The other day my son mentioned he'd impressed his history teacher by drawing John Merrick on the title page for his notebook
We discussed The Elephant Man and I mentioned it was a film that had brought me to tears.
As I continued reflecting I mentioned other movies that had a similar effect, like Bambi and King Kong and Big Fish.
My son didn't remember Tim Burton's film, which surprised me as I recall crying while watching it a second time with my family.
So we watched the trailer and my son asked "what exactly is it that makes you cry?"
I began explaining the father and son theme, how the son doesn't believe the stories his father told him and so on.
Then I started recalling the final scene, where the son takes his father to the river and my throat started to close.
Soon my eyes were watering and I knew I was about to start sobbing.
My son looked bemused as I excused myself from continuing.
I don't know why the film makes me cry, probably the theme, but it surprised me how little exposure was required to have an effect.
Sometimes I think it's important to cry in front of my kids but it surprises me how rarely they remember it.
