MovieChat Forums > Calvaire (2005) Discussion > What a WIMP!!!

What a WIMP!!!

posted 18 years ago by Bladerunner
17 replies | jump to latest

I don't know if I've ever seen such a wimp in a movie, ever. Marc has like three opportunities to escape and he squanders every one. When he is in the woods the first time, and he gets a trap caught on his leg. I mean, damn dude, get your arms under your feet and get it off and then RUN. Idiot. Then he is at the table and he is eating and all he had to do is go grab the gun and SHOOT the freaks.

I don't care how tired or scared or busted up I am, I'm gonna RUN LIKE HELL. All he does is sit around and cry, and bawl, and whine and whimper, and get shumped up the butt.

I was gathering wood on a friend's land one time, using a chain saw and I had a log splitter (I borrowed from a friend) that towed behind my car. The splitter shot a piece of wood right into my thigh. It was a freak thing that I still don't fully know how it happened, but there I was with this sliver of wood, something like two inches wide (at the top) and I'm miles from anyone. I had to get the splitter squared away before I could tow it, and I even loaded up my tools. On the way back, I got stuck in some marshy crap that was well-hidden, it looked just like regular field grass. Anyway, I had to get out and walk like five miles with this hunk of wood in me. I was afraid to take it out, because I thought it might start gushing, it was close to an artery (or so I though). It was 25 degrees (F) and rough terrain, but I made it and I didn't start whining and crying.

Now, I know Marc's situation is much different, he is being assaulted and traumatized by a madman, but the guy gives up *really easy*. The part that gets me the most is the first time in the woods, like I said. All he had to do is get his hands under his feet and loosen the dang thing. I don't know, I guess some people just fall apart in those situations. It wasn't like the guy was any Rambo to begin with, singing in some retro-Elvis cape and whatnot.

Maybe I'm being too hard on him, but there was definitely a point where I was kind of *hoping* he would get shot or just die, because I was tired of watching him cry in his soup. Geez.

The movie was too weird anyway. Where the hell on Earth are there that many people who are that freaked out, that close together? What are the chances that you are going to have *two* psychos fighting over a guy they are hallucinating is "Gloria"? It was just too contrived for me. What was up with the piano scene? It looked like a dance after the Special Olympics or something (no offense to the kids of the Special Olympics, I love those brave kids).

Whatever, I say Marc was a super-wimp who had plenty of chances to escape. Maybe he liked being Gloria, who knows? <grin>

"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

[–] lennonforever 17 years ago

I totally agree Blade! This was really annoying me too. The only thing I can think of was that he had a very bad blow to the head from the battery. He may have had a bleeding brain causing his slow movements.

[–] thetripdoctor 17 years ago

The guy did escape and didn't die - I think you have to give him a bit of credit.

Being chased around and tortured would be a lot worse than walking/driving while hurt pretty bad, i've done that.

These cartoons are truly bizarre and frightening!
http://www.lungsfilms.cjb.net/

[–] samuelbronkowitz 14 years ago

He didn't escape--I think the end makes it pretty clear that he winds up freezing to death. He's in the middle of freaking nowhere, in winter, wearing a skirt. I think it's safe to say he died.

[–] phasmatrope 12 years ago

I agree, it really lowered the tension, how feeble he was... I mean, I suppose he is supposed to be a female surrogate, but still: in a genre that created the concept of the "final girl"--where all the friends and boyfriend is dead or incapacitated and the virginal female suddenly has to "man up" and deal with the killer herself--he's put to shame by all the Jamie Lee Curtises, Neve Campbells, and countless other heroines. The fact that he spent the end of the film merely shuffling away from a virtual mob of gun-toting hicks just caused me to become even less invested in his fate.

Still, I suppose you guys' observations that he's likely a dead man--due to his insufficient clothing out in the middle of nowhere, and even despite taking out the one hick, he still has about 4 others to escape or deal with--does give me some weird sense of nihilistic satisfaction...

[–] samuelbronkowitz 14 years ago

Not only did he have the opportunities, he chose the wrong time to escape. Who the *beep* is going to make a 4-5 mile run for it while his hands are tied behind his back? WTF?

All he had to do was wait until the guy was asleep and walk out the door, following the path to the main road. Done, simple.

[–] samuelbronkowitz 14 years ago

Exactly! That made the whole movie even more retarded.

[–] pleistocene 14 years ago

I don't think that if I had seen some guy smashing up my van with a hammer I would have stood around simply asking him what he was doing and then to stop, and following this, have stood close enough to the maniac for him to smash me round the face with a heavy car battery (unless I was just a little bit ineffectual).

"People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own soul" - C.G.Jung

[–] Bladerunner 15 years ago

First of all, he should have gotten his hands from behind his back BEFORE getting caught in the wire. Secondly, there was plenty of slack in the wire, he could have gotten his hands around long enough to loosen the wire. For that matter, he could have loosened the wire with his hand *under* his calves, pulled it off, then moved his hands around. Sorry, the guy's a wimp. I'm not saying he didn't go through some hell, not saying that at all, but he had none of the survival instinct that I think most people in the world would have.

Are you seriously saying that you couldn't have gotten that wire off your calf? Come on!

"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Bladerunner 15 years ago

There were aspects that I liked, but much I didn't like. I just think a person would make a lot more effort to live. I'm also tired of movies where the last person standing is always a woman. I understand why they do this, because it's more scary for men and women for a woman to be pitted against a psycho/killer/monster/wacko/whatever.

To me, it's not about bravery, it's about the survival instinct.

"...nothing is left of me, each time I see her..." - Catullus

[–] fanisl 15 years ago

It's because this film sucked so much.

[–] nocturnelle1 8 years ago

He did manage to escape those men at the end, but I think Marc would have benefited from watching a few horror movies. His first mistake was leaving his vehicle and following Boris. If a creepy guy appears in the middle of the woods, you don't follow him, in the rain and dark no less, for him to lead you who knows where. If Marc had watched maybe just one horror movie, he would've been able to predict with reasonable certainty how that scenario NEVER ends well.

[–] MelisandreRW 14 years ago

would you of saved him if u saw what was going on ? since ur such a big strong man?? plss save me 2 while ur at it baby

I Need To Know

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] SpannersGerm669 12 years ago

I actually think the fact he was a wimp, projected more realism. Not the rambo like character who goes out, all guns blazing.

[–] PoppyTransfusion 11 years ago

Not everyone possesses the survival instinct in the way that you conceive of it. It's clear Marc has a sense of survival as he flees whenever he can. What you are not factoring into the mixture is that he is somewhere in which he is lost and disorientated.

Also his is a character that is decent and relies upon human decency in a place which seems devoid of such. His first 'instinct' when he encounters Bartel smashing up his van and showering it in petrol is to reassure Bartel that he will not hurt him because he does not conceive of Bartel as anything more than a decent person who is distressed.

Fatima had a fetish for a wiggle in her scoot

[–] weigojmi-58-136696 8 years ago

With all due respect to "final girls" I think the point of all that was that we was supposed be the embodiment of a helpless effeminate person.