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From farewells that tug on the heartstrings to gun-toting blazes of glory, the drama of death is prevalent in every genre of cinema. While the medium is able to give audiences intimate depictions of a character’s demise, many films have shown that it can often be even more devastating when viewers aren’t given insight into a loved character’s final moments.
Be the grueling war dramas or pacy crime thrillers, plenty of films have managed to squeeze even more drama and emotion from a character’s death by not showing it on screen. Some of these deaths left us sobbing on our couches while others simply left us in a state of catatonic shock, but all of them succeeded in devastating audiences.
1 The Girl in the Red Coat – ‘Schindler’s List’ (1993)
Quite possibly the finest film in his illustrious career, Steven Spielberg’s quintessential holocaust drama Schindler’s List would rank highly among the most devastating pictures ever made. It has no lack of deeply powerful and haunting scenes, with the famous sequence observing the little girl in the red coat ambling through the horrors of the Nazi raid one of the film’s most potent moments.
She appears on-screen for a mere couple of minutes and never spoke a word, yet the mesmerizing sequence was so effective that the child became not only an icon of the film but emblematic of the fragility of hope and innocence amid the holocaust. The later reappearance of the red coat on a wheelbarrow of corpses was arguably the film’s most crushing moment.
2 Guido Orefice – ‘Life Is Beautiful’ (1997)
Finding hope and even happiness in the most unlikely of places is what makes Life is Beautiful so devastatingly beautiful. Following a Jewish father who shelters his young son from the horrors of the holocaust by presenting it as an elaborate game, the film never shirks the heinous inhumanity within the concentration camps but does imbue it with a beautiful story.
Guido (Roberto Benigni) continues to play up the illusion even when the camp falls into deadly chaos as allied forces approach. His final wink to his hidden son as he is marched to his execution is one of cinema’s most devastatingly beautiful yet heartbreaking moments.
3 Agatha – ‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’ (2014)
A perfect marriage between narrative and a director’s style, The Grand Budapest Hotel is viewed by many to be Wes Anderson’s masterpiece. The delightfully adventurous tale finds a great deal of charm in its wonderfully off-beat characters, with the romance between Zero (Tony Revolori) and Agatha (Saoirse Ronan) an effortlessly endearing element of the film.
With the bulk of the film transpiring in flashbacks as an aged Zero (F. Murray Abraham) recounts his rags-to-riches life story to an enchanted writer, his detailing of the death of Agatha was easily the film’s saddest moment. Abraham’s performance as he subtly showcases the full extent of Zero’s emotions was exquisite, making for arguably the most poignant scene in Anderson’s entire filmography.
4 Rosie Beltzer – ‘Jojo Rabbit’ (2019)
In trademark fashion from Taika Waititi, Jojo Rabbit immaculately blends the light touch of goofy comedy with poignant drama as it covers the collapse of Nazi Germany through the eyes of a naïve Hitler Youth cadet. The most painfully unforgettable moment of the picture came when Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) discovered his mother’s hanging corpse.
A visceral gut punch, the scene decimated Jojo’s claim to innocence and transformed what had been a largely wholesome comedy into a harrowing drama. Audiences never saw any more of Rosie’s (Scarlett Johansson) body apart from her dangling shoes, but the shattering genre switch and a brilliant performance from Davis made for a shockingly brutal moment.
5 Chris Chambers – ‘Stand by Me’ (1986)
Based on Stephen King’s novella The Body, Stand by Me has been heralded as one of the greatest coming-of-age films ever made. The simplicity of its plot allows the four lead characters to dominate the screen as troubled yet incredibly likable boys on an adventure to find a dead body in the woods.
While the entire cast was brilliant, River Phoenix routinely stole scenes as Chris Chambers, a tough yet loyal and supportive kid who yearns to escape his deadbeat home environment. The closing monologue which succinctly describes Chris’ life and tragic death was a punishing blow to audiences who had come to wish for nothing but the best for the good-natured boy.
6 Tracy Mills – ‘Seven’ (1999)
A merciless mystery thriller from genre master David Fincher, Seven follows two detectives investigating a serial killer who is inspired by the seven deadly sins. Turning himself in after five murders have been uncovered, the killer threatens to plead insanity unless the detectives escort him to an undisclosed location where they will find the victims for envy and wrath.
Fincher controls the suspense as perfectly ever, building the dread gradually as a delivery van mysteriously arrives and John Doe (Kevin Spacey) starts goading Detective Mills (Brad Pitt) about his wife. Remembered as the “what’s in the box?” scene, the revelation of Tracy Mills’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) murder left audiences shaken long after the credits rolled.
7 Bambi’s Mother – ‘Bambi’ (1942)
Following a young fawn who is the prince to the woodland animals, Bambi is one of Disney’s most famous movies and a wonderful story. However, for many, it is remembered for the scene in which Bambi and his mother must flee the attack of human hunters.
As Bambi dashes away, his mother calls for him to run faster before the snap of a gunshot rings out, and we see Bambi run into the thicket alone before looking for his mother lost and alone. It was among the first times an animated feature had ever dealt with the death of a parent so directly and the devastating effect it had on audiences at the time has hardly lessened as time has gone on.
8 Llewelyn Moss – ‘No Country For Old Men’ (2007)
Llewelyn Moss’ (Josh Brolin) death wasn’t the most upsetting in cinema and, given he stole $2 million from the Cartel, it may have been inevitable as well, but the manner in which it played out was certainly shocking. For much of No Country for Old Men, it seemed destined that Moss and psychotic hitman Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem) would eventually clash, but the protagonist is gunned down off-screen in a cheap motel in El Paso.
With Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) arriving at the motel, all audiences see is a pickup truck speeding away from the scene and Llewelyn’s body lying in his room. The jarring death shocked audiences leading into the film’s tumultuous third act.
9 Jack Twist – ‘Brokeback Mountain’ (2005)
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Ang Lee’s Western romance was warmly received upon release and has only earned more praise since. Following the complicated relationship between two sheep herders and how their romance impacts each of their lives, Brokeback Mountain is an emotionally complex portrayal of homosexuality.
The duo’s tortured love story comes to a grinding end when Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) receives news of Jack’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) death. Ennis’ phone call with Jack’s wife proves to be the film’s most devastating scene, with Ledger and Anne Hathaway both exceptional as the full weight of their emotional complexities come to the fore, along with the heartbreaking truth of how Jack died.
10 Rooster Cogburn – ‘True Grit’ (2010)
The Coen Brothers’ impressive remake of Western classic True Grit was largely celebrated as an improvement on the John Wayne classic from 1969. A major reason for that was the harsh yet caring friendship that developed between Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) and Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges), the drunken U.S. Marshall she hires to track down her father’s murderer.
Jumping forward 25 years, the film’s epilogue shows Mattie (Elizabeth Marvel) being invited to a traveling Wild West show Rooster is appearing in, but she arrives at the site to learn that Rooster had died three days earlier. The film’s conclusion doesn’t just serve as a somber signaling of Cogburn’s fate, but also offers a poignant reflection on Mattie’s life.
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