What moments in movies and TV have you found incredibly stirring? By "stirring" I don't just mean any strong emotion, but that very particular welling-up of feeling that sometimes happens at a very poignant moment. It's a physical sensation, not just an emotion, sometimes called frisson.

For me it happens most often in moments of great triumph, but also is commonly triggered by a sudden realisation that something really massive is happening.

If the TV show/movie is recent (say, released in the last year) please spoiler tag your post. Otherwise, browsers beware. Here be spoilers.

Some examples:

The charge of the Rohirrim in Return of the King (LotR trilogy is full of moments like these)

The arrival at the hospital in The West Wing (In the Shadow of Two Gunmen)

The moment in The Sum of All Fears where they realise the nuke is about to go off. Link, but it's not the complete scene.

This Thai commercial, of all things.

Harry Potter, resurrection stone scene.

Beauty and the Beast, the Beast transforms.

 

Faith breaking down after the fight with Angel in the episode Five by Five.

Tons of others.

 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Buffy finding her mother Joyce unmoving, saying "Mom? Mom? MOM?... mummy?"

Field of Dreams - the moment when the field answers the question 'If I build it, who will come?' "D'you wanna play catch?"

Se7en - "Stay back Mills! John Doe is in control of this situation."

Memphis Belle - last landing in England, dropping the stuck wheel by hand crank

the Iron Giant - Giant hears echo of Hogarth saying 'You are who you choose to be.' says "Superman" and smiles.

[Fuck if I'm not having trouble typing that last one, it still hits me so completely in my everything.]

 

Doctor Who - via time travel, Vincent van Gogh sees his legacy. Link.

No knowledge of Doctor Who necessary to appreciate.

 

Eh, so many of these over the years that it's hard to remember of the top of my head. I second LotR. I cry man tears every time when Aragorn kneels after the coronation and I'm not afraid to admit it.

Going by TV shows I've been following the past few years, I remember:

Cary Agos' sentencing (The Good Wife)

Spoiler

It's one of my favorite shows ever. Season 6 was kind of all over the place, but even when it's not at its best, The Good Wife is still among the best. Of course, I haven't watched every show, but every critic under the sun seems to agree. Cary's case has been a theme of the first half of the season and that moment is such a gut-wrench for someone who's been following the show since 2009 - like me. Goddammit.

America is not the greatest country in the world anymore (The Newsroom)

Spoiler

I don't know if this warrants a spoiler, really. If you're aware of good TV, especially American TV (TV like this is something Americans do really well), then you've seen this clip, even if you haven't watched the show after that. I'm not an America apologist and I'm too lazy to fact-check what is said, but the way this scene comes together, with the speech and especially Jeff Daniels' performance, is beautiful.

Though I blame the Newsroom for Daniels' renewed popularity and ultimately Dumb and Dumber To.

By the way, if someone can point me to a decent online place to watch the West Wing, I'll be supremely grateful.

Edit: Just remembered:

Prof and Student (Lions for Lambs)

Spoiler

I like that movie, even though it seems to be mostly negatively reviewed. Garfield and Redford's scenes were the best imo.

The Soviet Anthem (Hunt for the Red October)

Just... goddamn.

 

Cheating because it's a factual TV programme, but still:

Sir Nicholas Winton organised the rescue and passage to Britain of 669 mostly Jewish Czechoslovakian children destined for the Nazi death camps before World War II in an operation known as the Czech Kindertransport.

Touching moment where he meets one of those he saved.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_nFuJAF5F0

Rather famous video by now, but included for completeness sake.

 

Right now off the top of my head, it would have to be Alan Shore's Supreme Court speech (both of them). He remains one of my favourite TV characters and James Spader's execution was flawless. I was on my feet applauding him by the end of it. He conveys rebellion & humility, strength and vulnerability in a way that takes you on an emotional roller coaster that never lets up.

 

Taure, now I won't be able to stop. Grrrrrrr...

I'll make a man out of you

Ending of Hero (Jet Li movie)

Heavy spoiler for that one if you haven't seen it, obviously.

EDIT: put the wrong scene in the link below. Fixed.

House of Flying Daggers (the dance scene)

Possibly the best scene of the film, but really, that whole thing is a thing of brilliance. The entire film's plot is just an excuse to take you from one stunning scene to another. No real spoilers here.

 

Damn, I dunno, that sort of thing happens a lot with great media. The second episode of The Americans wrecked me. I still get chills from A Few Good Men. People simply talking about the ending to Lisa's Substitute is like a kick in the head.

 

20 Hours in America, from the West Wing.

 

Stonewall Jackson's death in Gods and Generals.

The actual passage of the 13th Amendment in Lincoln.

Moment when they come across the destroyed village in Mulan.

Uncle Hub's speech to Walter in Secondhand Lions.

---------- Post automerged at 09:36 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:35 PM ----------

Also, another West Wing scene, from the Stackhouse Filibuster.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MM2qq5J5A1s

This was in real life but. Well it really doesn't need an explanation

 

The climactic explosion scene to the tune of Tschaikovsky's 1812 Overture in V for Vendetta does it for me.

 

This. All of my this. Also theaters are going to be showing this remastered on the 30th of this month and again on the 4th of October. >.>

 

The docking scene in intersteller. In fact Instersteller is full of moments like that. It's essentially my goto psych up movie.

 

Winner.

With the power of hilly-billy and a universal computer port, the world is saved.

Today is our Independence day!

 

For me it's the gut-punch plot twist moments you didn't see coming that are the best. Two come to mind:

- The last scene from The Usual Suspects. My father and I saw this in the theater, and immediately went and bought a ticket to watch it again immediately, just to see if we should have seen it coming.

- The season 3 finale of Lost. Say what you want about the way the later bits went, but nothing else has even come close to the "holy shit" I got from that moment.


That Newsroom clip that ScottPress put up is great. It gets tossed around on Facebook so much that you'd think I'd get sick of watching it, but I never do.

 

Revolutionary speech (V for Vendetta)

/THREAD

 

Doctor Who - The Widow and the Wardrobe (The reunion with Amy)

 

Braveheart Freedom Still get goosebumps from this shit