Was surprised by some of the comments in the thread about One Day (Netflix) - and it got me wondering, whether we become desensitised as we get older? So when was the last time a movie or TV show made you cry, and what film or TV show was it? (And if you’ve seen it again since, did it have the same effect?)
Please no political stuff!
As I said I didn’t cry but I did have a lump in my throat. The problem is that you know it is fiction.
It is probably easier to scare you than make you cry with fiction.
In my own experience, both for myself and for elderly relatives, I find folk tend to be more sensitised to emotional scenes in films and on TV as they get older.There is less “stiff upper lip” and a more honest reaction to human distress as one gets older, I think.
I rarely saw my parents and parents-in-law reduced to tears in their younger years but when they got older, I would often witness tears in their eyes when watching emotive scenes on TV or listening to emotive pieces of music
A well written, well acted piece of fiction can bring out feelings of emotion in me but I am more likely to be moved by real stories of hardship or distress.
I have just been watching “Breathless”, an ITV dramatisation of a team of hospital staff working against the odds during the Covid pandemic. It is following the hospital team from the beginning of the pandemic - we are only on to the 2nd episode but I have had tears in my eyes whilst watching it tonight.
Documentaries or dramatisations about real-life suffering almost always brings tears to my eyes, especially when it involves vulnerable people, children and animals.
I often watch a TV Programme called “Long Lost Family”, which is about children who were given up for adoption trying to find their biological parents and parents wanting to trace the children they had to give up for adoption. I find it very sad but sometimes it has a happy ending. I always keep a box of tissues handy because it often makes me cry.
One of the most poignant and emotional series, not that it made me well up in any way, was After Life with Ricky Gervais on Netflix. It’s a black comedy mixed with tragedy of someone trying to come to terms with the death of his wife.
I don’t do it often.But I do remember an episode of Heartbeat where a farmer had a prize herd of cattle which had contracted foot and mouth.And he was saying goodbye to each of them by name as the men from the ministry administered the fatal jab. 
I watched Breathtaking on ITVX today all three episodes. All about the covid virus hitting england . I cried for the sadness and suffering and loss . I can blub like a baby and quite glad i was on my own
There is a stretch of road on the approach to a village near where I live which always brings tears to my eyes in the Springtime.
On the approach to the village, there is a wide grass verge in front of a Farm. When the dairy farmer was forced to cull all his livestock due to the last foot and mouth outbreak, he was heartbroken. In the grass verge outside the farm, he planted a yellow daffodil bulb in memory of each cow and calf that had to be killed.
His 8 year old daughter planted six delicate white jonquils in memory of her 6 pet lambs which also had to be culled, as a precautionary measure.
Over twenty years later, those daffodils have multiplied - it still makes me feel sad whenever I drive past that Farm in Springtime - but it is the small group of delicate white jonquils amongst the mass of bright daffodils which brings tears to my eyes - it reminds me of that brutal eye-opening lesson of the harsh reality of farming that tender-hearted little girl had to face at such a young age.
Now that I live alone, no distraction while watching a movie, I get all misty eyed once a week or so. It always is any Vet movie, or ending a movie with kindness and goodness winning out. People being considerate, making their friends happy, just tears at my heart.
Not any sci-fi shows, horror, or mysteries…but heartwarming, romantic, or true to life shows.
Schindler’s List, never watch it again; masterpiece that it was.
I first saw Schindler’s List when it first cam out, and that story haunted me for six months after.
I agree, I would never watch it again, although it was one film for the ages.
So, today I’ve found “Saving Private Ryan” starring Tom Hanks on YouTube, and it’ll be a cozy up with wine sort of night. Three friends have mentioned this movie, and it’s been so long since I’ve seen it, it’s time…
