MovieChat Forums > The General's Daughter (1999) Discussion > Is betrayal, like portrayed in this movi...

Is betrayal, like portrayed in this movie, really the worst deed of all?

posted 3 years ago by TheMan18 (12660)
13 replies | jump to latest

Worse than murder or indeed rape as told in this movie, even if perhaps, Travolta's characters, and Woods' one for that matter, meant it more metaphorically, as in the previous deeds, one can destroy a life and another one's honor but also can destroy directly or indirectly one's life and cause major health and other grievous issues etc, but then if a father betrays his daughter like that and decides for his own self interests not to help track down the people who violated her and shown no care and compassion for his victimized daughter so openly like that, that makes him almost as bad but perhaps in his own way as either the men who raped her or that man who killed her or maybe not necessarily worse than them but bad in his own way?

Also, I noticed quite a few reviews even back in 1999 when this movie was released, before internet and various focus groups and social media (although it also existed back then, but today it seems common place and everywhere thanks to our digital age), criticize this angle in thinking that betrayal and rape are on similar levels whereas rape is truly so horrible on its own with many people believing it is worse than murder etc but then it could also be that betrayal like shown in this movie is bad enough in its own way and perhaps although we don't want anything bad happening anyway, we often don't expect our relatives like our fathers to turn away like this and sink so low and maybe Travolta's character was also expressing a disappointment that there is no legal aspect as in a betrayal of that sort is not made illegal and he feels James Cromwell's character should also face consequences.

Anyway, what do you think?

[–] Philhelm (476) 3 years ago

I don't think the assertion needs to be taken literally, although the Ninth Circle of Hell is reserved for treachery, so there is precedent to the belief that betrayal is one of the gravest sins. I don't think it's so much of a matter as to whether betrayal is actually worse than murder, rape, etc., but that the act of betrayal compounds the egregiousness of the crime itself.

At least for the context of the film, Travolta told Cromwell that his daughter "died" seven years prior, and that Hutton only put her out of her misery. This was obviously metaphorical, but it could be argued that much of the psychological trauma, her reckless sexuality, and the final act that inadvertently led to her death were ultimately due to her father's one act of betrayal. Had her father not betrayed her, or even if he had not left her that night in disgust, she would have lived. From that perspective, it could be argued that years of psychological torment is worse than a rape or a murder, but it's always going to be subjective. Even the brief discussion of psy-ops within the film mentions that the fear of egregious injury can be worse than the fear of death, so it at least ties in with the theme.