Early in the film, Michael extols the benefit of exercise saying something (and I'm paraphrasing) like, "A healthy body leads to a healthy mind and spirit."
At Michael's deportation proceeding, the old woman recalls that Mishka, the war criminal, said this to her when he forced he to do push-ups with a large knife below her chest.
I picked this up when I first saw "Music Box" around 1990 on VHS and knew what the ending would be.
Yeah, and not just the words, but it was also mentioned that he liked doing push-ups, and you see him doing them with Mikey. Also, she later asks her father-in-law why did he say to Mikey that Holocaust was made up and he denies it...
sharethose clues almost spolt the movie for me because it told you there and then that he was guilty plus the fact that he never flinched or was upset by the tortured testimonies of the witnesses. Everyone else was, but he wasnt.
shareHer son Mikey watching The Three Stooges - laughing at violence and torture, a show that makes violence and torture look fun, a show that desensitizes children to violence and torture.
Laszlo was a fan of The Three Stooges and Ann wasn't, so we know Laszlo was responsible for exposing Mikey to the show....a great way to cultivate a child's lust for brutality...!
The Holocaust-denying seemed pretty indicative of his guilt (or whatever you want to call it) but I forgot the push-up parallelism!
On a side note, the Three Stooges are used purposefully in this movie but I cannot call them "a great way to cultivate a child's lust for brutality". It all comes down to parenting.
Were you guys watching the movie?
The Holocaust-denying wasn't Ann's father who said it.
It was the other grandfather, the father of her ex-husband. She even confronted him in one scene...
I was watching the same movie Mcihhh,and yes,she confronted her father about what he said and that's when Jessica Lange's character's son comes in the room and says it was his other grandfather...however,if you can recall later in the film,Jessica Lange also confronts briefly her father in law and suggests to him regarding the comment to her son and he looks dumbfounded and denies ever saying anything untoward re the holocaust.That is when I infact realised that it was her father indeed who had said that comment and that the grandson was protecting his grandpa.
shareWell said, I picked this up too, the grandson was just covering for his grandfather. All in all, I agree with the OP as well, the pushup things and the holocaust denial pretty much gave away his guilt.
shareWait a minute, you think he was covering for up one grandfather by implicating the other?
No way. It's clear that the kid was telling the truth: That it was the other grandfather -- the rich attorney -- who was filling the kid's head up with lies about the Holocaust.
That was a great moment in the story by the way. When the kid confides what he heard to his mom, and the mom goes marching in to confront her dad -- only to have the kid come running in crying and telling her what REALLY happened.