Night, in the carriage, two drunken people, the wilderness, the road unknown, how to think the protagonist should directly kill them rather than let the child pick the gun. The director implied that the protagonist in the United States after the assimilation of religious repression of their own, forgiveness and mercy or something, which led to the tragedy. The second half of John’s outbreak of killings and the mute girl left, as well as the chief’s sentence “May the Lord have mercy on your souls”, the director wanted to express is that God will not save you, self-salvation it!
The above paragraph is a short review written after watching the movie in December 14, now is April 30, 17. After two years of watching this movie again, the feeling is completely different. Two years ago I think the main man should just shoot, really selfish and personal heroism idea. Killing someone in front of their own children, I believe no one would be ready for that at any time. Even though it is done for the purpose of protecting the family, taking a human life is ultimately an evil. As the hero does, the vast majority of people with families try to keep their children from being exposed to the evils of the world too early, so he lets them pick up guns. After that, the two drunks may be coerced to get off the bus early, or to maintain a standoff until the end of the parting of the ways, we do not know, but the hero let the child pick up the gun instead of directly killing the two drunks, not out of pity for their lives, but as a father to his children’s compassion.
The first time I saw it in 14 years, I might have been more inclined to treat the movie as a mere downer action movie, and ignored the director and the actors’ portrayal of the hero. I was impressed by three segments. The first, the main man in the train station to pick up his wife and children’s expressions close-up let us see a vicissitudes of the soft side of the man’s heart. The always cold face showed a look of joy when he saw his wife smiling at him, as if he was trying to hide it, but he couldn’t hide it. Secondly, he did not cry when he saw the body of his child on the road, nor did he cry when he found his wife, and his brother comforted him after taking them home, and this time he finally broke down. Third, at the sight of his brother’s body being dragged by their horse. What kind of emotion would he have felt leaning against the stone. Wife and children are dead, the only mutual trust and reliance on his own brother is also dead, now he is really alone.
The film also explains the hero’s coldness and strength. He was a soldier, participated in the war against Germany, saw too much death and tragedy. Maybe he was not such a person originally?
The last mocking point is that the 16-year-old boy in the store says, when he finds out that the hero and his brother are leaving town, that the only two people who know how to use guns are leaving. Only two people know how to use guns? Are the sheriffs of the town all dead men? Almost as dead indeed, because they never dare to resist. It’s not as bad as the 16-year-old boy who volunteered to help the hero and take revenge together. Perhaps because young always have a passion, do not know fear, and do not know what they have to lose. That’s why young people are always the most easily incited and most likely to rise up in rebellion and seek change the hardest. Whether it is the past or the future.
The above, two years later, a little thinking and understanding, looking forward to the next two years later.
