History TearJerker / FilmNToS

** when [[spoiler: the kid dies]].

* Both of the scenes in ''TheProposition'' that involve Sam singing "Peggy Gordon", an old Irish drinking song. The first time is [[spoiler:intercut with a scene of Mikey, a mentally-handicapped teenager, being brutally flogged]]. The second time he sings it, [[spoiler: he's raping EmilyWatson's character]]. There's also something sad about watching [[spoiler: [[AlasPoorVillain Arthur die, even if he deserves it]]]].

* ''{{The Chronicles of Narnia}}'':
** Aslan's death scene in ''The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe''. The [[Literature/TheBible parallel too]].
** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnK_mW4bG5Y&feature=related The BBC version]], however, [[{{Narm}} is a completely different story]]. The buildup is sad, but the death sequence is ruined by [[LargeHam The White Witch's acting.]]
*** And the less than stellar animation.
** And, precisely ''because'' you know what's coming, Peter and Susan's walk with Aslan near the end of ''Prince Caspian,'' and Peter's subsequent acknowledgement to the others that he would not be allowed to return to Narnia.
** The end result of StormingTheCastle in the ''Prince Caspian'' film is absolutely devastating - particularly the moment in which Peter looks back through the portcullis at the trapped Narnians, and at least one voice is clearly heard calling for him to save ''himself.''

** Lucy's goodbye to Aslan in ''The Voyage Of The Dawn Treader''. Made especially more poignant, when you remember that Lucy was the first of those siblings to find Narnia.
** What about Eustace's goodbye to Reepicheep? Considering the development their relationship has had throughout the movie, that scene was heartwrenching.

** Also, to an almost greater degree, the end of the film version of ''LoneWolfAndCub'', which inspired it.

* The [[spoiler:death of Mickey]] in ''RockyIII'' and later [[spoiler:Apollo Creed]] in ''RockyIV''.

* Slim Pickens character in ''Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid'' was a burned out sheriff just biding his time till he could finish his boat float down the river and out of the territory. But Garrett convinces (paid) him to help raid a cabin where Garrett suspects Billy's gang. During said raid, Pickens is gutshot (nearly always fatal in the time period, but slow) and stumbles away. The sequence ends with him siting beside the river, with his wife, [[ActionGirl who had come too]], in tears as he knows that he is certainly dead. The fact that BobDylan's song ''Knocking on Heaven's Door'' was written for this scene doubles the effect.

* ''Film/ANightToRemember'. It's the originator of a lot of the death scenes from ''Titanic'', including the band playing their last song, the lost boy, the young couple being crushed by the falling funnel, plus it has a few more of its own - and the many acts of sacrifice that preceded them. Mr Andrews just standing and waiting alone not even ''trying'' to get to a boat. The Strauses deciding to remain {{together in death}}
* Oliver Stone's ''Film/{{Nixon}}'' has two amazing scenes, the first is when Nixon breaks down the night before his resignation and the other is when he stands before a portrait of JFK, who was always the specter of his presidency and political life, and he says "When they look at you, they see what they wanna be. When they look at me, they see what they are."

* ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. 'George, tell me like done before, about them other guys, and about us' before George ends his friends life. Heartrending.

* ''Film/OmNatten'' (At Night), a short Danish film nominated for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film: It depicts the lives of three young women living with cancer. One of them is about to undergo a risky procedure that will either save her or kill her. She breaks down in front of her father, saying she doesn't want to go through with it, and she's sorry she can't be stronger or brave like he wants her to.

* The movie version of ''The Painted Veil''. How Walter and Kitty were really just getting to know each other after TWO YEARS of being unhappily married and finding out that they really, truly could be happy together.
''Film/TheNotebook'' is slightly more cheerful by comparison (because at least Ali and Noah got to spend their lives together).

** Unfortunately, this was ruined for some people cheesiness of the scene where he stands up with the cross and the rain suddenly stops and the sun starts shining.

** Little Susan hasn't spoken a word to her father, ever. When she finaly speaks, to her brother, she says she hates her father. After Benjamin is reunited with his family and is leaving, he ask her for one word. She refuses at first, but as he is riding away she breaks into tears and runs after him. WHILE SHOUTING THAT SHE WILL SAY ANY WORD HE WANTS TO HEAR IF HE JUST STAYS WITH THEM.

* ''Film/ResidentEvilRetribution'' When Becky realises Alice isn't her mother.
** In ''Film/ResidentEvilApocalypse'' when Alice realises she's fighting Matt.

* The end of ''ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'' when the orphans get the letter from their parents. The music that's playing while she reads it, and the terrible burned up background doesn't help.

* ''Film/{{Oldboy}}'': [[spoiler: Lee Woo-Jin's flashback of his sister's suicide.]]

* ''Paulie'', right when the titular parrot is being taken away and the little girl chases after his shouting "Paulie, come back to me! Come back to me Paulie!". It was heartbreaking.

* ''Literature/ThePlagueDogs''. Just the entire freaking film. It was made for people who want to commit suicide but just lack the courage to pull the trigger.

* ''ThePolarExpress''

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeNRbtWgero The "perspective" scene from ''Film/SoulSurfer'' ]] after Bethany Hamilton's injury.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeNRbtWgero The "perspective" scene]] from ''Film/SoulSurfer]] after Bethany Hamilton's injury.

* The end of ''{{Shiri}}'': [[spoiler:Hee's death is tear jerking, but the clincher is when Yu went to meet the real Myung-hyun in the mental institution]]. The beginning of the movie was no emotional picnic either.

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7U4EQXFMBE scene where Sol "goes home"]] in ''SoylentGreen'' is this on many levels. When Sol realizes what he must to do expose the [[ItWasHisSled terrible secret of Soylent Green]], Thorn tries to stop him but finds out too late so all he can do is watch as his closest and best friend dies. Sol is also one of the few characters old enough to remember the Earth when it was still full of natural beauty. The beautiful nature footage he is shown before his death, set to classical music, deeply moves both characters (Sol: "I told you." Thorn: "How could I know? How could I ever imagine?") and drives home the film's environmental message. Finally there's the RealitySubtext that Edward G. Robinson (Sol) was dying in real life and the only other person on the film who knew was CharltonHeston (Thorn), who cried real tears during that scene.

* When George learns of the death of his lover Jim in ''ASingleMan''. [[AwardSnub Colin Firth was robbed of an Oscar.]]

* The ending of ''StraightStory'' - [[spoiler: two brothers finally meet. The viewer cries.]].

** [[TwoWordsObviousTrope Five words]]: When Christmas Comes To Town.

* Near the beginning of ''PetersFriends'', the gang gets together for the first time in 10 years.

* ''{{Rango}}'' has one in Rango's HeroicBSOD, after Rattlesnake Jake calls him out on his tall tales and runs him out of town. He wanders alone across the desert night with a lost and forlorn look on his face, until he gets to the highway. Rango finds his [[CompanionCube imaginary friends]], then sits there watching the traffic for a bit before finally saying to himself "[[ArcWords Who am I?]] ...I'm nobody."

** The most tearjerking moment from the first Superman movie was definitely Pa Kent's death. After he tells his adopted son that he is on Earth for a special reason even if he doesn't know what that might be. Glenn Ford's acting was amazing when he just clutched his left arm and saying softly "Oh no..." and his collapse in a long shot. Then his funeral with John Williams' music plays as young Clark Kent tells his mother that even will all his powers he couldn't save his own father.

* ''TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'' has the scene where Frank, upon realizing that his time was coming because of Trioxin, walks to a burning oven, kisses his wedding ring, hangs it on a switch, offers a final prayer to the Lord for forgiveness for what he's about to do, climbs into the oven, and shuts himself in. The scene makes even the background music (titled "Burn the Flames", for those wondering) sound poignant.

* The end of ''SnowDogs'': Not the very end... but the bit that starts with the reporter and ends with the dogs racing over the snow-covered hill...

* ''{{Saw}}'' has a lot of them, but John and Jill's relationship takes the cake. You see how he loved her before [[spoiler: the death of Gideon, their unborn son and John's transition to Jigsaw]]. Just try watching [[spoiler: Jill's miscarrage or the tape to Gideon without crying]].
** Here's one that hit close to home for me and haunted me for a long time: [[spoiler: Corbett Denlon asking for her mom in Saw V. Dear god...]]

* The end of ''Film/SkyBlue''. Poor Jay...

* ''{{Selena}}'': [[DownerEnding The scene in the hospital where her family are told that she did not make it.]]
** The worst part about it, [[ForegoneConclusion you know it was coming since it happened in REAL LIFE]] as the movie is created as a tribute for the Tejano legend.
*** This troper watched this movie in music class and honestly had to think of funny things to prevent himself from crying. Even if you already know she died, this scene comes in incredibly ''hard'', and it's so dramatic (seriously, what with the camera angles, loud TV/radio news reports of Selena's death, doctors stressfully putting a life support-hooked Selena into an ambluence, sobbing fans holding candles, and "Dreaming of You" playing during the [[GoshDangItToHeck dang]] thing), it's nigh-impossible to prevent yourself from turning on the waterworks.

* ''RussianArk'' is the first full-length single-continuous-shot movie (they got it in ''one take'' -- surely that counts as a AwesomeMoment for everyone involved) whose plot consists of an unnamed Russian guy falling through a hole in time to wander through the halls of the Hermitage -- the Winter Palace of St. Petersburg -- observing chronologically disjointed moments in the palace's history, like a series of psychic impressions. Along the way he meets a fellow [[Literature/TheTimeTravelersWife Chrono-Displaced Person]] in the guise of a cynical European, who claims to have done this sort of thing before. In any case, the entire movie can make you cry if you're really into art, architecture or history (there are tons of cameos, from Catherine the Great to Pushkin), but two stand out. One was right near the end, when the European decides to stay with the beautiful Last Ball instead of moving on with the hero. And the other happens at about the mid-point; the European chases a group of little girls down a hallway, pretending to be a ghost, until one of them gets called to have breakfast. We follow her to the dining room, where she says good morning and apologizes for being late, and it's just a cute little happy family scene until you check their clothes and realize that they're from the second decade of the 20th century, which leads you to [[ForegoneConclusion realize who they must be and what's going to happen to them]].

* ''{{Nell}}'', as you learn to listen to the gibberish -- it becomes actual speech. The real reason she talks that way, and ''what'' she is saying. [[spoiler: It was a twin sister -- who had been dead for years, ''and she was still interacting with her as though she were right there''.]] And never mind the Natasha Richardson/ Creator/LiamNeeson chemistry.

* ''{{Newsies}}''

* ''Oldboy'': [[spoiler: Lee Woo-Jin's flashback of his sister's suicide.]]

* ''OmNatten'' (At Night), a short Danish film nominated for the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film: It depicts the lives of three young women living with cancer. One of them is about to undergo a risky procedure that will either save her or kill her. She breaks down in front of her father, saying she doesn't want to go through with it, and she's sorry she can't be stronger or brave like he wants her to.

* ''OnceWereWarriors'', when Beth discovers [[spoiler:her daughter Grace's suicide.]] Heart wrenching.

* ''OneHourPhoto''. Yes. What Sy did was far from right, but anyone who knows what it's like to be that desperately '''''lonely''''' short of doing what he did has probably cried. Especially at the revelation that [[spoiler:Sy was sexually abused as a child.]]
* ''OnTheWaterfront'' and Terry Malloy's taxi ride with his brother Charley the Gent. Today, most folks may know the powerful line "I could have been a contender ..." as a throw away quote, as if a hackneyed joke. In context, however, it's quite different. It sums up Terry's entire life of lost and stolen chances and his realization of just who he was and how he got there and that for all his tough bravado he really was nothing but a bum, a pawn in someone else's game. It sets the stage for his climb out of futile nothingness to his own final crowning moment of glory. It is also a reminder of just how good an actor a young Marlon Brando was.
* The ending of ''TheOrphanage'':

* The end of ''Passchendaele'' (criminally unrepresented on this site) is a perfect example of both this and a BittersweetEnding.

* ''PatchAdams''

* The ending of the Creator/StanleyKubrick movie ''PathsOfGlory''. Set in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, a young German woman is forced to sing for the soldiers in a tavern. They are are cat-calling, hooting, and laughing at her. Then she starts to sing a simple, well-known ballad about love in war, "The Faithful Soldier". The audience quiets down, and they start to hum the song along with her, as they recall their youth, their homes, and their loves in a world they may never see again.
* ''ThePatriot'':

* ''RabbitProofFence'': Molly and Daisy finally make it home but [[BittersweetEnding Gracie didn't]]. Molly apologizing to her grandmother for having lost her is so heartbreaking.

* Oliver Stone's ''{{Nixon}}'' has two amazing scenes, the first is when Nixon breaks down the night before his resignation and the other is when he stands before a portrait of JFK, who was always the specter of his presidency and political life, and he says "When they look at you, they see what they wanna be. When they look at me, they see what they are."

* ''Film/SophiesChoice''. Watching MerylStreep [[spoiler:shove her daughter into the soldiers' arms and then burst into tears as her daughter screams while being carried to her death]] is one of the most haunting, horrific scenes in cinematic history. That Oscar was well-deserved.