Moral of the story?
did this movie have a moral? because the only message i got from it is commit suicide if something awful happens to you well if you think about it maybe it didnt have a moral maybe it was the facts of life?
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MovieChat Forums > Scum (1979) Discussion > Moral of the story?
It does show that Carlin had the chance for an easy time if he joined the system.....but he rebels (riot scene at the end etc)....was this the point he should of matured?....or become as bad as his jailers?
The author/director were no doubt trying to say..."this system of short sharp shock is wrong"...clearly the youths watching would see the 'hero' refuse to comform....thus be inspire to rise aginst the system.
Beat and cage a man or child in an inviroment of violence from those who are around them or are supposed to care for thier needs and you will not create a good citizen.....you will just make them more violent.....(get it yet?)
Carlin goes in on a small charge...wants to remain quiet..ends up fighting to survive and finds himself the new 'leader'...thus the system created a criminal greater than the one they first locked up.
does that help you out?
i kind of understand what you're saying but saying that it made him a greater criminal is wrong in my opinion because he was a "daddy" in another place
perhaps it made him not want to make his life for the better perhaps coming into that place he wanted to change his life so if any thing it made him go back to his old ways
its been so long since ive seen the movie but I could have swore carlin had a "record" as a leader at other places
Moral of the story?! Don't f#ck with the Daddy!!
I'm a bad,invicible,teeth-cuttin' out mutha-f*cka!! Hee-Hee! Ow!
He was said to have had a reputation from his old nick.....this is like I said due to him being placed in that enviroment in the first place..and reacting....maybe he was 'the daddy' there but would this same person do what he did in ail outside?
Sure he may have been a petty thief and got a longer jail term because his "brothers had form" but while serving his time he was pushed into being more of an animal.
Then again the movie version is slightly different from the TV film.
Oi....chamone...."I'm the daddy around here..and dont you fackin forget it...alright....you thread posted barstid"
"Roight kriminal YOU B@STARD! O'Im the daddy naa,next toime O'Ill faakin kill ya!!"
I'm a bad,invicible,teeth-cuttin' out mutha-f*cka!! Hee-Hee! Ow!
I don't there really is a 'moral', I think it just tried to show what Borstal life is at its worst. Never mind trying to leave a message, just show what brutal reality is all about. A bit like Romper Stomper really.
sharei agree with the previous poster. there is no moral, and there's no need for a moral to the story. the whole point is that everyone in the films is entirely lacking in morals. that i guess could be percieved as a moral in itself.
the film's purpose is to depict what life was like in Borstal, and from the film you take whatever impression or moral you like.
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I could have swore carlin had a "record" as a leader at other placesCarlin's "reputation" from the other borstal came from hitting back at one of two screws who were beating him.
He wasn't "the daddy" before the system of bullying (by both kids and adults) pushed him into it as his best self-defense. Before that he was just trying to keep his head down in the new place. He's turned into a "do it to them before they do it to you" inmate by the system itself.
And that's "the moral," by the way. That a brutal system breeds brutal people.
last 2 dvds: Khaneh siah ast (1963) & Don Giovanni (1979)
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The moral is simple, the way I see it. Three new inmates come. One is a strong character, fights for survival and works with the system. The other two end up dead. As Archer says, the system doesn't work.
I reckon there is no real end to the film, as there is no end to the story. What the three of them went through will just happen over and over again to new inmates.
Minor point, but Angel doesn't die. It's Toyne. Angel does get beat up a bit though.
"I will never... play... the Dane."
system doesn't work because it dehumanizes everyone involved.
the people holding the young men are immoral and wholly corrupt and all that is learned or partaken in barstol is evil, nonsense, and powerplays.
Angel, Carlin and Archers are dragged into solitary.
shareNo, Meekin, Carlin and Archer, not Angel. Meekin cos he won't bow to their rules. 'Up your *beep* Borstal' is one of the best lines, though he only snapped like that cos of what happened to his friend Toyne. But the authorities don't give a toss about that and so punish Meekin anyway.
shareIf you get treated like scum you start acting like scum
shareYoung lads who break the law go to a place where they get gang-banged in a greenhouse, and used as women!
sharethat's right! And if they get sent to such a place, they better have green fingers! LOL!
shareThe Game is fixed
rehabilitation is a joke
The Moral of the story???
Don't go in the f|u|c|k|i|n|g greenhouse!
I will be down there screaming up at you!share
I think the moral of the story was that sometimes these institutions make people worse, instead of rehabilitating them.
A few of my friends have done time. They have gone inside small fry, then came out with a load of new connections in the underworld and all that.
I think the film questions the use of these sorta places. It's dog eat dog. You either don't front up, let people take the piss out of you, and end up either committing suicide or whatever. Or you do what you gotta do and you end up a nasty piece of work, like Carlin.
One of the simplest but most effective explanations I have heard of the film.
shareHey I also watched this film not too long ago, I am 16 - and this is one of the best films I have ever seen - personally - the thing I have noticed with Scum and a lot of other non commercial mainline British films is that they slap the harshness of reality and society right in our face - they are so real - and that's what the script writers and directors of scum wanted to achieve - they got real actors who came from deprived areas, they got real locations and on top of that a great script.
The film is very depressing, but it's aim was to show how bad kids actually had it back then - you wouldn't think in a developed country like England such as hard life comes about - but back then they really were - and I think Scum wanted to show us that - people thought Borstal was just for young no good hoodlums who deserved to be there when they don't realise innocent people like the very young Davis (who get's raped) - are put in with the lowest scum in the barrel such as sexual offenders, and murderers for something as stupid as not attending school - what makes it more disturbing is the corruption of the wardens and guards who find their suffering comical and if one dies it's 'just another one dead'.
So it all depends really, I mean this film was really depressing but it also gave me a glimpse into the fact that though England may be a developed country there are still some people who lead very awful lives - then and now - the film did make a massive impact on the social youth reforms though infact Borstals got changed to young offenders institutions - it is nowhere as bad as that these days.
When your the daddy, next time you fu<kin kill them
shareThat the system is more corrupt than the criminals it punishes.
Make tea, not war.
He was the Daddy.
When he arrives the Officer say
"So this is the Daddy, the "ard case"
I haven't seen this film for quite a while but I would say what I got from it was basically, "You cannot beat the system" no matter how far up or down the chain you are.
Carlin: very top.
Davis: right at the bottom.
They all got it in the end, one way or the other..........
The purpose of the story is a critique on the way young prisoners were treated. As Archer later says: more criminal acts are imposed on prisoners than prisoners impose on society. This is still compelling in the way that society treats prisoners and then expects them to reform and want to join society as non-criminal members.
I'm a fountain of bloodshare
In the shape of a girl