Gregg

The other day I was watching Cabaret on video (I guess my thread about Liza Minnelli got me thinking about this movie.) It had been a while since I'd seen the one scene the film that always stuck with me since I saw it as a child--the scene in the beer garden where the young Nazi sings "Tomorrow belongs to me" and his listeners join in. That scene was just as powerful, chilling, and goose-bump inducing as ever.

The young man who plays the Nazi does a masterful job, beginning the seemingly innocent song in a beautiful soprano, his expression open and beatific. Then, when he gets to "But soon comes a whisper; 'Arise, arise,'/Tomorrow belongs to me," his expression suddenly changes. His eyes get hard, fierce, and angry, his lips form into a snarl, and his voice gets strident and miltaristic. The people in the beer garden--good, hardworking, lower- to middle-class country and city folk enjoying a lovely afternoon--now begin jumping up and joining him in the anthem (except for one very old man who sits with a disgusted look on his face--he's seen it all before): "O Fatherland, Fatherland/Show us the sign/Your children have waited to see/The morning will come/When the world is mine/Tomorrow belongs,/Tomorrow belongs,/Tomorrow belongs to me!" The boy is now standing ramrod straight as he sings, and he takes his cap from under his arm, places it on his head, and lifts his arm in a Nazi salute.

This scene just hits on so many levels. There's the message that evil can hide behind apparent beauty and innocence, and the message that feelings like pride and patriotism can so easily get out of control and be manipulated. But I think what's really scary about the scene is that it's easy to find yourself being moved and inspired by the song, and empathizing with the people (especially if you're a middle-class white person yourself). It makes you ask yourself how you would have responded in the same situation, without the benefit of hindsight.

Brittle Heaven

The ending of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon where a dying Li Mu Bai tells Shu Lien that he'd rather stay by her side as a ghost than go to heaven alone, and where Zhang Zi Yi leaves Chang Chen and flies away, so beautiful and gut-wrenching.

The scene where Mandy Patinkin overpowers Christopher Guest in The Princess Bride. Words cannot describe Inigo's intensity as he finally stabs his father's killer.

"I want my father back, you son of a bitch!" Wow.


And Edward Scissorhands where Kimberly wants Edward to hold her and due to his hands he simply goes "I can't," Just the way Johnny said it made you want to bawl like a baby.

Friar Bellows

The scene in Un Coeur En Hiver when Camille confronts Stephane in the restaurant. The words of Camille and the expression on Stephane's face hit me pretty hard.

Jimmy Higgins

Contact, after the machine was blown up by the right-wing religion nut, Ellie is back at the Very Large Array center. She turns the volume up to hear the sound of the signal. While most people wouldn't get such a feeling from a simple scene with no words, it spoke an encyclopedia of words to me as the greatest act of mankind to be thwarted by religion. That a great discovery was still there waiting to be found, but hopelessly just out of grasp. Not your own grasp, but the communal grasp of society. A true atheist moment, where you come to the realization that it has happened, just happened, and will continue to happen. Religion is the anchor on progress.

The scene hurt, I almost cried, because I knew at that point exactly what Ellie felt and completely agreed.

And people say this movie didn't portray the religion-atheist angle well. I hold hardedly disagree.

Thesto Neroses

Reservoir Dogs, when a dying Mr. Orange asks tough guy Mr. White to hold him:

Doctor X

Arg! Princess Bride? As powerful as wet toilet paper!

Right, gather around ye knaves and strumpets! Learn about power. . . .

Lawrence of Arabia--many, many scenes . . . but I like O'Toole looking at his reflection in a bloody dagger.

A Clockwork Orange--one of the best opennings.

Ran--the Lord leaving the burning castle with his empty scabbard dragging behind him.

Brazil--"We've lost him, Jack!"

Excalibur--many, but Merlin walking up the hill to Wagner . . . fire, death, destruction, and general rude behavior about him.

Henry V--Battle of Agincourt--well done . . . makes you want to invade France . . . thus inspirational.

Inside the Third Reich--a bit of an explanation. Derek J . . . J . . . J . . . Jacoby first appears as Hitler giving a speech to a student's union. Most actors play Hitler as a froathing nut with a bad sense of fashion. Jacoby recreates Hitler's speech and use of theatrics to demonstrate the power he gained.

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly . . . okay . . . guilty pleasure . . . but the carnage of a useless battle rather demonstrates the idiocy of war rather well . . . what? Fine . . . Philistines!

Goodfellas--"Am I a clown?" and the murdering of witnesses to "Layla" because it demonstrates the visciousness of the mob.

Blade Runner--hell, the whole ending from when Rutger "Proud of yourself, Littleman?!!" Hauer looks down on Harrison Ford as he starts to slip from the protruding girder.

Shindler's List--take your pick . . . Liam Neeson's favorite . . . and one of mine . . . is when his character is confronted with pencil pushers as he tries to free Stern [Ben Kingsley] from the train.

Road Warrior--Too bad!! You have to love "Greetings from the Humongous!!" Okay . . . okay. . . .

Sanjuro--the final duel.

The Manchurian Candidate--the whole scene in the "Lady's Gardening Club"

Now, go educate thineselves!

--J.D.

rfwu

In Fellowship of the Ring where Gandalf sacrifices himself.

The end of Joy Luck Club where the main character meets her sisters who look just like her dead mother.

From Independence Day when that drunk guy destroys the alien destroyer.

thinking of a couple more...

garraty

True Romance, when Patricia Arquette takes out Mr Soprano, that primal scream just after she kills him always brings a tear to my eye.

Oh and when Uma wakes up in Kill Bill, very powerful.

Have to agree with CTHD, but for me it's when Shui Lin asks what she can do for him, and Li Mu Bai replies, "be patient".

Pierre Bezukhov

The Elephant Man - When the doctor introduces John Merrick to his wife and Merrick starts weeping because she is the first woman to be kind to him.

Gregg

War and Remembrance--Byron Henry has finally found his little son and brings him to his Jewish wife, Natalie (both of them have survived Teresienstadt and Auschwitz). Because of the horrors he has seen (he survived a machine gun massacre and was found under the bodies), their son has not spoken. The little boy is at first hesitant, but after some encouragement he breaks into a smile and runs to his mother. Natalie begins singing a Jewish song (at Teresienstadt she and her son had received special treatment because of their singing abilities). After a while, her son finally joins in. Byron and Natalie break into tears of joy and the family embraces. The camera lifts up and away from the little family as the music swells. Manipulative as hell...but a perfect ending. After four years of earth-shattering violence and horror, we end with this intimate little tableau, a moment of peace, joy, love, and hope.

Roots and Shogun were great, but War and Remembrance is the greatest miniseries achievement ever.