Directed by Vincente Amorim
Written by C.P. Taylor and John Wrathall
Cast: Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker
[2008]
“The safest road to hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” -C.S. Lewis
“Life is a sum of all your choices.” -Albert Camus
The scene is Germany in the 1930s. John Halder (Viggo Mortensen) is a professor who has written a supposedly fictitious book supporting compassionate euthanasia. Thus far, he has discreetly avoided joining the National Socialist party. He quietly sighs when books are burned outside his classroom window, but does nothing to openly defy Nazism. Trouble comes in when Der Fehurer himself reads John’s novel. Hitler loves it. John is promised significant funds to continue his work, with only one catch: he must join the party. It is a polite command.
Initially, the film promises to deal more with the subject of euthanasia. With brilliant subtly, euthanasia becomes a metaphor for Nazi ideology. Good becomes the story of one man’s slow downward descent into spiritual death.
When he begins working for Hitler, John witnesses the humanizing of euthanasia brought on partly by the success of his book. A commercial is shot where a young man gives a suicide pill to a beautiful young women in a silk nightgown, saying “this will help you sleep.” She breathes her last “I love you” and falls tenderly on his shoulder. Thus death (murder perhaps, the film doesn’t give a clear verdict) is glamorous, much like the Nazi propaganda that used euphemisms like “resettlement” and “camp.”
In the end its all about conscience. There is always the indication that John Halder knows the difference between right and wrong. At intervals throughout the movie, John imagines he hears music playing. We are left to wonder what this could mean. In the beginning of the film, John says that music equals faith. In the end, the music was real. All along it pointed to a climatic crescendo, perhaps symbolizing goodness or moral universalism. Before realizing it is real, John hears the music three times: 1) when he first meets the women he would later leave his wife for, 2) when his euthanasia work is being praised, and 3) when he witnesses his own colleagues forcing Jewish Germans off to concentration camps. Perhaps the music symbolizes his conscience, because in the end, John realizes that true goodness does exist, and it is in the very heart of what he was helping to exterminate.
The music could also represent John's moral reality. The movie takes place in the time span when John is tangibly caught between the dark side and the good side. The music signifies this unbalance. When John is at the "good" equilibrium, there is nothing out of place to trigger his conscience (i.e. what allows him to hear the music). But in the struggle to serve both good and evil, all of John's moral senses are unrooted. It is like jumping from a plane: there was sensory equilibrium in the plane and there will be equilibrium on the ground. The violent rush of wind that occurs while falling is like the conscientious war that precedes a moral choice.
The music could also represent John's moral reality. The movie takes place in the time span when John is tangibly caught between the dark side and the good side. The music signifies this unbalance. When John is at the "good" equilibrium, there is nothing out of place to trigger his conscience (i.e. what allows him to hear the music). But in the struggle to serve both good and evil, all of John's moral senses are unrooted. It is like jumping from a plane: there was sensory equilibrium in the plane and there will be equilibrium on the ground. The violent rush of wind that occurs while falling is like the conscientious war that precedes a moral choice. Throughout his life, little by little, John falls farther away from what is good. Gradually, “right” or “good” becomes relative. It started with a simple paper. “Just join the party," they said. A second glance at his beautiful student named Alice (Jodie Whittaker) evolves into an affair. In time John is not just meeting with the Nazis over a beer, he is wearing their uniforms.
At first it seems as though John can serve two masters. Although he joined the National Socialist party, he did not abandon his Jewish friend (a brilliantly sardonic Jason Isaacs). He writes a book on compassionate euthanasia and yet will not give into his sick mother’s pleas to end her misery. There comes a point though, when he has sold himself completely to one side. This happened not in a definitive moment, but through the succession of many small choices.
Jason Isaacs (The Patriot, Harry Potter) adds strength and defiance to the convincing and realistic cast. Mortensen (The Lord of the Rings, The Road) makes the movie chilling: we feel that we could be in his place, weeping in astonishment at what we have done. He is gentle, kind, and caring. All his virtues remind us that no one is safe from making bad choices, and no amount of goodness can shield the evil that resides in every human’s heart.
Thanks Dad for the help on this one.
Thanks Dad for the help on this one.
