MovieChat Forums > The Level (2008) Discussion > Political message?

Political message?

posted 13 years ago by Dreammaker182
2 replies | jump to latest

It is interesting that this movie was released in the same year that President Barack Obama was elected and made an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base detention camp. I doubt that the interrogation and or torture at GITMO is nearly as brutal or deadly as that depicted in this film but I do think that the message is this: torture makes people tell lies more than the truth. People will do whatever they can to get out of an uncomfortable situation. They may tell half truths like Edie did about the meth lab. I also think that the movie shows that if a person is willing to torture extensively, things can get out of control resulting in people doing things that are against set rules and limitations.

Traditional techniques of asking a person to tell their story every day and making notes of details works best. The truth will leak out if you badger them enough especially if you give them privileges for giving useful intel. This is how detectives in the US get information from suspects. It doesn't take water-boarding. It just takes time and vigilance. Torturing a person on a foreign land makes them desperate and they may give up hope of ever going home. If this happens, they may never tell what they know. Torture may work for some but it will not break the will of all.

This movie shows what happens when torture and lying get out of control. had the guys stopped and asked questions, they would have found out that Al was in jail. Eddie could have framed someone else, like Lexi, for the meth lab.

Dreammaker182

[–] yoshi123 13 years ago

Um, the "guys" - one of them IS AL... He knew that Eddie was the owner of the meth lab when he found his lighter.... So the questions AL was asking was already known, but he wanted to hear what Eddie had to say, what you really don't know is how the others were killed as the whole movie is seen through the eyes of Eddie since everyone else is dead... kinda cool huh?

[–] Dreammaker182 13 years ago

I thought that Eddie's story was made plausible because one of Al's body gaurds said the bodies checked out to Eddie's story. I would believe everything Eddie said... Rocky was a loose cannon and Al probably put him with Eddie because he knew that their personalities would compliment each other. Eddie knows how to cool Al down... most of the time. So I wouldn't be surprised if what Eddie attributed to Rocky was true. this would have made Eddie's story easier to tell... all he had to do was NOT mention that the meth lab was his. Personally I think that he was in collaboration with Lexi and Al's son from the beginning. It would have made things easier if Al would have died like Eddie planned.

Dreammaker182