They had a chance of Survival

Karskoya, you do not know how you would react under those circumstances. What a dumb post. Nobody knows. I think the fact that the family were not brave and didn't make it is the whole point. There was no hero's ending. That's why it's so hard to watch.

"Just sitting there, then slowly changing their clothes, then drying off the phone".

Having just had their son murdered may have proved something of a distraction from other considerations; they were shellshocked the way anyone in their place would be. And they didn`t know the two would come back, did they?



"facts are stupid things" - Ronald Reagan

I feel a little saddened by some of the insensitive comments on here.

It must be nice to live in a bubble. Do you read the news? My mom was the victim of a home invasion, was thrown down on a bed, sexually assaulted, beaten and robbed over the course of an afternoon, as my 3 year old brother helplessly watched. This was in an upper-middle class neighborhood in north Houston (the only reason I point this out is because many people immediately might think I live in some white trash crime-ridden ghetto and that I am comparing apples to oranges here).

She had come home, noticed a screen from a window was missing, proceeded inside and was immediately jumped, tied up, gagged and assaulted physically and psychologically. She suffered years of PTSD as a result.

Now, if this scenario was portrayed beat by beat in a movie, insensitive filmgoers would probably say my mom should not have entered the house after she saw the screen door ripped off, right? Or she should have screamed louder? Or fought back, right? Or my little brother should have dialed 911 or gone to a neighbors house?

As part of Haneke's message indicates, This *beep* DOES happen, and people don't always respond in the brave and "logical" fashion that we have become so accustomed to in [Hollywood] movies. I personally find it offensive when people imply that the characters in this film are stupid for acting in a way that does not meet their expectations.

Apparently she was just enough scared and just enough impressed that the two intruders were in control to try anything funny. Right before she walks down to greet the boatload about to dock, the guy with her tells her "we're both thinking the same thing, aren't we?", which would be enough to make her entertain the most dire possible scenarios and grimmest consequences her misbehaviour might have - like, what if the other guy will just bash her husband's or son's brains in with that golf club once he hears any suspicious commotion from the lakeside (after all, they're within shouting distance)? In such a case, even if she manages to initiate some kind of brawl and they'll somehow prevail, her loved one would still be dead or with a brain damage. Can she afford to take such a risk? And the people on the boat (two middle-aged women and one older sophisto-type dude) were hardly the kind that would react with single minded aggression once they're given a signal that this strange boy in white is actually a major as-hole menacing Anna's family - most likely, they'd at first think she is kidding or something and then... well, who knows what then. It certainly makes sense that someone like Anna who has lived a sheltered, privileged life and has no kind of prior experience with similar situations, would be very apprehensive about initiating any pitched battles (and, of course, at that point she did not know she was dealing with people who intended to actually kill them).



"facts are stupid things" Ronald Reagan