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Sometimes a film can hit you so hard that you aren’t certain you’ll ever want to sit through it again, that you don’t know you ever want to experience the emotions that it drew out of you more than just that once. Not in a bad way, mind you, but in that way where the film was so well made that it burrowed deep into your soul and pulled out a part of your very being that you thought was buried and held it in front of your face. For me, that film is Whiplash.While it was my favorite film of that year, and deserved all of the praise and awards it received, I can’t bring myself to sit through it a second time. So much adrenaline had pumped through my system during the finale that I sat through the end credits only because my legs were weak and I could barely stand, let alone walk down the steps to the exit.Whiplash might have a brother in arms, so to speak, with the release of a long-gestating Stephen King (writing as Richard Bachman) adaptation called The Long Walk.In an alternate past, America was torn asunder by a brutal war and is now under a dystopian totalitarian form of rule. Young men volunteer for the annual “Long Walk,” where in one from each state is chosen by lottery to participate.The government came up with this event in an attempt to restore a sense of unity to the country. In it, the young men walk together down a stretch of road, trying to maintain a speed of at least three miles an hour. If they fall below that, they are given three warnings, after which they are executed. For the last person standing, there is a huge cash prize and a wish is granted.All of this, of course, is broadcast on TV.The Long Walk is a brutal, heartbreaking, severe punch in the gut that is somehow also very life-affirming. Director Francis Lawrence and writer JT Mollner have crafted a film that is so complex in its simplicity that every emotion it brings out of you comes as a surprise. To do this with a film that’s just guys walking and talking is pure genius.Every performance is key to the story, and each actor is their own powerful piece that holds the puzzle together. Cooper Hoffman, David Jonsson, Tut Nyuot and Ben Wang play our central crew who nickname themselves The Musketeers. Garrett Wareing and Charlie Plummer effectively portray the walking villains, while Mark Hamill is The Major, the militaristic villain who runs the Walk.This is not a film for the fragile. Not only is the violence graphic, it’s also stirring. The first death happens fairly early in the Walk, and even though we haven’t had much time with these characters, the moment is powerful in its intensity.I have become teary-eyed during many movies for various reasons. Joy. Sadness. Realizing I actually paid money to see something. Yet, I haven’t outright cried during a film, and at so many different times, in such a long time. This is why I’m not sure I can ever revisit The Long Walk, even though it is definitely one of, if not the best, film of the year.