Most harrowing TV/film you have ever seen?

[Greensleeves]

Mine are:

Song for a Raggy Boy - beautifully made film, but I never, ever want to see it again
Sophie's Choice
Escape from Sobibor
Scum
Touching the Void

And it's really well done, too, it feels really real . I went in knowing nothing about it - back then I was a huge film fan and had no responsibilities so would go and see basically anything that was on at the local arthouse cinemas. It was a good way to find some absolute gems!

was another very harrowing film I discovered this way.

My DP would say Mike Leigh's Naked for this thread. It was a favourite of mine, so when we got together I was like, "Ooh, let's watch this!" I know the events in it are grim, but I think the very black humour cuts through that. He sat through it like and when it was over asked me why I'd made him watch such a depressing film.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Zone

The touchwood children of earth story line still gives me nightmares

I actively avoid films that I think will be harrowing or depressing... When I was about 8 or 9 though, a video rental store opened in our town and my parents got out two (betamax!) videos.

We all watched a lovely family-appropriate film in the afternoon and then in the evening my parents put on Midnight Express. Although my younger siblings had gone to bed my older sister and I were still up and they let me watch it (presumably partly cause early videos didn't have age ratings). I can remember sitting on the stairs thinking I was going to actually vomit and having the sweats because I found it so awful - and it may well have got worse after I left the room!

Me too. I was in absolute shreds by the end of it. It didn't help that the daughter had my name and I lost my dad a couple of years ago. Brilliant film though - I'm glad I watched it.

Touching the Void

When it finished, I had been so tense for so long, I couldn’t move.

Grave of fireflies
Barefoot Gen
Boys Don't Cry

The colour Purple.
The green Mile.
Scum.

Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence - especially the scene at the end where David Bowie is buried up to his head in sand.

I 'accidentally' saw it at a very young and completely unsuitable age, and had nightmares about it for years. Still gives me the shudders in my early 40s.

Man Bites Dog. Just hideous.

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Schindler's List
Titanic

This absolutely broke me.

Grave of fireflies
Barefoot Gen

Those!
I see some said Threads, but nobody mentioned the original - The War Game. It was commissioned by BBC, but hidden away, as it was deemed too disturbing for the public.
From (a bit shitty) historical films - Chekist, and Men Behind the Sun (Hei Tai Yang 731)
From crime - I Saw the Devil
From classics - 1984
From sci-fi - A.I. Artificial Intelligence

(Highly recommend watching it though.)

Also Wolf Creek but I am Australian and I know how isolated the outback is!

Titanic.

It was my favourite film before children, now I can't watch it.

City of God - Brazilian film. Apparently not even as bad as real life in the favelas according to one of its stars. Nothing will have changed there either.

The Lovely Bones

deliverance

Schindlers List, watched it at the cinema and have refused to watch it again.
Sophies Choice.
The Imitation of Life, an old Lana Turner film has me bawling any time I've watched it.
Years ago DH sat down to watch Bridge To Terabithia with the DDs and was traumatised by it. The DDs were fine 😄.

Oh my, yes. My then 15 year old dd showed it to us. Awful

I watched Don't Fuck with Cats on Netflix yesterday and really really wish I hadn't. Got one more episode to go but not sure I can face it, so disturbing.

My Girl. Yes, the Macaulay Culkin one. To put it in context, we were at university and one of our friends had died suddenly in halls (medical issue). After a couple of days we decided to cheer ourselves up with a trip to the cinema, no-one had a clue what was on, so we just chose a happy looking kids film from the posters outside. So how wrong were we?? I've never cried so much in my life.

Grave of the Fireflies
Scum
When Marnie was there
Boy in the striped pyjamas
Room
Pet Sematary

Basically any movie that a child suffers in really.

Earthlings about animal cruelty has haunted me.

It sprang to mind when I saw this thread and harrowing is exactly the right word.

The Wind that Shakes the Barley utterly shredded me about 10 years ago.

I also found The Shape of Water really difficult to watch. I was on the edge of panic the whole time. Everyone else seems to have found it moving and deep, but the overtones of danger and control really unsettled me.