MovieChat Forums > 600 Millas (2016) Discussion > Brilliant or erroneous? (spoilers)

Brilliant or erroneous? (spoilers)


What do you think, is the ambiguity of Roth's character the film's strength or flaw?

First, Roth's character - if he's so tough and savvy, why the passiveness? It's strange to see him not having a go at this whimpy kid throughout the first part of their journey. Nor does he try to break free when the uncle unlocks the handcuffs and proceeds to relock him.

Why doesn't even try to warn the kid he's bringing more trouble upon himself for carrying a cop? If mind games is his only chance of survival, why doesn't the cop try to do mind games more aggressively to his gain?

Secondly, again, if he's smart, and in the end we're left with the impression that he is, why do they go to the kid's relatives, who are either a direct target or are with the family clan? Even after they witness that his mom is more concerned about the mafia, not the son, next up they go to the guy's godfather.

Third, if we're shown that Roth's character is quite manipulative and cynical - he leaves the vulnerable kid in the middle of nowhere (chances of his survival either the desert or the cartel are slim) - why did he come back for the kid and risked his life against the two remaining shooters? Assuming the backyard had open air, he could've just ran away after getting rid of the third guy.

Yet, he brings the kid along, when he could've left him there.

Is that supposed to show his empathy - that he drags him out of the godfather's house, further away from trouble, but without any notice or advice leaves this 12-year-old-minded kid in the desert? And then, quite literally, steals his car that he earlier said he liked.

That said, and this is where it would get more interesting, is the cop somewhat suicidal? A passive psychopath who's tired of his routine life, soaked in apathy? Even his affair with the gun lady seems to leave him numb. He confessed he liked guns; but in real life, he just can't express that compulsion and thus, yearns for danger? Would that explain his secret willingness not to get out this unexpected (exciting?) escapade, even if it means the very worst?

I liked the film, but these irrationalities are bugging me. A lot.

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My own interpretation is that he was very smart and that he wanted to get through this without anyone getting hurt--and he knew that the best way to do that was to stay completely calm. In fact, as I watched this movie I kept thinking about that scene in "Pulp Fiction" when Samuel L. Jackson is holding a gun on (coincidentally) Tim Roth and trying to keep everyone--especially the nearly hysterical girlfriend--calm:

"Yolanda, I thought you said you were gonna be cool. Now when you yell at me, it makes me nervous. And when I get nervous, I get scared. And when *beep* get scared, that's when *beep* accidentally get shot."

I think he figured that his best chance of surviving was to just go along with whatever he was told, not trying to fight or escape (until they were shooting at him, obviously) or making any sudden moves that might make the others panic.

As far as going back for the kid . . . also open to interpretation, of course. I prefer to think that his motive was altruistic, that he was a heroic figure and wanted to save the kid's life.

But it's also possible that he just needed the car keys. I'm only being half-facetious, there--after all, even if he had kept running, what were his chances of getting away alive in a strange town where he presumably knows no one, doesn't speak the language (or so he says--I wondered about that), hundreds of miles from home, on foot with a couple well-armed men wanting to kill him . . . ? Not good. He needed a vehicle to survive, and I'm assuming the keys were on the kid.

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Hank Harris wasn’t exactly this tough dude. He is clearly physically small, kinda old. He’s good with a gun, but physically, he wasn’t gonna whoop anyone’s butt. He got wrecked by the white boy, remember. So that’s why he didn’t try to fight. That’s why he was so passive.

Harris wouldn’t have been able to fight the uncle. And even if he subdues the uncle, what then? He doesn’t know if the boy might shoot him afterwards (he was shocked that the boy shot the uncle). He needs a car. He’s in a strange area, a foreign country. He doesn’t have a GPS. He doesn’t know anyone around. A white man by hisself draws more attention than a white man + Mexican.

The boy wanted to go to his relatives. Is Roth supposed to say no at that point? Again; he wasn’t really sure of his location, he needed the car, and he probably needed the boy still. He dropped the boy off only later, when he was near America and didn’t need the boy anymore.

So why Harris went to the mother and the relatives? It’s because the boy wanted to, and Harris couldn’t yet say no.

Also, there’s a line where the boy says that his mother doesn’t have a passport, Harris just says, “Doesn’t matter.” He would have ditched both the boy and his mother later.

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