The Last Supper
A dark comedy starring Cameron Diaz, 1995. It's about these 5 liberal graduate students who live together in the middle of a conservative Iowa town. One night they have a redneck veteran over for dinner, and they get into an argument with him about the ethics of war. The redneck starts to get violent, and pulls out a knife on one of the housemates, just to demonstrate what a pussy he really is, and then attacks another one the housemates. While the redneck is breaking this second guy's arm, the first guy stabs the redneck with his knife.
The horrified housemates debate what to do. They all know it was an accident, but they realize that that would be hard to plead considering the dead man was stabbed in the back. What if we explain that Marc was drunk? But I'm not drunk, says Marc, I'm high. Like we can explain that to the police...etc.
Finally it's decided that they won't report the incident, they'll bury the body and dump the guy's truck, and in this remote town, probably no one will ever notice. So the housemates get away with murder, and that would have been the end of it; but the next day two of the guys are sitting in a coffee shop and witness a man being a big jerk to someone. We should have him over for dinner, remarks one. What started out as a joke takes hold as a brilliant idea. Liberals always fight and never get anything done. They could actually make a difference in the world if they got rid of the hateful conservatives who are doing it harm.
The rest of the movie is a rather tired out exploration on the psychology of murder, like Crime and Punishment or Macbeth, except not as serious and not as thought-provoking, though there is a nice twist of irony at the end.
But the hypothetical that really got me thinking was the opening premise of the movie. What would I do if I were present at a murder such as the first one? What if my friends were being attacked, and an act of self-defense plus some drugs resulted in an accidental death? I too would feel that it's unjust that my friend should have to take the fall for some worthless scumbag - who incidentally turns out to be a murderer and a child molester whom the world was well rid of. What would be the point of compounding this scumbag's accidental death with the death penalty that surely awaits my friend? It's not like that would bring the dead man back, and besides, my friend is a basically good person, and most of all, it was an accident.
What would I do? Realistically, I'd most likely report the incident from the beginning in order to avoid as much responsibility as possible. I've seen too much CSI to think that I could actually get away with it. That's what I'd most likely do, but at the same time, I'm not proud of it. Throwing my friend to the dogs like that is a pretty supreme act of selfishness. I wouldn't be looking out for anyone except Numero Uno.
The horrified housemates debate what to do. They all know it was an accident, but they realize that that would be hard to plead considering the dead man was stabbed in the back. What if we explain that Marc was drunk? But I'm not drunk, says Marc, I'm high. Like we can explain that to the police...etc.
Finally it's decided that they won't report the incident, they'll bury the body and dump the guy's truck, and in this remote town, probably no one will ever notice. So the housemates get away with murder, and that would have been the end of it; but the next day two of the guys are sitting in a coffee shop and witness a man being a big jerk to someone. We should have him over for dinner, remarks one. What started out as a joke takes hold as a brilliant idea. Liberals always fight and never get anything done. They could actually make a difference in the world if they got rid of the hateful conservatives who are doing it harm.
The rest of the movie is a rather tired out exploration on the psychology of murder, like Crime and Punishment or Macbeth, except not as serious and not as thought-provoking, though there is a nice twist of irony at the end.
But the hypothetical that really got me thinking was the opening premise of the movie. What would I do if I were present at a murder such as the first one? What if my friends were being attacked, and an act of self-defense plus some drugs resulted in an accidental death? I too would feel that it's unjust that my friend should have to take the fall for some worthless scumbag - who incidentally turns out to be a murderer and a child molester whom the world was well rid of. What would be the point of compounding this scumbag's accidental death with the death penalty that surely awaits my friend? It's not like that would bring the dead man back, and besides, my friend is a basically good person, and most of all, it was an accident.
What would I do? Realistically, I'd most likely report the incident from the beginning in order to avoid as much responsibility as possible. I've seen too much CSI to think that I could actually get away with it. That's what I'd most likely do, but at the same time, I'm not proud of it. Throwing my friend to the dogs like that is a pretty supreme act of selfishness. I wouldn't be looking out for anyone except Numero Uno.
posted by Rex at 1:43 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home