Train to Busan was much more emotional than I thought it would be, especially for a zombie flick

I can't say that i've ever been brought to tears by a zombie film. Ever. Train to Busan is the first. Spoilers ahead.

The film revolves around a man and his daughter trying to travel during the outbreak of a zombie apocalypse. In the beginning of the film there's visible tension between the father and daughter. He's a workaholic who's isn't around enough and there's characterization that shows the father to be absent in his daughter's life physically as well as emotionally.

Throughout the film the father is played very cold and unconcerned about nothing but his company all the while filling the normal fatherly role of looking after his daughter. As the film goes on, the characterization of the father is developed, but by other people. The man with the pregnant wife for example, sees him as a corporate, selfish asshole who's only concern is himself and throughout the film you get the sense that he might actually be that way, or so it seems.

The film begins to show the father to be not only be heroic and selfless but absolutely dedicated to his daughter. At the end of the film, when he's bitten after sacrificing his well being to protect her, he goes a final step further. As he leaves his vulnerable daughter, her screaming for him not to go, he stands on the edge of a train cart, knowing he's about to change for the worst. You can see in his eyes that the transformation begins and his last final thoughts...are of his daughter's birth. That honestly killed me emotionally.

That scene, along with a strong score, does something that no other film in the genre has been able to do for me. You actually feel his pain as he cries, thinking of his newborn daughter cradled between his arms in the delivery room; knowing he's about to leave her life forever. His eyes visibly clouding from the infection that's about to turn him while smiling and laughing at his last human thoughts of her. He leaps off the train before the transformation is complete.

This scene was fantastic and really made the film imo. It subverted my expectations and I honestly didn't think I could be affected that way from a zombie flick. I wonder has there ever been a film that surprised you emotionally?

The scene: https://youtu.be/HUJVoXK5r58

Submitted April 23, 2017 at 10:29PM by LeftHandBandito_ http://ift.tt/2pTEfHb