5 Tearjerkers You’ll Love To Cry To
It’s the kind of sad that we love
1. 21 Grams (2003)
You’ve probably heard of Alexandro Gonzalez Inarritu after his success for Birdman this year. And “we hate to say this”, but we knew him before he got popular. Far from his eccentric and state-of-the-art 2015 oscar-winner film, Inarritu’s previous work is shown through a much cruder and raw optic. Much like Babel (2006) or Biutiful (2010), 21 Grams follows the intimate lives of broken and damaged people as they struggle to overcome life’s adversities. In this one, Inarritu beautifully explores the idea of death in its direct and indirect impacts. When a dying man receives a life-saving heart donation, he attempts to connect with the grieving family of his saviour, and tries to understand why some have to die for others to live. For us, this tragic film gets its power from the humble and stupendously palpable way it is presented in. Rarely have we believed so strongly in images that were presented to us. Rarely were our tears so sincere.
2. Seven Pounds (2008)
Death is definitely a go-to theme in sad films. In this one, Will Smith plays a man involved in a car accident that causes the death of his wife and six others, who, feeling responsible, decides to find redemption by saving seven stranger’s lives. Though the story feels somewhat unrealistic, we got into it, and yes, tears were shed. The tearjerker moments were not always the genuinely sad ones, however. In fact, in was rather the joy that the protagonist was able to bring to the different strangers’ lives that really moved us. Who knew a grateful smile could win over a dying breath on our tear-o-meter?
3. Cinema Paradiso (1988)
This one is a classic. Cinema Paradiso is a beautiful Italian film that opens with a famous filmmaker who remembers the friendship he had as a child with his town’s old projectionist, Alfredo. When a fire in the movie house leaves his beloved mentor blind, he takes over the projection room and slowly develops an interest in making films of his own. The unlikely friendship is superbly portrayed and its story magnificently told. An ode to cinema that will make every aspiring filmmaker, amateur (and everybody else) cry.
4. Schindler’s List (1993)
As you might have noticed, the title of this one inspired us for the name of this rubric. Yeah, we liked it that much. One of Spielberg’s most serious and acclaimed films, it differs from the New Hollywood style he is most known for. Directed and filmed without the use of a storyboard or any specific aesthetic guidelines, he approached the story with a documentary style. And we have to say, it does feel real. Based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a german businessman who saves the lives of countless Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories, it approaches WWII with an insider’s look that’s neither victim nor bully. Not only does is depict the war in a coarse yet incredibly honest way, it captures emotion like few other motion-pictures do. If Schindler’s List discouraged Stanley Kubrick to pursue his own project about the Holocaust, it’s safe to say the film was a total success.
5. The English Patient (1996)
Based on the book by Michel Ondaatje, this is the romantic one of our picks. Not to worry, it is far from the cheesy type Hollywood had bogged down in the past few years. Ralph Fiennes portrays a critically burnt man taken to shelter by a nurse during the War, who, not remembering his name, tries to recount the story of his life. He gradually reveals the details of his time in the desert of Libya as a cartographer, and rediscovers a lost love through his remembrance. If his tragic tale touches the nurse at his side, it certainly touched us as well: Ralph Fiennes and Kristin Scott Thomas interpret justly and beautifully the lovers of a decade, and our tears were as numerous as the awards the film received.