I'd have pushed him too!
I really felt sorry for David and thought he got a raw deal from everyone. He was depressed to breaking point,then he had it rubbed in his face by his brother. Pushing him off the mountain was an excusable thing to do
Excusable? What's the average sentence for "Manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility" then? That's what he'd have got - if he was lucky. Ben was left lying -apparently unconscious- on rocks several feet below. He could have fallen much further and was lucky not to have died. He had to be rescued by helicopter and taken to hospital. He was rightly 'hurt' and angry and accused David of trying to kill him. Soon Ben understood David's frustration and depression, and forgave him. Though not before he forced David to realise what might have been the consequence of his actions. Ben is great and David is fortunate to have a brother like him.
"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,
Ben redeemed himself in the end, and I know he couldn't help being the way he was, but on the mountain it was the one moment where you really disliked him... as if he was rubbing it in that he could use his disability to wrap everyone around his finger.
It's difficult to put yourself in David's anger and frustration in the heat of the moment, but I daresay a lot of people would have at least [i]felt/i] like pushing him off, if not dangling him off the ledgs by one arm until he pooped his pants!
Don't forget, of course, that the whole trip was a plan of pre-meditated murder. But at the top, David felt sick, repulsed by his own thoughts, and lost his 'bottle' when he realised that what he was about to do was just a wee bit mean and not nice. Until Ben's comments pushed him, ahem, over the edge...
"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,