 | Men of Honor
(2000)
 | In
the scene after Karl Brashear (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) has rescued the abandoned
partner with great courage and risk to his life, you see the man who had
abandoned his partner receive the award for courage and bravery. This is
because he is white and Brashear is black, of course. But if we focus on
the man's reaction, we see the weight of sin and its guilt on people. The
man does not rejoice in his award; his fellow divers do not congratulate him
because they knew he abandoned his partner. Brashear deserved the honor and
award, but woudl never get it. Now the white man has to live with the
weight of his abandonment of his partner, the award that reminded him of his
cowardice and that another deserved for his bravery. It is best expressed
as he stands alone in the parade yard, alone. (John Kuske) |
|
| Vertical
Limit (2000)
| In "Vertical Limit", the hero
is guilty about the fact that he cut his father
from the rope that was holding himself and his sister
to a rock face, at his fathers instructions - "If you don't cut the
rope you will be killing your sister too."(see also sacrifice,
below) We see the hero's guilt in his interaction with his sister
and with Wick, the surrogate father who shows him that sacrifice
is what life is about. (Timothy Leuers) |
|
| The Green Mile (1999)
| "I felt the scene where Hank's character was
explaining to his lady friend in the nursing home why he was really much
older than he appeared, brought out Pope John Paul's message that even
though we are not directly responsible for the sins of society, that we
carry the responsibility to pray and sacrifice for atonement of these
sins, that we are members of the Body, and therefore share in the responsibility." |
|
| Angela's Ashes (1999)
| Frankie's confession of his life and sins to Saint
Francis. Priest: "God forgives you, and you must forgive yourself.
God loves you, and you must love yourself. For only when you love God
and yourself can you love all of God's creatures." (DVD ch 27) |
| Frankie "confessing" that he threw up his
first communion. (DVD ch 11) |
|
| American History X (1998)
| Derek covers the swastika tattoo in regret for his former life. |
|
| Saving Private Ryan
(1998)
| The regret of the now-elderly Ryan as he
remembers the story. Has he "earned it"? Can anyone? |
|
| Red Corner (1997)
| Jack Moore is an American attorney having talks in
Bejing about founding the first satellite TV joint venture. Suddenly he
is arrested, accused of murder and has to prove it was a frame-up
together with his court-appointed attorney Shen Yuelin. Her advice, as
his attorney, is to plead guilty to a crime he knows--and she
believes--he didn't commit. An interesting take on the denial of guilt
we have in our own lives, but the inescapable truth that we are all
guilty of sin. The positive side is that the attorney's advice is
correct: we're better off if we plead guilty, even if we believe we're
innocent. Jesus' grace will cover us; but in the words of the movie's
tag line, there is "Severity for those who resist." (Brian
Rafferty, MI) |
|
| Contact
(1997)
| Ellie is sure that she
killed her father because she didn't get him the right pills on time. |
|
| Ransom (1996)
| In "Ransom," when the hero played by Mel Gibson confesses
to the security officer that he bribed a union official to prevent
a strike in his company, he is clearly showing signs of guilt.
(Timothy Leuers) |
|
| The
Shawshank Redemption (1994)
| Red stands before parole board and talks
about his regrets. Start cue: bars slide open, doors open to parole
board. End cue: "I gotta live with that" (Youth
Alpha Australia) |
|
| The Stand
(1994)
| The Ed Harris character realizes that his attempt to
cover up the reality of the flu (evil) has contributed to its
destruction of the world. He pins a sign that reads "guilty"
to his uniform, and kills himself. |
|
| Schindler's List (1993)
| Amon Goethe (touching his reflection in a mirror):
"I pardon you." |
|
| The
Fisher King (1991)
| Jack wants to "just pay the fine and go home"
but cannot lose the guilt that way. |
|
| Mississippi Burning
(1988)
| Ward: "He was
guilty. Anyone's guilty who watches it happen and does nothing. He was
guilty. Maybe we all are." |
|
| Amadeus (1984)
| Salieri does not in the end feel guilt, but the whole
film is a confession, and an indictment against
god, of his murder or god's favourite, Amadeus. I
suppose that Salieri feels guilt but he does not
repent. (Timothy Leuers) |
|
