MovieChat Forums > Baise-moi (2000) Discussion > Are we suppose to sympathize with them o...

Are we suppose to sympathize with them or condemn them?


Hi.

Granted its true that they were victims of various kinds of societal injustice, including, maybe even more than once as sad as it is, the awful crime of rape but...

They DID kill a lot of people, and a lot of them men, and several women even as we see in the film, did NOT deserve to die, so doesn't that make them criminals and to a certain extent at least, kinda evil or at most having them turn to the dark side and are correct then that they should be caught and punished.

And let's say someone killed either one or both of them in self-defense, will they be justified under the circumstances?

I know that this movie, controversial as it is for real sexual penetration shots, violence and questions of morality, is trying to raise some kind of social awareness on how, yes, sad and unfortunate it is, women are victims of various aspects of awful sexual exploitation at the hands of men and how it brings about further terrible consequences. But is going on a murder spree like that which involves even killings of innocent people ever justifiable - and would it really put a halt to the original problem in question?

What if one of them killed your son or your daughter - if this was real life - would you still find ways to justify them?

Cause I read how people even found it disappointing that the police caught up with them in the end and that they should've continued their killing spree, but doesn't this killing that they carry out make them, sorry to say this, also bad?

What do you think, thanks.

The greatest trick the Devil has ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist!

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Both. It's about how innocence can be corrupted after experiencing victimhood.

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Haha, the Zombie55 fella in the OP is ME.

Interesting point, and technically speaking, in this movie, there are no real "good" or "bad" people, but bad ones and flawed ones, and is it normal in life that victimized people can start to kill others, including innocent ones who may not deserve it?

Also, kinda lol at how they mock one guy for wanting to wear a condom, but then again, isn't that a pre-requisite as it stops diseases in sexual circumstances?

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In Abel Ferrara's film "Ms .45" (1981) even if some of the deeds she commits as a result are also wrong, we are no doubt and rightly meant to feel sorry for its lead female character Thana after the violation she experiences.

And that film, and this to an extent, seem to want to say something about the mostly sexual oppression caused by men and experienced sadly by women in this far from perfect and generally cruel world.

Heck, you can even add Lars von Trier's "Dogville" (2003) to the mix as well, and the ending of that film very much reminded me of "Ms .45" (aka "Angel of Vengeance") too.

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In Hong Kong circa October 1988, two rape revenge films came out - Her Vengeance and Vengeance is Mine.

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But in those films, unlike Baise Moi, it was mostly if not only, just the perpetrators who got killed in vengeance.

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