I am not sure how it goes in the real world, but if you ask me, I believe that it’s easier to make the audience laugh than it is to make them cry through cinema. To laugh, all one needs is good timing, laughable jokes, and above all creative punch lines. On the other hand, to make one cry, the person must connect with the movie or the particular scene, he or she is watching.
Not, everyone can be bound by cheesy storylines with lots of sadness and emotions. It requires a strong connection and a realistic approach with real-life experiences to produce a cinematic marvel that would make the audience literally feel for the characters in the movie.
Hence, today I present a good list of emotional movies produced in Hollywood, that would surely make you beg for more tissue papers.
All-Time Best Emotional Movies of Hollywood
Hachi: A Dog’s Tale
Hachi: A Dog’s Tale is a beautiful real life story of a faithful dog named Hachiko, which shows immense love and affection towards his owner, Professor Parker, played by Richard Gere.
The most emotional scene in the movie is when Parker dies of a heart attack while at work and Hachi just like his normal routine waits for Parker at the train station at his usual spot in the cold snow, till the day he dies and reunites with his beloved master in heaven.
The love and affection shown by an animal and given the fact that it is based on a true story, will surely make you emotional and wish for a faithful and caring pet friend like Hachi. Hachi is one of the Best films for Animal lovers.
12 Years As a Slave
12 Years As Slave talks about the life of Solomon Northup, a free family man in 1841, who was happy working as a violinist and living with his wife and two children in Saratoga Springs, New York.
However, the things take a drastic turn when he is kidnapped and forced into slavery during which he works on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years long before his release.
Based on the real Solomon Northup’s memoir of the same title, the film tries to display the exploitation, injustice, and pain that Solomon suffered during those 12 years as a slave.
Forrest Gump
Getting his 2nd Academy Award for Best Actor playing the titular role in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, Tom Hanks displays his acting brilliance as someone with below average intelligence quotient.
The film is beautiful in its own terms despite the depressing moments in the film that make you feel for Forrest Gump. However, his innocence and goodness in addition to his special ability as a swift runner, he manages to achieve success when nobody had faith in him because of his low IQ.
A Walk To Remember
Love is not just about togetherness and intimacy, but it’s much, much more than that. Well, if you haven’t read the book, A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Parks yet, then you must watch its film adaptation to understand the true feeling of love and the depths one can go for his/her, love. A true emotional, romantic saga, A Walk To Remember defines love like nothing else.
Also Read: Best Romantic Movies
The Pursuit of Happyness
Success never comes easy and if it does, then it’s not a success. The Pursuit of Happyness is a biographical drama film based on Chris Gardner’s one-year struggle being homeless.
The film shows us both emotionally and professionally, how much effort and hard work is required to gain success in life. Also, how one’s determination and willpower to make it huge in life can drive him or her closer towards his/her accomplishment.
The movie also beautifully displays the amazing father-son relationship.
The Shawshank Redemption
Although not a box office hit, The Shawshank Redemption earned a cult status gaining a number of fans and followers for the movie in the later years.
Adapted from the Stephen King novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, the story of the film is centered upon a wrongly convicted banker named Andy Dufresne, who is serving a life sentence in Shawshank State Penitentiary for the murder of his wife and her lover.
Life Is Beautiful
Life Is Beautiful is a tragic comedy-drama that features the life of a family that is distressed because of World War II, as the family is forced into a Nazi Concentration Camp, where they are separated by the father and son being together during their confinement at the camp.
The film’s title is justified because of the way the father assures his son about their confinement at the camp as a part of the game where the winner gets a tank. Despite their horrific situation, the father hides the reality from his son, so the life remains beautiful for him.
Braveheart
Braveheart is a film about how a man leads his clan to fight for freedom and win back everything that belongs to them. Based on the Blind Harry’s epic poem, The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace.
The film is mainly centered around the Scots quest lead by the 13-century Scottish warrior, William Wallace in the First War of Scottish Independence against King Edward I of England.
Although a war movie, the film has many touching moments, especially the speech by Mel Gibson, who place William Wallace, on his horseback to motivate his troops to fight against the huge army of England.
Seven Pounds
Seven Pounds is an American drama that talks about a man’s redemption after he is responsible for the loss of 7 lives due to his carelessness.
To redeem his acts, he decides to save the lives of 7 people by donating his own vital organs after his well-planned suicide. The burden of Seven Pounds (7 lives lost because of him), drives him to look for 7 potential candidates, so his sacrifice is well utilized.
Schindler’s List
Based on Thomas Keneally’s novel Schindler’s Ark, and directed by Steven Spielberg, Schindler’s List is a historical epic drama based on the life of Oskar Schindler, a German businessman, who was a pioneer in saving the lives of around thousand Polish-Jewish refugees by employing them in his factories during the Holocaust.
The film displays the struggles faced by Oskar Schindler and his determination to assure the safety of as many refugees as possible.
Also read: Best Motivational Movies of All Time
Dead Poets Society
Every one of us, if lucky, would have encountered one teacher in life, who has been an inspiration to us.
Dead Poets Society is one such movie that is based on an English teacher, who inspires his students to be better people through his teachings of poetry.
The film triggers a number of emotional quotients and tries to simplify life and inspires us to follow our passion instead of being a part of the herd.
Eight Below
Eight Below is an adventure film about Jerry Shepard, a guide at the Antartica research base and his team of eight sled dogs. Due to a casualty at the base, the sled dogs are left behind while the humans are evacuated from the base.
However, the sled dogs are not just some animals for Jerry Shepard, portrayed by Paul Walker, but they are his team, his friends and the rest of the story is about his attempts to bring his team back, while the sled dogs follow their survival instincts to fight the deadly weather, hunger, and co-existence.
Up
If you also believe in eternal love, then you must experience it watching the beautiful movie, Up. This animation film is centered upon an elderly widower, who in order to fulfill his late wife’s dream, goes out of his comfort zone risking his life while exploring the wilds of South America.
The film is about love and its eternity, even after the one you love is physically not out there with you, but has found a permanent place in your heart and your memories. Though an animation movie, the film displays emotions so accurately to the point that you feel as if you are also a part of the movie.
Warrior
Warrior is an American sports drama film centered on the lives of two brothers, competing for each other in a mixed martial arts competition to fulfill their own respective life goals.
While the elder brother enters the competition for his family and to overcome the financial burdens, the younger brother is in for pride and to defeat his brother as an act of revenge for leaving him and his mother for his wife.
Though an action-packed drama, the film triggers too many emotional moments both inside and outside the ring that makes you feel for both the brothers. In the end, it becomes a matter of pride, rather than winning or losing, which makes Warrior a special film.
P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You is a true depiction of what true love is all about. While we may discuss true love as living together for eternity or loving one another for the rest of our lives even death apart us.
However, P.S. I Love You sheds a completely different aspect of true love, in which Garry, played by Gerrard Butler, helps his wife Holly, played by Hilary Swank, to move on with her life after his unfortunate death.
Though how simple it seems, the way he guides her to move on through a bunch of letters he wrote to her, only to be discovered after his death, the moving on part becomes easier for Holly and help her rejoice life once again.
Your Turn!
This List of Best Hollywood Emotional movies is created by Filmy Keeday Team, Now its your turn. Share your favorite Emotional Hollywood film in the comment section. You can add multiple films in your list.
