Cinerant

Vengeance & Grief

"Vengeance is a lazy form of grief." After seeing The Interpreter this weekend, this is the line that stuck out the most when the entire film was over. Despite an incredibly effective second-act sequence that would have made Hitchcock proud, this is what I have dwelt on for three days when thinking about the movie. (In addition to my constant thoughts of just how beautiful Kidman actually is.) In the film, Kidman talks about African culture and tribal views regarding solace and misery and makes this comment to Sean Penn's character.

At the time, it struck me as one of those lines in a screenplay that makes things seem more intelligent than they may actually be. That's what I assumed this would be--a statement that sounded great, but rang a little hollow when you start looking at it. I've realized that's just the opposite.

Acceptance, forgiveness, servitude--they can all be really hard. The reason is because they all revolve around a sense of self instead of a focus on others. We want to experience revenge and retribution when we are harmed because it's way too easy for people to concentrate on ourselves and our own personal desires. As a result, we rarely look beyond ourselves to recognize what our forgiveness means to others--how our refusal to revenge helps other grow, experience life more intensely and more fully.

I'm not sure where all these thoughts are going, but I'm sure I didn't expect to think about this when I got in line for a "political thriller." Go figure.

posted by cinegod @ 12:03 AM