12 Saddest Heroic Sacrifices In Movies
Sometimes, the price of saving the world is losing everything.
Self-sacrifice in film has always been the ultimate sign of a character's selflessness, and passion for the greater good above their own life.
Somewhat inevitably, given the call for action in movies - for the sake of drama - and life-changing stakes, characters can often find themselves in life threatening situations. And sometimes, they put themselves in there voluntarily to save their loved ones.
It's the true mark of a hero to know from the start of their mission that coming out alive was never an option. But watching a character give their life to save their friends, save the city or the world, still always marks a scene as bittersweet.
But even though it leaves us inevitably broken, self-sacrifice does have good functions too. It can be the perfect goodbye to a long reigning character, or a beloved mentor pushing its protagonist to carry on without them.
12. Groot - Guardians Of The Galaxy
When Guardians of the Galaxy was first announced, audiences thought Marvel was already scraping the battle for new characters. With a talking racoon and talking tree, expectations were low. But a lot of credit has to go to the film-makers for making a tree who only ever speaks the same three words on repeat become one of the most beloved characters in the whole Marvel cinematic universe.
As our main group of misfits are on Ronan’s destroyed ship, falling to Xandar, Groot spreads out his branches and encompasses his friends in a protective ball of wood, plant life and fireflies. Even as his best friend Rocket begs him to stop, Groot simple wipes away his tears and speak the three words that broke us all down in the cinema. “WE…are…Groot”.
The scene goes white, we hear the ship crash and all the branches are shattered and broken, scattered all over the ground amongst the debris of the city and ship. Groot has died, but the rest of the guardians are alive.
Pretend for a moment that Groot wasn’t able to regenerate himself at the end there; Groot’s sacrifice shows the testament that his character was not just a silent, grunting muscle like he was portrayed to be.