I can't stop laughing at how close minded people in this board are. Make an effort to understand that:
In the 70's, it wasn't as easy to accept a child being indifferent to murder than it is now.
Yes, the couple made poor judgement, mostly, does this mean this movie is crap? No. It was intentional, as it is in many related movies. I don't recall a single movie where the adults didn't doubt the child misconduts.
What makes this movie a good piece of cinema is:
The way it shows how the children saw themselves unconnected to adults, indifferent to their well being, like puppets to play with.
The key scenes that terrified us, the piñata, the old man beating, the children only caring about the baby.
Overrated? Perhaps, but it doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie.
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fiatlux-1
14 years ago
Excellent post, romainsimoni-1. I agree. Its easy to forget (or not even realize) that the knowledge of childrens' psychology and pathology was not a tenth of what it is today. Children were viewed as not having even the ability to murder anyone then. The wife even makes a comment to that effect in the film.
Now today, we know that children are certainly capable of murder and can even be sociopathic. Plus, the murder of children was NOT shown nearly as often in films (as it was very controversial, and still is to some extent today)and the attitudes of the adults toward the children reflects this time frame's beliefs.
Part of what is so chilling in the film is that we as adults think of children as being 'connected' to adults somehow, an extension of us & needing us.
But here they do not, they seem perfectly delirious to be amongst themselves AND to use the adults as torture toys.
The director is likely showing a reversal of sorts: in the beginning its mentioned that Nazis tortured and experimented on many children. Here, the children are the ones doing the experimenting and torturing.
I wish the film had revealed a LITTLE bit as to who or what was making the children behave this way. But then, maybe it did. We see the children *stare* at an unaffected child and also touch the belly of the pregnant wife. This would imply that a supernatural or extraterrestrial force was at work, I would think.
"I'd say this cloud is Cumulo Nimbus."
"Didn't he discover America?"
"Penfold, shush."
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overninethousand
12 years ago
"In the 70's, it wasn't as easy to accept a child being indifferent to murder than it is now."
Cambodians would probably like have a word with you.
In fact, this is just like one scene from the film:
At mid-morning the next day, Pech called together all the peasants and evacuees and took them to a flowering shower tree that grew behind the huts. They stood beneath masses of beautiful bright flowers in shades ranging from pale red to white. Birdsong filled the air around them. The sun had not yet burned away the delightful morning smell of growing things--of life. A few white puffs of clouds dared to intrude on the rich blue of the sky. The air was dry and comfortable. A gentle breeze played across the downcast faces of those waiting by the tree.
It was a great morning, a gorgeous spot.
Mey was still tied to the post, now with soldiers standing on either side of him. Pech, dressed in his usual black uniform, glowered at them all and waved an American military .45 caliber handgun at Mey. Nobody had seen the handgun before.
"The CIA and KGB are working to overthrow our glorious revolution," he bellowed. "Their *beep* spies are everywhere. There are also agents of hated and corrupt capitalists at work among us. Now watch and you will see what we do to these counter-revolutionaries." He raised his gun and fired a shot into the sky.
The two soldiers guarding Mey untied him from the post, then retied his hands when he staggered to his feet. He was too weak to walk. They half carried him to the tree. A soldier threw a long rope knotted into a noose over a lower branch. Mey did not protest or move when the soldiers dragged him over to the noose, tied his feet, and placed the noose around his neck. He said not a word.
A soldier had entered one of the huts. Now he emerged with six of the children Mey had been teaching. Soldiers led them to the tree and instructed them to line up by the long end of the rope that fell along the ground from the tree limb. They were too solemn and quiet for young children, and seemed confused. A soldier picked up the rope and put it in their hands. Although the soldier had probably spent some time early in the morning instructing them, he still had to make tugging motions several times before the children would pull on the rope.
Looking back and forth between the rope and the soldier, the children pulled halfheartedly on the rope, yelling, "Bad teacher. Bad teacher."
They pulled Mey off his feet and he hung a few feet above the ground, his tied legs jerking back and forth. The children released the rope, and Mey fell to the earth in a shower of flowers knocked loose from the shaken branch. Encouraged by the soldier, the children picked up the rope and tugged with more vigor, walking backwards several feet, pulling Mey off his feet and above the ground a second time. They still chanted, "Bad teacher, bad teacher."
The soldier motioned the children on several more times, until Mey was dead. By then, the children were enjoying the new game. And the ground around Mey was carpeted with flowers.
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