10 Harrowing Movies That Will Crush Your Soul
9. The Pianist
Films about real-life genocides are some of the most upsetting viewing experiences around, and they are usually a shoe-in for lists such as this one. In regards to movies concerning the Holocaust, one of the worst atrocities in human history, The Pianist - one of the all-time great pictures about the event - stands out as one of the ones that'll really break you.
The Pianist tells the story of Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody), a Polish pianist who survived for several years in the Warsaw Ghetto, and he goes through hell and back throughout the film. He loses his entire family and endures one traumatic event after another. By the end, Wladyslaw's barely alive, a walking shell of a man, which serves as a good visual representation of how this movie will make viewers feel. Adrien Brody himself has even gone on record saying that he can't watch his intense lead performance now.
It's a lot.
The 2022 picture is two-and-a-half-hours of never-ending fear and tragedy. And while some Holocaust films, such as the great Schindler's List, do offer a bit of hope amidst all the darkness there's very little of that here. Thankfully, Szpilman did survive the war and lived to the age of 88, but he went through things no-one should have to endure.