Tearjerking moments in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
- Near the beginning of the film, the pirates launch an attack on Port Royal. In the midst of people screaming and buildings bursting into flames, there's a shot of a lone toddler sobbing in terror as a building is about to collapse on top of him. (Fortunately, his mother grabs him just in time and rushes him to safety.)
- Will Turner's childhood/adolescence in Port Royal. He'd just lost his mother and had no way of knowing if his father was alive, or finding him if so. Will was actually very fortunate in being able to learn a useful trade that he turned out to be exceptionally good at. But think about the scene when he returns from delivering Norrington's sword to the governor's mansion. His master is passed out drunk, and Will's "Right where I left you" indicates this is just business as usual. Imagine (or maybe you don't have to) growing up with a stranger who's rarely sober. Will most likely ran the whole "household" himself. As he got older and more skilled, he was also probably the only one bringing in money. Not that plenty of young apprentices weren't mistreated, but most would have had family they could visit pretty frequently, and deep down they'd know that if things got really bad, they could go home for good. Will didn't have that. He was alone in the world. At the very least he was neglected. And if it was worse than that, the only one who would have cared was Elizabeth, and he'd never have burdened her with his problems.
- Barbossa's poignant death at the end of the first movie with his last words of "I feel...! ...Cold." While he may have been a villain in this movie, there's still a somberness to his death.
- Not only that, but his absolute joy at being able to feel anything...then he remembers what it is and what it means.
- Koehler has a similar reaction after being run through by Norrington's sword.
- Related to the above, Koehler's line to Jack - "You know nothing of Hell." - becomes oddly tragic once the full breadth of the curse is understood. Koehler and Twigg are among the more bloodthirsty members of the crew (the former advocates spilling all Elizabeth's blood, "just to be sure"), but really... imagine it. Ten years without any sensation apart from bone-deep numbness and ravenous, insatiable thirst and hunger. Ten years of never, ever being satisfied by anything, maybe even past the point of madness. And no matter how bad it gets, or how much you may try, you won't die. And that goes on and on and on for a whole decade. Murderous, amoral and brutal as they are, you can't help but feel bad for them.
- You can't help but feel at least a little bad when the Black Pearl crew at the end. All they can do is surrender immediately to Norrington's men. They are finally free, but they are presumably all hanged, except for Pintel and Ragetti, who escape... somehow.
- Twigg's reaction to Koehler's death. We initially see him with his back to Norrington, but after Koehler falls, Twigg is shown facing his killer with a look on his face that's a mix between rage and sorrow. His instinctive reaction was clearly to help or avenge his friend until the reality of the situation dawned on him, leading him to drop his sword first out of all Barbossa's men.
- Not to mention, the scene after Jack has made his bag of treasure and nonchalantly says to drop him off at the Black Pearl. Cut to Jack staring pathetically at the place the Pearl used to be. His beloved ship, the one that was stolen from him in a massive betrayal of his trust (which kinda screwed him up inside), the ship he spent ten years scheming to win back, has just been stolen from him again by people like Annamaria and Gibbs. And you feel deep sympathy for him, followed quickly by horror at the realization that without the Pearl, Jack—this guy we've dug from frame one and come to root for and love, who just masterminded the fight against Barbossa and fought an epic battle to save the day—can't escape and is about to be hanged. And he knows it. Then he says of his crew, his friends who've just betrayed him, "They've done what's right by them; can't expect more than that." That was so sad, even Will got upset.
- James Norrington. Just... Norrington. He works his whole life protecting his country from pirates, gets the big promotion, proposes to the girl and gets his thunder stolen by some mangy pirate. Then she gets kidnapped. And then once he finds her, she begs him to rescue Will as a "wedding gift." In a heartbreaking deleted scene, he asks her if it's so wrong to have wanted her answer to be unconditional. He knows she doesn't love him the way he does her, but she also won't go back on her word. And then she backs out after all. This is BEFORE we get into what happens in the later movies.
- His heartbroken voice when he asks Elizabeth "So this is where your heart truly lies is it?"
