So after all that torture why did ALex did not tell him that his fake aunt kept the girls
Was this a loyalty thing? Because he was intelligent enough to talk about the details he was just too stubborn to tell him.
Some people are saying he didnt deserve the torture as he was innocent but not telling where they are making him as just guilty as her.
I think it was down to his low IQ why he didn't spill the beans. He certainly knew enough to make him a bad guy anyway, like singing the girls song.
shareNot just his low IQ. the kidnapper woman told Keller that Alex used to talk up a storm before his accident, but then he got more selective with words. I think we are to understand in hindsight that she and her husband caused the accident after Alex talked too much for their comfort, and ensured he would never do it again for fear of another accident.
shareI think we are to understand in hindsight that she and her husband caused the accident after Alex talked too much for their comfort, and ensured he would never do it again for fear of another accident.
BINGO!
sharehe is RETARDED
shareisn't that spelled: RETARTED ?
shareHis mind has been completely destroyed by his experience. He doesn't really understand what Keller is asking him.
His mind has been completely destroyed by his experience. He doesn't really understand what Keller is asking him.
I think it's inferred that Alex was abused as a child so it's much more likely that he didn't tell out of fear rather than out of loyalty
shareI was under the impression he had some type of disability or autism which made it hard for him to talk.
shareThe poor sod was so mentally handicapped he deserved nothing but pity in my opinion. Abducted at 7yrs old from a loving mother, then has an 'accident' whilst being brought up by twisted and bitter child murderers (which smacks of some kind of punishing abuse, perhaps to keep him from speaking, hence his subsequent lack of communication afterwards.) He was completely traumatised. I read him to have had some kind of arrested development around the age of 10 (hence the IQ of a ten year old). His poor brain probably just shut down. Just imagine what he must have witnessed/experienced in his life after the age of 7! I think he probably identified with the abducted children and comfortably played with them (maybe he was orderered to, to keep them quiet so they didn't panic at first). He may have said to Drover "they only cried when I left" in a kind of childish way as if to say 'I didn't hurt them, it wasn't me, they didn't get upset while I was there'.
I think he was so disturbed after years of living in fear, too frightened to speak or tell the truth. And bloody Drover abusing him further just made him more petrified, like nothing more than an animal, clammed up, shell shocked. He may have already had a learning difficulty like autism anyway before his was abducted, who knows? But I believe he was not to be blamed in any way for anything. Even his treatment of that dog looked like the ignorant actions of a child before they're taught 'NO! You don't treat animals like that!', or really the actions of a disturbed child.
Maybe he DIDNT know exactly where the children were, only where they'd been when he played with them? We'll never know how much he's meant to have known. But I think all Drover's torture just made him into a bleeding, frightened vegetable and nothing more than a senseless chicken with its head cut off. When Drover spoke quietly in desperation through the box near the end of the film, only then did he get any kind of reaction, which I believe was a MASSIVE breakthrough for Alex, who admitted that he WASNT 'Alex' (this must have been the BIGGEST SECRET he'd been made to keep for the last 26yrs!). So he did confess the best he could, though he barely understood anything. Personally I found his character incredibly moving in a sad and pathetic way. Dano is superb, he always does pathos so well, one day I think he'll get an Oscar, he's definitely an actor to watch out for.
Anyway that's my long winded take on Alex; I'm sure there are many other readings and opinions to choose out there if you disagree! 😳
Great post on Alex.
I think two things stopped him saying anything to Keller.
1) I think there's a good chance that Alex did NOT know where the girls were. Alex may not actually have known where the pit was. Alex has clearly been in the pit himself as a child. But he only remembers it as "the maze". If Alex was drugged before and after being put in the pit then he probably doesn't know its location. All he remembers are the maze books he did when he was trapped down there. So when Alex tells Keller the girls are in the maze he IS telling him the truth. The only truth he knew.
2) As others have said I think Alex had Stockholm Syndrome after years of conditioning and mind control by his Aunt and Uncle. It's more than just loyalty - he'd been brainwashed, drugged and tortured into obeying them. I think Alex was both too dependent on his Aunt and too scared of her to saying anything. Alex also didn't scream for help when Loki was searching the building because he was too scared of Keller. Alex was too scared of his captors to even help himself and it speaks of how monstrous Holly must have been if Alex was more scared of HER than he was scared of Keller.
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