Despicable characters
I guess I must be the only one that found the two leading characters despicable.
share[deleted]
MovieChat Forums > The Man Who Would Be King (1975) Discussion > Despicable characters
They're con men. It's a comedy.
shareI'm with you....Danny and Peachy are two of my favorite cinematic characters. Looking at going home to mundane poorly paid jobs, they decide to take fate in their hands and bet everything on a grand adventure. If you want to get all PC about it, go for it, but you'll miss a first-class movie.
shareBear in mind, its a period piece. You can't judge them by modern western standards. By the standards of Victorian India..ok they were still pretty shady.
If a day does not require an AK,
it is good
Ice Cube
Warrior Poet
They are imperfect bearers of a great thing - Western Civilization. Remember, the last one of these to show up was Alexander, and the natives still worship him. Though his worship seems to have degenerated into a self-serving cult, which happens to religions sometimes.
That was Kiplings view, and is largely mine. Read the story, it is a parable of the whole Imperial project of the 19th century. But what makes Kipling one of a handful of great writers is that he looks past the story to the mythic elements in it, the nature of man, and his beliefs. All his works are still in print, and there is a reason.
Ps Note that any fault you can find with these two is generally also found in the natives - and a lot worse. Constant war, promiscuity, polo with people's heads, some of it shocks even them. I am not convinced that their rule was any worse than the local chiefs, and in many ways was better. Another parallel with the 19th century's imperial movement.
..and they are human!? If: YES? I agree;-)
shareThey were anti-heroes, dude.
It is the point of the film to show that they evolved from petty criminals to brave men that would face their deaths boldly and side by side with their friends.
"It doesnt matter what Bram Stoker has told you... dead people don't come back from their graves"
But actually they have always been brave men, and facing death boldly side by side with their friends is simply what soldiers do.
One of the points of this story is that they had great qualities but lived in a class-ridden empire that had no use for them other than as cannon fodder. Another contradictory point (because a really good story can and perhaps should contradict itself in places) is that some people with great qualities will never fit comfortably into society and will break out and do something exceptional, and it's sometimes just a toss-up whether they end up as heroes or villains.
I wouldn't call them despicable. The British Empire on the other hand, and it's army, who they worked for and who taught them almost everything they knew, yes, you could call them despicable. But these two characters were just a couple of lower class opportunists, and a product of their environment. Their motivation wasn't malevolence, but opportunity. And, they weren't real as far as I know, and even if they were, the characters in this film are just that. If they were real then you could probably call them bad men at most, but the last time I checked the world wasn't exactly made of peaches and cream. Plus, they are punished in the end for their misbehaviour, so it's not like the original story doesn't acknowledge that what they were doing was wrong. If the story had had another ending, where Peachy and Danny had got what they wanted without any consequence, then the film wouldn't have been any where near as appealing..
The word despicable is a bit strong, and more fitting for the likes of the Adolf Hitlers and George Bushes of the world, ie. people with real power who are in a position to actually do some good for the world, but instead abuse that power for their own deluded and often vicious ideas and interests.
What's really "despicable" is equating "Adolf Hitler" with the "George Bushes of the world". There are at least 10 million bodies between them and a republican (note the small case "r") vs. totalitarian philosophy.
shareI wouldnt say that bodycount justifies or doesnt justify using the word descipable. Its more about intentions and actions, and the consequences oft those. And as far as I can gather, Bushes actions and intentions in the Middle East could be described as descipable. Look what a mess it is there now, and whether iot was just plain ignorance or malevolence, its despicable what the Bush Administration started and continued in Iraq and Afghanistan..
shareI won't argue about the word "despicable". Any dictionary informs its meaning. And, you may use the word any way you choose . . . so may I.
Re "the Bushes" and the Iraq war -- G.W. Bush won that war (remember the purple fingers at the polling places and an end of the suspicions about weapons of mass destruction proferred by every single intelligence agency here and in Europe at the time. There were chemical weapons, in case you forgot, which when last I heard are still considered weapons of mass destruction).
Sadly -- the Obama administration lost the peace by prematurely withdrawing our troops against the advise of those self-same intelligence organizations and the same military advisors who'd won the war: which was the truly "despicable" act which has led to the multiple tragedies we are experiencing worldwide today. Curiously, the "despicable" (if you'll permit me a second use of the word) current occupant of the White House and who was in such a hurry to withdraw troops from Iraq has determined, apparently, it makes sense to maintain troops in Germany and Japan 70 years after the end of that war.
Sure I found them despicable, but that's ok, if the story is interesting and well told you don't have to have likable protagonists, and despite being despicable they were charismatic and likable anyways.
Irks me when people need to be able to relate to the main characters or like them to enjoy the movie. If that's the case then you have to boycott Taxi Driver, Godfather, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now, Clockwork Orange, the list goes on.
"Nobody knows anybody, not that well..." - Miller's Crossing