Emotionally disturbing images or films

[E. von Hoegh]

Are there any images or films that you found emotionally disturbing? I found the film "The Deer Hunter" disturbing.

I find quite a few commercials disturbing.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I find quite a few commercials disturbing.

...which is a very big contributing reason for me basically not watching television at all. I am tired of the pervasive nature of commerce, how it manages to penetrate just about everything that we do. That sure is disturbing. Thanks for bringing that thought, EvH.

 

[E. von Hoegh]

...which is a very big contributing reason for me basically not watching television at all. I am tired of the pervasive nature of commerce, how it manages to penetrate just about everything that we do. That sure is disturbing. Thanks for bringing that thought, EvH.

Thomas, we live within a consumer society, economy, and culture. Consumption is the norm. Once upon a time 'consumption' was a word used to describe tuberculosis because it literally consumed the sufferer. Immediately after Sept. 11 2001, what did our turdfondling halfwit of a president tell the American public to do? That's right, keep buying stuff. The per-capita disposal of e-waste in the U.S. in the past year was 60~ lbs.. Consumption, all right.

 

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I know. It's not commerce per se that I'm opposed to. It's how pervasive it has been allowed to become.

I remember the 9/11 speech of President Dub-yah. Was an interesting time, and a sad one of course.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

One of the big problems with 9/11 was there was literally no time allowed for reflection/introspection/gut-check/values check/etc. We just barreled on straight into (re)action. I was working in the Pentagon at that time - the morning of 9/11 I was riding the escalator from the Metro station into the building the moment the plane hit. The very next day, I was back to work in a building that was still on fire. No pause was taken to assess OUR own role in what happened. This is in NO WAY meant to be an excuse for/justification of 9/11. But when something this horrible/this tragic happens, you do an after-action assessment and determine what you can do to prevent it from happening again/mitigating the impact when it does. Our choice almost defines insanity - persisting in negative behaviors (moral high-handedness, cultural/commercial imperialism, duplicitous diplomacy of convenience) and expecting that adding more negative behaviors (security theater, fostering a big-brother culture of espionage and paranoia) will prevent the event from happening again. It's kind of like setting a standing appointment with the dermatologist for laser melanoma removal while maintaining your routine at the tanning salon. Skin cancer may not be what kills you, but...

 

[E. von Hoegh]

One of the big problems with 9/11 was there was literally no time allowed for reflection/introspection/gut-check/values check/etc. We just barreled on straight into (re)action. I was working in the Pentagon at that time - the morning of 9/11 I was riding the escalator from the Metro station into the building the moment the plane hit. The very next day, I was back to work in a building that was still on fire. No pause was taken to assess OUR own role in what happened. This is in NO WAY meant to be an excuse for/justification of 9/11. But when something this horrible/this tragic happens, you do an after-action assessment and determine what you can do to prevent it from happening again/mitigating the impact when it does. Our choice almost defines insanity - persisting in negative behaviors (moral high-handedness, cultural/commercial imperialism, duplicitous diplomacy of convenience) and expecting that adding more negative behaviors (security theater, fostering a big-brother culture of espionage and paranoia) will prevent the event from happening again. It's kind of like setting a standing appointment with the dermatologist for laser melanoma removal while maintaining your routine at the tanning salon. Skin cancer may not be what kills you, but...

Well said. Some light could be cast on this reaction by exploring the histories of Rumsfeld and Cheney with a man aptly named Robert Strange McNamara.

 

[alex gard]

Bad Boy Bubby is one of the most disturbing movies to date. (The Australian one, not the American 'Bad Boy Bubba').

 

[MartinCrabtree]

A short video named "An unknown Russian soldier". Bothered me for quite a while. Beware if you search for it. Quite nasty.

 

[Vilk]

Our choice almost defines insanity - persisting in negative behaviors (moral high-handedness, cultural/commercial imperialism, duplicitous diplomacy of convenience) and expecting that adding more negative behaviors (security theater, fostering a big-brother culture of espionage and paranoia) will prevent the event from happening again.

Sounds like you might know of an alternative--care to share?

As to the original question, I remember seeing many disturbing images and films in my youth (I remember being disturbed at the time rather than the images or films themselves) but then, as time went by, I would become less and less prone to being upset. I cannot recall a single "disturbing" image after turning 40. I like to think acceptance of life as it is has something to do with it; acceptance need not mean consent or complicity, of course...

I hope that's more or less normal.

 

[slackercrurster]

An image or film that disturbs you is a good image or film. The ones you forget are the boring ones.

 

[Wallendo]

When I was in high school, our drivers ed course consisted primarily of watching 16mm films of dead bodies on the highway following automobile accidents. As teenagers, most of us thought it was just more horror movie material. But as an adult I find it disturbing that the mutilated corpses of people, who were beloved sons and daughters of caring families, were exhibited in such a way to teenagers who completely missed the point.

 

[Kino]

"Come and See" (1985)

 

[Arthurwg]

I don't think I can ever watch the film of the Twin Towers falling again. I get get sick when I see it.
Larry

I was in the street, not far from the TT's when the second plane hit the building and burst into flames. Rather upsetting.

 

[BainDarret]

The "eye scene" in Un Chien Andalou always gets me:

Not for the squeamish although an animal eye was used here.

 

[jim10219]

The "eye scene" in Un Chien Andalou always gets me:

Not for the squeamish although an animal eye was used here.

I love how he foreshadows the slice with a cloud passing in front of the moon. Almost like he's going to spare you the gore with a metaphor, and then goes ahead and shows it to you anyway! Still, I can handle the eye scene a lot better than the forcible groping. That's the one that makes me truly uneasy. Which is why it's such a great movie. Nothing but confusion, unchecked impulses, and madness!

 

[Svenedin]

I found the film "Kajaki" brutal and disturbing. I could barely watch it. It tells the story of the soldiers of the Paratroop Regiment trapped in a minefield in Afghanistan. Another film that made me so uneasy that I had to leave the cinema to get some air was "Munich" (which I actually saw in Munich).

 

[CMoore]

At home......i watched Carnival Of Souls, by myself at about 3AM. I felt Weird/Scared/Haunted.

At The Lumiere Theater, in San Francisco, when the movie was new......i watched Blue Velvet by myself. The movie ended at Midnight. I walked to the bus stop in a daze. I felt creepy, in the theater, while i as watching that movie. For its time, it was quite disturbing.

Again, for its time, it was disturbing......."The Addiction" with C. Walken and Lili Taylor......seeing it by myself, at night, seems to compound the fright.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

If you want to be disturbed, try Tetsuo the Iron Man. It's a Japanese film about someone who accumulates scrap metal incorporating it into his body and losing his humanity in the process. The opening sequence has Tetsuo going into a scrap metal yard, getting a piece of rebar, running into the street, and jamming it into his leg. And it only gets more depraved from there.

 

[warden]

Today must be resurrect-threads-from-2013 day.

 

[moose10101]

When I was in high school, our drivers ed course consisted primarily of watching 16mm films of dead bodies on the highway following automobile accidents. As teenagers, most of us thought it was just more horror movie material. But as an adult I find it disturbing that the mutilated corpses of people, who were beloved sons and daughters of caring families, were exhibited in such a way to teenagers who completely missed the point.

Was that “Signal 30”?

 

[David Brown]

When I was in high school, our drivers ed course consisted primarily of watching 16mm films of dead bodies on the highway following automobile accidents. As teenagers, most of us thought it was just more horror movie material. But as an adult I find it disturbing that the mutilated corpses of people, who were beloved sons and daughters of caring families, were exhibited in such a way to teenagers who completely missed the point.

I did not take a drivers ed course for this very reason. I let my dad teach me and passed the tests just fine.

 

[Helios 1984]

The day after 9/11, I shed tears when I saw "The Falling Man" on the front page of my newspaper.

 

[CMoore]

I did not take a drivers ed course for this very reason. I let my dad teach me and passed the tests just fine.

I will simply say.......The two of you