this got more attention than I expected. Some updates b/c questions keep coming."

"Assaulted kid from the first story transferred but I don't know anything else. His attacker who already had a record was locked up. The girlfriend's assault was sexual but definitely stopped short of what most would call rape. This kid had a track record of being a bit of a creep though."

"The kid from the second story was gone from school way before we found out what happened. I was in the class he was in and I know he was gone shortly after the week he was getting harassed."

"I don't know much more about anyone involved. I just happened to be walking back into the building right as story #1's fight ended and only heard about the kid from #2 through friends. I didn't witness any bullying but I had a friend in the class with him when he was being harassed."

– Vi1eOne

Suddenly Gone

"A lad in the year above me who I went to primary and secondary school with (not a friend but I knew him). One PE lesson he just dropped dead (undiagnosed heart condition), he had been a pretty athletic guy as well (I think he did cross country running)."

– Krakshotz

Tragedy Of The Twins

"There was a pair of twins in my highschool. One of the twins died from some disease, don't remember what. Few months after that the other twin committed suicide."

– mr_sto0pid

A Slashing And A Police Bust

"Scariest was a routine hallway fight that went sideways. It was between two girls, out of nowhere one of them pulls out a box cutter in the middle of the fight and gets a clean strike right across the other girls face."

"The saddest was probably my neighbor. When she was in 5th grade, early middle school, she was trying to save up money for something, I dont remember what. Her parents were huge stoners, had enormous weed plants growing in their back yard, I could see them clear as day. One day she brought a gallon size bag full of weed to school and was planning on selling it to one of the older kids. The school found out and called the police. I remember coming home and watching them raid thier house taking out plant after plant. Both the girls ended up in foster care for a long while after that."

– Fuginshet

The "Weird" One

"A talkative kid, who I later learned was considered 'weird,' one day came up to me outside the gym, during physical education class. He and I had never spoken before. As we waited for the gym doors to open, he pointed to the wall and said, 'imagine if someone was thrown super hard against that surface! They would stick, bleed and then sliiiiiide down and die.' I was taken aback, but was told that he often said this sort of thing. That weekend, and sorry to continue with a sad theme, yeah, he hanged himself in his back yard."

"This was a long, long time back. I didn't know how to react then and I still don't."

– Chorb77

A Devastating Year

"In grade 9, a friend of mine was playing with a hand gun and accidentally shot himself through the neck. He didn't survive the night."

"Shortly after that, 27 days, another friend of mine got drunk at a party, and his older sister teased him about how much trouble he would be in, because she would tell on him. This went on for hours. He snuck away from the party, ran home, and shot himself. He died instantly."

"Again, 29 days later, the second boy had a lifelong friend that became so depressed over the loss of our friend that almost completely stopped talking. He came to school, but never participated in classes. One day on his bus ride to school another student told him that he would get in trouble for a squirt gun he had at the bus stop. And he did. He was expelled. He went home that day early of course. He was found that night dead. He had shot himself."

"This was all very early in the school year. The whole year was sad. We were all devastated teenagers. The entire school had less than a hundred students, we all knew eachother. The whole school was quiet all year."

– Bammer_D

If you or someone you know is struggling, you can contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

To find help outside the United States, the International Association for Suicide Prevention has resources available at https://www.iasp.info/resources/Crisis_Centres/

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Most of the time we think of our high school years when we think of them - like our emo phase or our jock phase etc. But phases are more than the way you dress or your tragic eye makeup.

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