20 Most Depressing Film Endings Since 2000

4. Blackfish (2013)

The Ending: The film ends with some text stating the following:
May 30, 2012: Judge Ken Welsch issued a ruling on OSHA Vs. SeaWorld. During shows, SeaWorld trainers must now remain behind barriers, seperated from the orcas.
It then cuts to a group of the ex-Seaworld trainers on a boat watching a pod of orcas swimming in the open ocean. In truly mesmarising scenes we see the straight-dorsal-finned whale racing uninhibited through the limitless expanses of water. Depressing Because €“ It feels like Gabriela Cowperthwaite, Blackfish€™s director, chose to insert these closing images to sugar-the-pill of what is overall a thoroughly upsetting 90 minutes. However, it really has the opposite effect. The ruling of Judge Ken Welsch may protect the trainers who promote the incarceration of the orca but it does absolutely nothing for the well-being of the whale themselves. Intelligent animals like Tilikum will continue to spend their whole lives imprisoned in atrociously small tanks with absolutely no stimulation for their sophisticated minds, calves will continue to be ripped from their pods as their mothers wail for their lost young and hundreds of ignorant tourists will continue to throng to SeaWorld each-and-every day. The final frames of footage showing the orca in the wild just intensifies the sadness, as we can finally appreciate what these submarine giants look like in their natural environment. A Silver Lining? Blackfish was pivotal as a piece of film to raise awareness about the plight of the creatures at SeaWorld. The fact that it has achieved so much critical and commercial success is a silver-lining in itself.
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Contributor

Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.