Cinema's Most Tragic Moments

The Lion King is one of Disney's most honest depictions of grief and coming-of-age since Bambi, however, with the species and gender of the parent reversed. Even the most stoic of men cannot deny their sadness as Simba loses his beloved father Mufasa after he is murdered by his power-hungry, evil brother Scar. The moment he tearfully asks Mufasa to wake up is heartbreaking, tragic and horrific.

Brandon Teena was the young man whose short life became infamous. A true story soured with darkness, agony and complexity: Brandon was in fact a woman who included herself into the group of Nebraskans without disclosing her true identity. After he is brutally raped by her two scorned male friends when his secret is revealed, Brandon escapes their clutches but is killed along with a single mother he was staying with. In that very moment, how could anyone not feel contempt for humanity, especially when the men almost kill the woman's toddler?

Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar meet as young men at the pivotal moment in their lives. They work together on a lonely journey to deliver sheep across Brokeback Mountain over the summer. Although their relationship develops slowly but surely, they fall in love and begin an irregular affair over the course of twenty years. However, Jack dies under mysterious circumstances as their relationship seems to falter. Ennis utters those saddening final words: "Jack, I swear..." after hanging his and Jack's shirts united forever below a photo of Brokeback Mountain.