Why?
Why did Sam Neill allow Martin Sheen and his Girlfriend to go free at the end and catch the train out of East Berlin?
shareMy interpretation was that Sam Neill had genuinely fallen in love with the woman but his love was unselfish and he realised if he let her go with Martin Sheen she would be happy whereas if he let her be captured she would be imprisoned and maybe tortured.
There were some similarities here with the ending of "Casablanca" . Anyone else got any theories?
Well you're probably right, but I also thought that Sheen had proved a formidable adversary so he let him go as a sign of respect.
_______________________________
Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Forever
I also think he didn't truly associate with communism. For him it was just about the thrill of catching the spy/thief. When he saw the drugged-up girl in the asylum, you could see that he was rather disgusted. Also note that he was never interested in torturing anyone for information.
share[deleted]
Bear in mind also that Dimitri thought he'd won... he'd foiled the theft and therefore (as far as he knew) the Americans still did not have the scrambler.
In fact, even Alex at that point thought he'd lost... he'd failed in his mission of stealing the scrambler and assumed the game was up. Obviously neither Alex nor Dimitri were aware that the Americans already had the scrambler, otherwise Dimitri may have had a change of heart.
Actually, I think you are all correct! :)
The reasons most people do the things they do are complex.
1) I am certain he was truly in love with her. He probably also had regret/guilt at having to turn her in & realized the way things worked, she was probably tortured in one form or another.
2) I think he did feel he had won. He assumed that he had foiled his attempt to remove the scrambler and felt since he HAD won, that he could "afford" to let him & her go.
3) And yes, I don't think he really held with the communist way of doing things. Having retrieved the transmitter, ("To the victor, the spoils") he felt that was all he was there to do. Even if captured in another place/time or w/out her, I still think he just wasn't the type to do torture/crimes against people just for the sake of it.
Great movie, btw! :)