MovieChat Forums > Der freie Wille (2006) Discussion > When Nettie visits the rape victim...

When Nettie visits the rape victim...

posted 15 years ago by teal123
5 replies | jump to latest

... what was that about, in the bathroom? The woman perhaps thought her ordeal was being drudged up by this girl out of curiosity, thus trivializing it, or some sick attempt to vicariously experience what the "friend" had? And so she gets her revenge by proxy, on this girl, since she is friends with her attacker?

How do other folks interpret this scene?

Everything else in the movie-- albeit disturbing-- does not come as an unexpected shock. They build up to the rapes and everything pretty thoroughly. But this, nah, I did not expect.

[–] BitterBlue911 15 years ago

And so she gets her revenge by proxy, on this girl, since she is friends with her attacker?

Good explanation, very well possible. She probably sensed Netties love for (or addiction to - depends on how you look at it) Theo and hated her for it - for having feelings for this man as if he was a normal person which he understandably couldn't be for the rape victim.

Even more important, imo the scene served to show how easily the line between being a victim and being an offender can be blurred. Nobody is solely one or the other, everyone has it in themselves to be both - depending on choices made, circumstances of the person's life and so on.

For me it was a very painful scene to watch; probably because in our society women are still rather identified as weak, "harmless", non-aggressive. That's one of the reasons why the scene came as such a shock. And being a (lesbian) woman myself, it is easy for me to project all evil in the world on men and regard women as "good" (very much simplified). But in reality, there are women who are sadistic, violent, abuse children...To me the scene was a reminder of that.

[–] TheMan18 (12511) 3 years ago

"For me it was a very painful scene to watch; probably because in our society women are still rather identified as weak, "harmless", non-aggressive."

But could it also be at least partly because, men have been the recognizable and common perpetrators especially of this type of crime and bad deed against women ever since the beginning of time, as well as the fact that men are naturally physically stronger and have it within them more to be brutal and aggressive and commit such deeds? Even if yeah women sometimes can switch over to the dark sides.

I wonder, is society REALLY this unfair when it comes to such a matter and does it having this thought really take its toll, although people say, to a degree yes, and they will say so directly and without a hint of subtlety. But life ain't subtle, right?

[–] TheMan18 (12511) 3 years ago

Also, I find this very interesting.

So the film also, however briefly, wanted to point out that not all women are innocents or just victims of men, in a film which's storyline is centered very much around a MALE rapist antagonist/anti-hero?

But you could also say - maybe it makes a point about HUMANITY in general or rather society, and if it happens to look at certain traits found not just in men, so be it and that's life, right?

Also - on a related note, how do you feel about the fact that in this film, even though it still very much condemns his action and even has his punished legally however briefly (and to a mental hospital to boot), it has a rapist who basically isn't treated as an 100% EVIL VILLAIN (though he is evil, yes) and doesn't get killed and/or tortured in revenge, by his victims or otherwise, for his terrible actions and for (quite possibly for that matter) escaping legal procedure?

[–] TheMan18 (12511) 7 months ago

Also - and here is the controversial question.

Are women who are violent including abusive to children really on par with violent and abusive men including various types of, including of the r-worded deed, male sex offenders, legally (also) as well as MORALLY?

PLUS - even if that scene in this movie WAS meant to be at least somewhat of a reminder of that, I kinda had to wonder...

Wasn't the main reason the woman in this movie acted violently towards the other female character was because her being a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of that man made her CRAZY and also ANGRY at the fact that one person was somehow close to her?

So maybe she wasn't at all, from what we know anyway, violent or abusive to anyone BEFORE BUT that violation/criminal incident perhaps took away her sanity to an extent and made her somewhat prone to aggression as an affected suffering victim?

[–] TheMan18 (12511) 7 months ago

And yet even with all THIS in mind.

People see often see MAN or male human being as the common major criminal and if he is a sex offender especially guilty of the r-worded deed and other sex offenses, it is not even considered, let alone wrong, to even be excessive to want to perform a 10-lettered-C-worded-deed on him.

But does all of it have logic and intelligence and ultimate moral right beyond our human emotions as well as the "pleasantness" and "popularity" of certain feelings?

And its mostly because men are physically stronger and can't get pregnant and throughout human history were disproportionate perpetrators of such undeniably wrongful and evil deeds that many of us including via recognized common perceptions often see it that way without nary a doubt and anything resembling second thoughts?

And some seemingly decent people among the decent other majority seem to struggle to answer such a question and theory and don't wonder too much why others feel this way, but is that also logical and understandable, as terrible as those main deeds are no doubt? And as frustrating as these types of issues overall in life are?