Gregori sent his 'children' out to assassinate not only for financial compensation from Uncle Charlie, to support the tribe, but for a political cause. He touches on it just in the last five minutes, when he rhetorically asks Alexander to ask...all these others in the tribe...how they felt when something bad happened 'out in the world'. The title "Partisan" was a mystery to me and I had to investigate further...
par·ti·san
/ˈpärdəzən/
noun: partisan; plural noun: partisans
a member of an armed group formed to fight secretly against an occupying force, in particular one operating in enemy-occupied Yugoslavia, Italy, and parts of eastern Europe in World War II.
synonyms: guerrilla, freedom fighter, resistance fighter, underground fighter, irregular (soldier)
"the partisans opened fire from the woods"
Gregori is fighting a political battle, living as best he can in an idealized and sealed world with his women, his children, is politics all protected from outside corruption, pollution, and violence. Alexander had a small exposure to a greater world, realized he was being lied to and Gregori was "untrustworthy" (as he hypocritically labelled Alexander) and did not want his baby brother Tobias to endure this same life as Alexander and the other children. In a way, they were imprisoned.
The idea for the movie came from a story the writer/director read, where the child-assassins in S. America were described as being stone-cold killers at age 10 sent out into the world to kill for the cartels, and yet had a streak of innocence and childlike wonder that was unsettling.
I loved this story, it didn't make sense for me until a couple of hours after it was finished. My favorite kind of film, one that keeps me thinking about it.
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