13 Movies That Have Little Hope For Humanity

1. A Serious Man

The Coen brothers are at it again with this fascinatingly nihilistic drama about a man, Larry Gopnick (an incredible Michael Stuhlbarg), having a crisis of faith after his personal and professional lives go up in smoke.

Gopnick, a Jew, turns to a series of rabbis for answers throughout the film, none of whom provide satisfactory answers for why God appears to be punishing him.

While not necessarily a direct railing against organised religion, the film does appear to mock the feckless human need to ascribe meaning to a seemingly meaningless universe, where an avalanche of awful things can and do happen to good people.

How It Ends: After wrestling with the dilemma for most of the movie, Larry decides to accept a bribe in order to change the grade of a student's paper.

Almost immediately after this, as if caused by God himself, Larry receives a grim phone call from the doctor implying he's got some very bleak news, while a huge tornado approaches his son's school, the outcome of which is left unknown.

It's a masterpiece of a dark comedy that considers the notions of good and evil, why we choose to do things and how ultimately, the universe lacks the logical through-line many of us assume it has.

What do you make of these insanely bleak movies? Got any more to add? Shout them out in the comments!