10 Greatest Ever Noble Sacrifices In Film

An animated family movie about a lonely boy and his robot friend doesn’t sound on paper like it will contain one of the most affecting sacrifices in movie history, but somehow the close of Brad Bird’s movie gets me every time. As a nuclear missile inadvertently hurtles towards the small town of Rockwell, our young hero Hogarth explains to his metal friend what is about to unfold.

The pair have become extremely close over the course of the movie. In one particularly memorable sequence they bond over superhero comics and Hogarth teaches the Giant a valuable lesson that he doesn’t have to be the villain the army may paint him as; he can also be a hero. In other words, “you are who you choose to be”.

It’s because of this close friendship that when the Giant hears about the missile and realises what it means for the town of Rockwell and his young friend, he says a heartfelt goodbye and flies off to intercept it. Already this is pretty moving stuff as the supposedly dangerous mechanical creature is showing he cares for human life and is willing to sacrifice himself to protect it.

However the truly heartstring-tugging moment comes as he hurriedly forces the missile out into space. Seconds before it is about to detonate he grins a contented smile and simply utters “Superman”. With just one word he shows that he understands now what Hogarth was trying to teach him. He’d shown that he didn’t need to be a villain or a deadly machine just because that’s what people say he is.

He chose to die a hero after all.