MovieChat Forums > Mysterious Skin (2005) Discussion > Neil was a terrible person

Neil was a terrible person

posted 8 years ago by bdc5551
5 replies | jump to latest

I had no sympathy for Neil after what he did to the mentally handicap child. While the film "brushes off" the nature of what he did, in reality the result of setting off bottle rockets in someone's mouth would result in severe burns that would hospitalize and permanently disfigure the child. And this is Neil's idea of "having some fun". I found this to be the most disturbing scene in the film.

Neil is no different than other notorious psychopaths that were abused as children. Look up the definition of psychopath, Neil fits it rather well. Wendy said he doesn't have a heart and the film shows he has no empathy.

[–] InsecureNeuroticControlFreak 8 years ago

We were not supposed to like Neil. I figured that was obvious. He was a very, very, very troubled child.

Troll the respawn, Jeremy.

[–] rodcenray 7 years ago

I never got the impression that Neil was meant to be unlikable. He was just a very troubled, broken person. Did he do some screwed up stuff? Yes! But that doesn't make him a bad person. He's flawed. Just like you. Just like me. Neil, in my opinion, was just a lonely soul trying to find something worth living for in this messed up world. Having the meeting with Brian is what ultimately may have opened the gate for the possibility of healing.

[–] ladycopine 8 years ago

That was the point, the movie shows what child abuse do to people, in this movie we have Neil who became a prostitude and have some psychopathic traits. And there's Brian who's mind erased what happened and transformed it into the alien stuff cuz that's the way for him to deal with it...
it's what happens sometime in real life...

[–] theunopeneddoor-697-442391 7 years ago

He was a child. I'm sure you did things as a child that were heartless too. Plus Neil was hurt so badly by what happened to him that he was in shock most of his life and took it out on others.

He was NOT without empathy though. He was not even close to being a sociopath (which is different than a psychopath. A psychopath is a VIOLENT sociopath who is willing to murder, Neil only has one violent scene in the whole movie also sociopaths have a moral compass while psychopaths do not. to give you an idea the Travis Bickle character in Taxi Driver may be a sociopath, the Joker on the other had almost certainly a psycopath). There are several scenes in the movie that prove this. Most importantly is the scene with the AIDS victim in which even though he is uncomfortable and afraid he'll be infected (don't forget this took place in the 80s when a lot of people thought casual touching could spread AIDS) he massaged the man to make him feel comfort. Also the final scene of the movie when he holds Brian as he's having his panic attack ("Wish I could telepathically communicate with him...") shows his empathetic to the fact he was also molested. He also has a legitimately tender moment with Wendy in the scene with the Drive-in at winter time.

I'm not saying YOU have to like him but no he's not sociopathic.

Also I think that you will soon realize this is my signature.

[–] looper007 (1126) 9 months ago

He's a asshole for a large part of the film, and someone living on the edge throughout the film and loving it until it catches up with him with the last man he meets when he's out Sex working. He's a crappy friend to Wendy and Eric, who continue to want the best for him. And the stuff with mentally handicap child is disturbing even if he was a child. But I do think he loves his mum and Wendy/Eric, I don't think he's a heartless bastard.

Although he shows emotion and care towards Brian in the last bit of the film, to show he actually is a good person underneath all the bravado and devil may care attitude.

He's a flawed human.