What Movies Make You Cry?

My husband would laugh at this question because the answer pretty much has to be: All of them. I’m a sap. A great big giant sappy cry baby. I’ve been known to cry over commercials! Yes, I’m a sobster, so if we’re ever planning on going to the movies together, heed this warning: I am going to cry. Not loudly. I try to contain some semblance of dignity. I sniffle to myself, silently wiping tears from my cheeks as inconspicuously as possible. But yes, I most certainly will cry.

Titanic. This is a funny story. I went to see this with a friend from work and her dad. Vicki sat between me and her father and we whispered and munched popcorn, adoring, drooling (slightly…slightly) over the beautiful Leonard DiCaprio. Yummy. Anyway, we were all good, taking in the glory of the ship, the luxury of the staterooms and the dining halls, the beautiful Victorian wardrobes, all the splendid details, until that ship hit the ill-fated iceberg and started going down. People jumping overboard, the old couple holding hands in bed in their cabin as the waters began to rise. Women clasping children, babes to bosom, trying to get to the upper decks and the not-enough lifeboats, but the gates are closed, locked, and the mean, heartless stewards threaten to shoot them on the spot if they don’t go back below. Oh! The tears! I was sobbing relentlessly and Dad! He was right there with me in the throes, crying uncontrollably. Vicki, not a tear. Not one drop. You might think she could’ve auditioned for one of the stewards in the film. She actually began to get miffed at her father and me for being so overemotional. Passengers at this point are sliding helplessly as the Titanic now sits vertical in the water, legs and limbs snapping like so much tinder as they crash carelessly against furniture and railings, dropping broken into icy currents below. That movie haunted me for weeks after-I swear my legs almost felt the jellylike wobble of sea bearing….Yeah, I think that’s the most I’ve cried at any movie…until…

The Deathly Hallows, Part Two. The scene when Harry views Snape’s tear drawn memories in the pensieve and learns at last the truth of how deeply Severus loved Harry’s mother Lily, was crushed to his very core, finding her murdered at Voldemort’s hand, her babe, Harry, left behind, orphaned, alone. How Snape vowed to Dumbledore to protect Lily’s only son until it was time for Harry to face Voldemort and defeat the evil wizard at last….Oh, how I cried, heartbroken for Severus to have lost his only love…silent tears falling as he unleashes his doe Patronus in a final confession of his love of Lily to Dumbledore. I’m such a sucker for love.

Deathly Hallows, Part One: The death of Dobby. I can’t even read that part in the book…

But, I’ve cried buckets at Disney movies. Bambi was one of my first big crushers, when his mother dies. The Yearling about killed me—I’ve had to block that one out. Wall-E, when he loses Eva. Cars, when Mater doesn’t get to say goodbye to Lightening. Finding Nemo, when Nemo and his dad, Marlin, are finally reunited. I’m almost thankful that Michael’s outgrown Disney movies—they tear me up! Another big tear jerker was the second Narnia movie, Prince Caspian, when Lucy first sees Aslan again—my heart about burst! Michael got mad at me for crying then, his first experience of maternal embarrassment…only the beginning my love, only the beginning. Now he’ll lecture me as we go into movies to please NOT embarrass him. Sorry…I can’t help myself. I cry. A simple fact of my life. I’ll be bringing a box of tissues with me to War Horse later this month…