Top 10 'Haunting' Movie Scenes

By Kris Rasmussen

When I talk about my favorite "haunting" moments in film, I'm not using the word in reference to spooky movies about ghosts, but rather in the way that the great Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor used the concept—the part of a story that is at once completely true and yet surprising in the way it gives us insight into the human condition. These moments aren't necessarily inspiring in a feel-good, happy-ending sense—though sometimes they can be. But they do bring revelation to our souls in some big or small way. In other words, it's that scene in a movie that you can't get out of your head days later because it's making you think and feel something new.

Here are my top 10 haunting movie scenes...

'Glory' - The Whipping

Denzel Washington won an Oscar for his portrayal of a soldier in the first black military regiment in the Civil War, wrongly accused of trying to desert. It isn't an easy scene to watch, but the gamut of emotions expressed by both Washington and Matthew Broderick—who plays the regiment's leader— without saying a word create a powerful statement about prejudice and misunderstandings.

'Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade' - The Step of Faith

This scene is the most light-hearted of my choices on the list, but Indiana's (Harrison Ford) fateful step into thin air, only to find solid ground underneath his feet after all, is certainly the best visual of faith in a modern movie.

'The Mission' - The Cliffs

The 20 minutes before this scene are also completely riveting, but Robert De Niro's portrayal of a slave trader trying to achieve forgiveness by carrying a heavy sack as he futilely attempts to climb up a steep cliff over and over again is my favorite movie portrait of our need for grace.

'The Verdict' - The Summation

This speech is one of the great pieces of movie writing of the last 25 years. Paul Newman as a down-and-out attorney who has no reason to believe he will win his case gives the speech understated power, creating an anthem for justice that will long be remembered.

'To Kill a Mockingbird' - The Interrogation of Mayella

Yes, most people would point to Atticus Finch's exit from the courtroom after losing the trial as the movie's most memorable moment. But as haunting moments go, I find Atticus's gentle yet sharp questioning of Mayella Ewell, which uncovers the truth, all the more heartbreaking because we know it will not change the verdict for poor Tom Robinson.

'Witness' - Ring the Bell

There are two moments in this film that are great visual portrayals of innocence and corruption (not to mention two different cultures) colliding. This scene comes at the end of the film when the young boy Samuel saves the life of police officer John Book (Harrison Ford) by ringing the farm bell and bringing the other Amish farmers to stop the bad guys—not with violence, but by being witnesses to the impending crime.

'Fargo' - The Woodchipper

To some, this is going to seem a strange choice, I know. But this is one of the greatest movies about how crime doesn't pay, and there is still no more disturbing, paradoxical scene than when pregnant police officer Marge finally catches one of the criminals as he is rather creatively disposing of his partner's body.

'Shawshank Redemption' - Andy Plays Mozart

The scene where Andy (Tim Robbins) brings hope to his fellow inmates by locking himself in a room and playing Mozart over the prison's public address system is one of the most beautiful moments in film that crystallizes the redemptive, transcendent power of art.

'The Passion of the Christ' - Mary's Montage

Whatever your general thoughts about the movie's controversy, there is one scene that expresses the incarnational nature of the gospel. As Mary watches her son, Jesus, carrying the cross down the Via Dolorosa, he falls, which triggers a flashback in her mind of a childhood incident. She remembers how, when he was a boy, she rushed to his side and picked him up after he fell. As she watches the grown man Jesus fall under the weight of the cross, she rushes to his side again but can do nothing to take away the pain.

'Dead Man Walking' - The Execution

I cried more during this movie than in any other film I have watched. I have actually only been able to sit through this movie twice. Even so, I am forever haunted by Sister Helen Prejean's desire to be "the face of love" to someone who has done something so despicable.

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