What is the most depressing film you have ever seen? (Fiction only)

[Bad_Ronald]

25. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

I know this is a strange selection. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is, without question, one of the best films ever made, and Jack Nicholson's performance in this film was perhaps the best in his long & illustrious career. But, I'll be pickled puddle water if this wasn't the most depressing film I ever saw.

My mom dragged me to see this movie at the tender age of 6. Most if not all of the dialogue went over my prepubescent cabeza, but I was astute enough to see what an evil cow Nurse Ratched was. At the end, when they lobotomized R.P. McMurphy & brought him back to the ward, and chief saw what they had done to him, I cried my eyes out. Even the Chief's iconic getaway couldn't cushion the blow. At age 6, I had no conception that such places even existed in the world, and that people could do that to other people. It actually made me afraid of nurses.

That flick fucked me up until my mother had the opportunity to take my to see another child-friendly opus that summer of 1975...Jaws. After that, not only did I posses an irrational fear of nurses, but of the ocean & sharks. My biggest fear that summer of 1975 was that I would have one my legs bitten off by a shark, and that I would be taken to the hospital where nurse Ratched would treat me by having my brains carved out of my skull.