MovieChat Forums > 1917 (2020) Discussion > *spoilers* Best death on screen in cinem...

*spoilers* Best death on screen in cinema history?


I believe that the death of Blake is for me the best death scene in cinema history, better than reservoir dogs and any other.

The reality of his situation just hit me hard, how it's acted, and how the whole situation unfolds how the characters react and how everything turns out, in my opinion, was excellent.

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It's definitely a really good death scene, and probably one of the best in cinema. But I don't think you can really compare really good death scenes with eachother. From the top of my head I can think of Julian in Children of Men and the wife in Up. Two incredible death scenes that really work for their respective stories and comparing them with others just seems pointless to me.

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Yeah, I am not saying it is the most "felt" or the death that hit the hardest character-wise, or story-wise, but the best death made, realistically speaking. I've never seen anyone die by being stabbed but looked as real as it can get.

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The way his face greyed as his blood flowed out was quite haunting, especially if you've ever seen a recently dead person.
I would say it was much better than when Damon Grant dies in Damon and Debbie. (spoiler alert)

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I noticed that also. It was the first time, as far as I know, where the dying person’s face went ashen due to the loss of blood.

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It was sad and well acted, but I expected one of them to die due to this being the Great War!

Best death on screen in cinema history...Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) in Psycho.

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Her eye on the drain with blood flowing. Still gives me the shivers!

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Not by a mile.
It was great in its tragedy, but it felt too random and quite stupid and unfair. Almost cheap.
Above all it didn't earn its drama and made its protagonist (Blake) less relevant.

A better death scene that achieves just the opposite of all these points? Bravehart's end.
But there are countless death scenes in film history with a bigger impact than this.

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I am not talking about story-wise or how much impact it had on you because of your attachment to the character because then I would argue Bambi's Mother would be a relevant death as well or Darth Vader's and the list goes on and on.

I'm talking as to how real it felt, how crude it was how close to reality it felt, as much as I can imagine without seeing anyone die because of a gut stab.

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Ah ok. It was quite realistic, but I didn't see anything as amazing as you did, probably because like you mentioned my attachment was low.

Why did you feel it was more realistic than any other death scene? I can think of any other war movie made after 1976 and they all have realistic death scenes. This one was a bit long, but I didn't see anything particuarly new, other than the kid realizing he was gonna die and turning angry and desperate.
These scenes usually go with the "I'm feeling cold" and the other guy saying "you're gonna make it!" right before they die.

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For me, it felt quite realistic, the way he turns pale as the scene goes on.

How he fades out, his conscience goes out and doesn't know what's going on, how he discovers he's been stabbed, is not like o shit I got stabbed, there's a process, denial first. He lifts his clothes to see if he really has been stabbed. How the whole scene plays out, for me, it felt quite real. I don't remember anything as close or accurate as this death.

Yeah, I've seen good deaths but quite dramatical, or theatrical (Reservoir Dogs comes to mind) this one for me was just real.

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Yes those were good details, I agree.
I wish the whole scene had a stronger point in the movie, like I said at that point I was like "ok, so we lost this guy we just met, too bad but whatever".

Also it didn't help at all the fact that it was so accidental (they see the plane from a mile away, it crashes right onto them, they pull this guy out etc...how many things had to go that way to get this guy dead?) and on top of it, a whole regiment arrives about 12 seconds after he dies (they would have handled the plane in a different manner, and maybe could have done something so save him from that wound). What kind of crap luck is that?

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