This movie always makes me cry

Post Reply New Topic

Probably not many Americans will know of this but has anyone here ever watched cartoon movies by Raymond Briggs? Some were aimed at children but one or two of them got a bit dark, such as When The Wind Blows.

But his latest one was Ethel And Ernest, and it's such a beautiful film that I think really puts life into perspective. While Grandpa was excruciatingly sad enough, Ethel And Ernest is sad in a different way. It is the story about the writer's parents living through the war and dying together at old age.

It starts off with both Ethel and Ernest being young (in the 1920s), first dating, then getting married and buying a house together. As the movie goes on they age, as well as everything around them (technology, trends, and all that) and they have a baby (Raymond Briggs) who grows up. While he is growing up, WW2 happens, and some of it is rather shocking.
It's such an enjoyable film, but the end is really where it will touch your heart. First Ethel gets Alzheimer's, where she ends up in hospital and forgets who Ernest is, the man who she had spent most of her life with. When she dies, Ernest is lonely and just has his cat. A few lonesome weeks later he has a heart attack and gets rushed to hospital. When he has a heart attack, it makes the cat jump and he just meows puzzled at Ernest. That bit made me cry too. Then Ernest dies a frail, thin old man in the hospital bed, and Raymond Briggs goes to their house and sorts out all their stuff. It's really, really sad, yet really, really beautiful.

It's a lovely film, one of those films I could watch again and again. You should check it out. It really makes you want to visit your parents and cherish them (if you had a normal relationship with them and they're still alive).

"Brian's Song" is a real tearjerker. It was made in 1971. It's about the friendship between a very famous black (American) football player and a not-so-famous white football player. The racial element had some importance----but it wasn't the main theme of the movie.

The white football player helped the black football player rehab from a serious knee injury. The white football player tragically passed away in his prime.

There's also a film starring Sidney Poitier. He falls in love with a blind young woman. It's called "A Patch of Blue." It was made in 1965.

I'm sure I originally posted this thread in the television and film section.

Raymond Briggs. Ethyl and Ernest.

Never heard of either.

Will hafta look for it in the movie catalogues I get in the mail.

I did see an animated version of "the Velveteen Rabbit" for kids, once, that surprisingly moving.