That's the whole idea behind Christianity, isn't it?
Raped a woman twice? Give up a kidney.
The movie didn't suggest that he made up for what he did. She divorced him, right? The movie's point was that life is complicated. Goodness and badness can exist side by side. But the one doesn't cancel the other out. As a result, there are conflicting emotions and no clear resolution.
The only thing that bothered me about the ending was that the daughter still visited with the father, and on a beach full of drunks as well (maybe that was more symbolic than literal). But I suppose the mother didn't want to deprive her daughter of a father who seemed to care for her a whole lot. I'm just wondering if he could be trusted with the kids.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
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So because bad things exist along with the bad, we should rationalize. I see.
I can tell you what people do with rapists nowadays, if you want me to.
Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, an do ye to them as is good in your eyes. (Genesis 19:8)
And by the way, that's a very simplistic understanding of what it means to be a Christian.
It's a lifelong struggle. There's hope but there's also a lot of hard work. If people really read and understand the Bible, they know what is expected of them from a Christian standpoint. If they're only interested in paying lip service to the idea of redemption (sinning all week and then going to confession on Saturday), they've got it all wrong.
In this movie, Jim was not completely let off the hook. He lost his wife (though I do feel uneasy about the fact that he still got to have visits alone with his children). I would have felt better if he'd had to go to jail as well, but I don't know if that's really possible. Years had passed since the rape had occurred. It would be difficult enough to convict him if she went after him immediately, but this was at least seven or eight years later. Furthermore, she maybe didn't want to put her children through all of that. And the same probably went for the spousal abuse. Technically speaking, he should have been in jail, but it's not always that simple in real life. Anyway, in the end, she says she'll never forgive him for what he did to her. She has not absolved him of his sin. She says she's thankful that he saved Katie's life and that she only wishes he could have saved his own. That does not sound optimistic to me at all.
In this movie, the redemption doesn't cancel out the sin. They both exist side by side. That's the way it is in life. The sin is always there. It doesn't just go away.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
The guy got off easily, buddy. You can tell me how much he's lost, etc.--doesn't change a thing.
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. (Isaiah 45:7)
Yeah, he got off easy. But what did you expect? A big trial with only ten minutes left of the movie to go? That would have been beyond contrived, especially if she'd won. It would have completely ruined the movie. The story isn't about a man who rapes a woman and then gets what's coming to him in the end. It's about a man who rapes a woman and the woman unwittingly marries him, only to realize later that for seven or so years, she's been living a lie. And there's absolutely nothing she can do to change the past and make it be the way she wanted it to be. And the only good memory she's left with is the sacrifice her husband was willing to make for his daughter. That's probably the only thing that makes it possible for her to look back on those years and feel more than just a profound depression. It's about life and how pain and sweetness exist side by side; it's about how the little bit of sweetness is sometimes the only thing that makes it possible to make it through the day to day pain. I don't have to justify that to you. It's the way it is. You can say, "BS, you know what people do to rapists around here," all you want but the fact of the matter is is that that's just you blowing off steam and talking about the way you wish things had turned out for Billie, not the way they realistically would have in that situation. Not the way they could have in a movie that hoped to be even slightly truthful and not the predictable sensationalistic Lifetime crap you see everyday on TV.
Look, I understand where you're coming from. I'm just explaining to you why it couldn't end the way we all would have liked to see it end.
I will say she seemed too accepting in the end. But then abused women make excuses for their husbands all the time. It's not all that unrealistic. It doesn't mean he's cool.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
LOL @ "ruin the movie."
shareWell, the movie wasn't really all that good, but it could have been a whole lot worse i.e. a big trial 80 minutes into it that resulted in a win for Billie and a life sentence for Jim. That would have been far-fetched, given the fact that he raped her seven years ago, she didn't go to the police about it and she even married the guy. It would have been a tough case, if not impossible.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
Really? She can't like record their conversations and his admissions of guilt in secret? C'mon, work some brain muscles here.
shareIn the last ten minutes of the movie, just as it's about to wrap up? You want to throw in a very bizarre trial and have her win in the course of a few minutes? Like I said. Contrived. Especially if this is, in fact, based on a true story. Besides, the movie isn't about that. So it would have been weak to throw it in at the very last minute just to water down the message so that everyone can enjoy it.
By the way, are those kinds of taped confessions even admissable in court? And wouldn't there have been a statute of limitations on rape? I don't know if there's still a statute of limitations on rape but I think there might have been in 1994 and earlier. I'm not sure. And regardless, I just don't see Billie doing something like that. Whether you agree with her or not, it's the way it often is. Think about it. She didn't go to the police after it happened which suggests to me that she had no interest in seeking justice. And then when he started abusing her, she made excuses for him. When she finally did kick him out of the house, I got the impression that was the most empowering thing she'd ever done. Would she really want to put all that time and money into a virtually unheard of trial (a rape trial seven years after the fact with no history of allegations) and put her children through all the media circus? A person who was really concerned about justice might do that, no matter what the cost. But someone like Billie? No. Like I said. It's a contrived ending.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
I don't know how to argue with someone who places more importance on whether a storyline works in a movie than on what that storyline says.
shareI don't know how to argue with someone who thinks it's more important for a movie to make them feel good in the end than it is for a story to be realistic.
The movie doesn't say that you can just rape people and that's cool so long as you donate a kidney. Billie says she wishes Jim could have saved his own life. Like I said, that's not exactly an optimistic ending for him.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
Yeah, I bet he'll regret not having had more sex with his ex-wife now. Tough life.
shareYou only highlight my point. The truly sad part is that he'll probably never know how much he's really lost---his soul.
But I'm done arguing with you about it. We'll never agree.
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"Pike isn't a name. It's a fish."
I do not believe in the God of theology who rewards good and punishes evil...Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotism. - Albert Einstein, Mein Weltbild (1931)
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. (Isaiah 45:7)
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"Everyone who is seriously engaged in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that the laws of nature manifest the existence of a spirit vastly superior to that of men, and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble." – Albert Einstein
"Only the [Catholic] Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly." - Albert Einstein
What can I say about that suit that hasn't already been said about Afghanistan?share
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil. (Isaiah 45:7)
I am simply restating Epicurus's objections.
shareBunny is right about a few things: Everything is not black and white like you want it to be. Even if Billie had filed charges against him, the DA wouldn't follow through because the statute of limitations had probably already passed. What would be the point of filing charges against him then? She didn't forgive him but was grateful that he saved her daughter. Some movies are feel good movies and some are not. This one is no feel good movie by any means. It's not there to make the viewer feel good but to give a realistic perspective. Realistically, Jim wouldnt be charged with the rape because of the statute of limitations, regardless of wether she had married him or not. If she had filed charges against him from the very beginning, this movie would've ended completely differently.
Money isn't the root of all evil. Love of money is.
The title of the movie is Sin & Redemption. One right doesn't right one wrong, however.
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