The old man
In the beginning of the movie, one of the sonderkommando man, under the order of the kommando chief, kills an old man in his bed.
I didn't get why they do that. Anybody explains? THX
We don't know the significance of the old man until Hoffman explains his story to the girl. If you remember correctly, the old man had been forced to witness and participate in the brutal killings of his entire family. He was weak and seemingly without any reason to live; without his family, his sickly life in the camps seemed doomed. The kommandos thought it better to end his suffering by suffocating him. The doctor is called in mistakingly and rather arrogantly tells them that he does not want to be called upon any longer.
This scene brilliantly illustrates the central question of the film: should these doomed characters continue to suffer daily in the hope that a miracle (i.e. the uprising) could occur? Or is it better to give up before any more drops of blood are surrendered? Beside this, there is also the fragile social balance in the camps, which is why I bring the doctor up. This scene, along with a later scene where he hides under his desk, leaves the impression that he is an ultimately cowardly and vein man who cares for himself far more than his fellow prisoners. But then again, what would you do in his position? Did he really have a choice, as he contests in the film?
Anyway, sorry I digressed . . . hopefully that helped.
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Clinton: One lie, no deaths = Impeachment.
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I hadn't got the man Hoffman describes as the one who had to burn his wife, daughter and 2 grandsons was the same one who's killed at the beginning.
thanks
Close. But it was not merely that the kommandos took it upon themselves to end his life mercifully. The old man had chosen on his own to commit suicide. He had taken pills to overdose but the doctor had been summoned by an unwitting David Arquette. When the doctor revives the old man, the kommandos have no choice but to smother the old man with a pillow. If you recall, after they successfully euthanize the old man, the character who did the actual smothering says "It is what he wanted".
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