MovieChat Forums > Charlotte Gray (2002) Discussion > Confrontation with the schoolteacher

Confrontation with the schoolteacher

posted 15 years ago by laddiebuck
3 replies | jump to latest

I don't understand Charlotte's reaction to the schoolteacher. She acquiesced, knowing she would be fleeing in a day or two. But that still left a collaborator who knew a lot of information.

What I might have done in her place would be to surprise to kill him on the spot. With her training, the details would not have been difficult. Knee him a few times, dash his head against the ground, then choke him. Disposal would have been simple in that remote area -- perhaps bung him down the cliff, or leave him there and walk home.

Consider: he said nobody knew he was there (borne out by his intentions), he was a liability who knew about the Jewish children and who was harbouring them, and he was a collaborator anyway.

(I must admit I haven't seen the entire film, I only posted as I got to that scene. So perhaps the schoolteacher may yet do some mischief that could have been prevented by killing him...)

Any thoughts?

[–] justme360 15 years ago

Well ... it certainly would have prevented a lot of evil down the road. But I don't think it was just a plot device. I didn't get the impression at ALL that her training included those skills.

And I don't think she acquiesced because she was leaving. I think she just needed to get out of the situation. But the "I'm dirty down there" always makes me squirm a little! The crudity (not to be confused with crudité ) seems suddenly out of character. Maybe it's supposed to.

What did you think of the rest of the movie?

Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle.

[–] laddiebuck 15 years ago

I thought it rather disappointing. I think it was very much done with modern sensibilities and modern attitudes. Hence a lot of scenes of characters staring blankly at the fog with incidental music, which I find rather alien, as most war movies I watch are from the 50s. I also found it rather uninspiring -- if that was what the average SOE operative did, it's not very much, is it? I mean, all the good she accomplished was basically in the end, a lie. A lie to comfort, but all the more painful if the truth happened to be that something terrible happened to the parents.

So subconsciously I always compare these films to how a similar film would have been done in the 50s, and to that standard I found Charlotte Gray wanting. Perhaps that's unfair, and perhaps what I really don't like are the modern sensibilities.

[–] raf-33 14 years ago

Considering her first act after landing in France is to get a fellow rebel killed by asking a selfish question about her bloke, I quickly realised that she was probably gonna be as much of a hindrance to the allies as Hitler was.

Kinda like a female Mr Bean.

With your feet in the air and your head on the ground, try this sig with spinach!