*trigger warning - upsetting content* The most upsetting film you've ever seen...

[YellowRedBlueGreen]

Harry Brown - I absolutely hated it and felt depressed for days, probably because those kinds of gangs are real and only 100 miles down the road. I was especially hurt watching the two beginning scenes, where they shoot a Mum walking her baby in a park just for a laugh and when they beat to death an innocent man trying to stop his car being vandalised. It reminded me of a particularly well known case 15 odd years ago (GN) 💔

Midnight Express - when they hung the cat purely out of spite because they knew the prisoner loved it. I can't watch it

Dumbo - when the Mean Elephants reject him and he's crying by his bucket of water. Fucking kills me

god yes, just reading the title made me fill up. I watched it many years ago was probably 12/13 and broke my heart

Magdalene laundries - The cruelty, the judgement Kai, the physical, emotional and sexual abuse all in the name of religion. I watched the film about 15 years ago mcD it still haunts me.

Murder in the first - Based on a true story, so disturbing and upsetting.

I can't watch anything sad or with violent themes, anything involving children being hurt, let down or in anyway betrayed ... so I'm very focused on avoiding films that might be upsetting but that means I don't get to watch some that are very good (12 years a slave, for example)

The ones that slipped through & haunt me:

The Wind that Shakes the Barley (with Cillian Murphy, about Irish War of Independence. It's excellent but the violence is sickening, I felt traumatised after)

Changling (with Angelina Jolie, abducted boy returns to his mother, she says it's not her son. I knew I shouldn't watch it, ended up watching it on Netflix late at night, it broke me, some awful depictions of torture of children.

The Remains of the Day not quite the same as I have watched it again but so sad ..

Atonement hated it, just kept wishing it could all be fixed, it was just so heartbreaking.

And yes, to Stepmom, and the last parts of the Titanic too...

I just remembered Song for A Raggy Boy. That was devastating.

Oh god yes Who will love my children ? I watched it with a newborn- I sobbed!

Hachiko

One flew over the cuckoo's nest
Green Mile
Sophie's Choice
I've watched them all once and will never watch again.

Suicide club
It's very disturbing movie but somehow very good.

I'd forgotten about The War Zone but IMO the book is far more disturbing because of the slow reveal / dawning realisation about what is going on.

The book of The Road traumatised me to the point I couldn't have it in the house and immediately gave it away.

Schindler's list I don't think I've ever managed to get to the end of.
Also "to end all wars". Not a well known one and I've only seen it once but I've always remembered it.

This is England, film and series.

There was a drama on channel 4 in the early 000's Pleasure Land that really stayed with me. Was disturbing the pressure and the situations those young girls were in.

The black balloon- the teen boy feels neglected because all his moms attention is on his severely autistic brother who is also bullied by school kids.

The magdalene sisters because my nanny was in one and was lucky enough to eventually leave.

The land before time with little foots parents.

For me the horrific part wasn't Dahmer - but the police
It was one of the few series that has really made me realise how utterly racist the system is, the idea of reform made me sick knowing were still not there yet

A recent upset was Help on Netflix.
The idea i could have forgotten just how horrifc covid was for the care homes in such a short space of time. I was disappointed in myself

I’m sure it Was! I’ve seen this film too it was AWFUL 😢 I recognised it straight away though I hadn’t known it’s name.

Baby, the last dinosaur. Broke my innocent heart at the age of 9.

Goodbye Mr Chips, the original one with Claude and Greer. I cry when the kids are mean to him, I cry when he and Greer are happy because I know it’s not going to last, I cry when the awful thing happens, I cry when the boys all go off and die, I cry at the end. I love this film, but I have to be in the mood for a good weep.

Oh the end of Goodnight Mr Tom when he calls him dad! Tears all over.

The Day they Gave Babies Away - based on a true story set in 1860s Wisconsin. A 12 year old boy has to give his 5 siblings away to neighbouring families he trusts on Christmas Eve when both their parents have died. It was shown on Christmas Eve one year and my mother and I watched it and cried our eyes out!

In the Name of the Father. I feel unbelievable rage watching that and I get even more angry considering it's a true story.

Like someone else mentioned, The Mist. That ending was brutal. I still think of it sometimes.

Was only talking about this with DH yesterday. He says it's the saddest film he's ever seen

Extraordinary film

The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

I know it’s based on a childrens book, but I had absolutely no idea how it ended. I thought they’d both be saved at the last minute (it’s for kids after all). I was an absolute, complete, full-on, inconsolable snotty mess.

A French film called ‘Our Children’ (A Perdre la Raison). Based on a real story about a woman who killed her own children following the most horrendous bullying.

The scenes of mental torture were harder to watch than the most violent scenes I have watched.