My Journal #2

What movie(s) makes me cry?

March 31, 2014: What movie always makes you cry? (Or at least makes you emotional.)

What a question. I'm a very emotional person. I tear-up when the flag is flown and we sing the National anthem. When little children sing or do cute things on videos or at church I have tears in my eyes.
Down through the years there are many movies that choked me up.  For the shortness of this blog I'll dwell on the most memorable movie moments. let's start with the movie that most women will agree was a tear-jerker. That movie was Beaches. The song Wind Beneath my Wings can bring me to tears at times. Though I've only watched the movie a couple of times it is one I will remember as being so sad. 
Following that is Steel Magnolias.  Both with laughter and sadness. It made the tears come.  I want to go back to another little known movie. I know this because when I mention the movie very few women have seen it. It's another Bette Midler movie called "Stella."  Just in case you might want to see this movie I'm posting the synopsis:

Stella (Bette Midler) is a feisty single good time gal working in a bar when she meets and falls for the suave charms of the young Dr Stephen Collins (Steve Dallas). Although from opposite ends of the social spectrum they start an affair resulting in Stella becoming pregnant. After he proposes half halfheartedly she rejects him and embarks upon raising their child Jenny as a single mother but is always helped and encouraged by her stalwart friend, a local good natured barfly, Ed Munn (John Goodman). Stella is fiercely independent and proud and is determined to do well by this child and take on whatever jobs she must to raise her daughter properly. When Jenny is 4 years old her father suddenly re appears on the scene and is determined to get to know his daughter. At first reluctant to allow this Stella is persuaded to allow contact and a happy bond develops between the father and daughter. As Jenny ( Trini Alvarado) grows up she becomes torn between her fathers rich and well connected background and her loyalty and love for her mother who is poor and crass and vulgar but devoted to her daughter. She also despises the perceived relationship she sees developing between Stella and Ed Munn who is now a broken alcoholic. Jenny eventually meets and falls for a boy from her fathers 'world' and Stella realizes that now the disparities in her own and and Jennys father's backgrounds might jeopardize her daughters future happiness. So she makes a heart rending decision played out in the last 10 minutes of the film to ensure that this is not going to happen.   There were times during the movie I was sure I was watching a train wreck, but those last ten minutes sealed the deal. The cry of a mother giving up something for her child is heart rending.

On that note I will add this TV movie that has stuck with me over the years. As our economy grows even more desperate this movie could be reissued by a network, and the topic wouldn't be out of date. In Single mother ,  Mare Winningham play a mother down on her luck. Mother and daughter move from shelter to shelter as a social worker tries to help them have a permanent home. When they finally find one with a slumlord owner, her daughter becomes very ill.  From all the places they've lived the girl has lead poisoning. She needs to be in a newer home and a stable situation.  At last the mother makes the hardest decision of her life. To give her up.  At the last scenes of this movie my heart tore for their situation and the sacrifice the mother made. That is another scene that remains with me in spite of all the movies I've watched.

The last movie I want to share with you is K-9:The Widowmaker This is a cold war movie staring Harrison Ford.  It seemed like an okay movie and I went with my husband. We were at our usual spot in the top row. I had soda, popcorn, napkins and I all was set. Here is what is written for its description: When Russia's first nuclear submarine malfunctions on its maiden voyage, the crew must race to save the ship and prevent a nuclear disaster. That is a sterile blurb about this movie. Let me tell you a bit more about it.

First of all it's based on an actual event. With the rush to compete with the United States and have a nuclear sub in the water the Russian government set the date and stuck to it.  The sub was launched but it wasn't until there was a problem with the core that all the short cuts were discovered.
This sub was an underwater Titanic. All safety precautions had been signed off but not installed. Some were back ordered, others hadn't arrived by the sailing date. There were no nuclear safety suits. There were no procedures for emergency situations, and no medical backup.
As the situation deteriorated, and the men were called to go into the room with the broken core, I began to cry.  Even now as I sit here writing this, never has sacrifice for a country that knowingly put them into danger deep under the sea so prevalent. These men went willingly, for their captain and crew into a radio active containment to be burned alive.  I cried, no I sobbed. I sat in the middle of the top row, and couldn't even find a way to get out of the crowded room. So I sobbed into my napkins until the end. The End. It wasn't the end. They showed you the cemetery where these men were buried and the families that came to honor them. There are many that give their life for their country, but only a few follow a leader that asks his men to suffer that kind of sacrifice for a political cause.  Like in many cases these were young men fresh out of school with a rudimentary knowledge of what to do.