Discussion
I have bought the DVD of this film, and I was thinking hard about its message, particularly after the recent stunts of Fathers 4 Justice.
Is it fundamentally the story of a man driven insane by a society which views men only as sperm donors and meal tickets and a legal system which thinks it is OK to deny a man access to his young daughter?.
Is it fundamentally the story of a man driven insane by a society which views men only as sperm donors and meal tickets and a legal system which thinks it is OK to deny a man access to his young daughter?.
JagLover said:
I have bought the DVD of this film, and I was thinking hard about its message, particularly after the recent stunts of Fathers 4 Justice.
Is it fundamentally the story of a man driven insane by a society which views men only as sperm donors and meal tickets and a legal system which thinks it is OK to deny a man access to his young daughter?.
Love the breakfast at Maccie D's scene
Oh God, another thread about the evils of women.
As far as I remember, FD seemed to be about a man who was crushed at every turn in his life, even down to something as trivial as not being able to get breakfast at 11.01 or whatever. I think we've all felt at some point in our lives that everything is conspiring against us and we're backed into a corner.
As far as I remember, FD seemed to be about a man who was crushed at every turn in his life, even down to something as trivial as not being able to get breakfast at 11.01 or whatever. I think we've all felt at some point in our lives that everything is conspiring against us and we're backed into a corner.
shadytree said:
I have bought the DVD of this film, and I was thinking hard about its message, particularly after the recent stunts of Fathers 4 Justice.
Is it fundamentally the story of a man driven insane by a society which views men only as sperm donors and meal tickets and a legal system which thinks it is OK to deny a man access to his young daughter?.
Love the breakfast at Maccie D's scene
"I'm afraid you'll have to order something from the lunch menu......."
swilly said:
And if you watch the film properly you will realise he was divorced because he was a bit of a nutter whilst married.
I did realise that, but you should be aware that he was restrained from coming within 100 yards of his Wife AND his daughter, even though he had not physically harmed either one of them.
JagLover said:
And if you watch the film properly you will realise he was divorced because he was a bit of a nutter whilst married.
I did realise that, but you should be aware that he was restrained from coming within 100 yards of his Wife AND his daughter, even though he had not physically harmed either one of them.
So threatening or psychotic behaviour that frightens the wife and kids doesn't count?
There are days when it would be lovely to take his alternative approach to stress relief "Have you ever heard the expression, the customers always right?"
My sales guy here plays this to me sometimes when he needs a favour.
My reply is:
"Have you ever heard the expression,
off you t" >> Edited by shadytree on Friday 16th September 09:55
silversun said:
So threatening or psychotic behaviour that frightens the wife and kids doesn't count?
He was psychotic at the end, but I believe he had been driven to it.
As far as we can tell from the film, the only problem he had with his family is that he was irritable and lost his temper easily, if his wife didn't like that she was well within her rights to divorce him. I could see nothing that justified denying him access to his daughter.
JagLover said:
He was psychotic at the end, but I believe he had been driven to it.
As far as we can tell from the film, the only problem he had with his family is that he was irritable and lost his temper easily, if his wife didn't like that she was well within her rights to divorce him. I could see nothing that justified denying him access to his daughter.
JagLover, it's a film. It's not real.
This is my favourite film of all time.
The film is actually about 2 men really, D-Fens (Douglas) and Prendergast (Duvall). Both equally fascinating.
Douglas has basically lost everything he ever had, his wife, his daughter and his job and lives with his mother who he resents. There was obviously something wrong with him before the day he snaps, we don't really get enough of the past history between him and his wife other than he has had violent 'tendencies' and she has a court restraining order on him.
I don't think the film tries to portray a message other than that society can create pressures intolerable for people close to the edge.
His intention all along is just to see his daughter on her birthday, this then develops into a series of events whereby all is he then left able to do is to kill his wife and daughter then himself rather than spend the rest of his of life in jail.
So many to choose from but one of the best clips is when he's on a public telephone and there's an impatient guy waiting..
IG 'There are other people waiting to use the phone'
D-FENS 'There are ?'
IG 'Yes that's right you selfish asshole'
D-Fens 'Well that's just too bad cos you know what ?'
IG 'What'
D-Fens (Pulls Ingram Sub machine gun out of his bag and empties a magazine into the phone), 'I think it's out of order'
The film is actually about 2 men really, D-Fens (Douglas) and Prendergast (Duvall). Both equally fascinating.
Douglas has basically lost everything he ever had, his wife, his daughter and his job and lives with his mother who he resents. There was obviously something wrong with him before the day he snaps, we don't really get enough of the past history between him and his wife other than he has had violent 'tendencies' and she has a court restraining order on him.
I don't think the film tries to portray a message other than that society can create pressures intolerable for people close to the edge.
His intention all along is just to see his daughter on her birthday, this then develops into a series of events whereby all is he then left able to do is to kill his wife and daughter then himself rather than spend the rest of his of life in jail.
So many to choose from but one of the best clips is when he's on a public telephone and there's an impatient guy waiting..
IG 'There are other people waiting to use the phone'
D-FENS 'There are ?'
IG 'Yes that's right you selfish asshole'
D-Fens 'Well that's just too bad cos you know what ?'
IG 'What'
D-Fens (Pulls Ingram Sub machine gun out of his bag and empties a magazine into the phone), 'I think it's out of order'
JagLover said:
I have bought the DVD of this film, and I was thinking hard about its message, particularly after the recent stunts of Fathers 4 Justice.
Is it fundamentally the story of a man driven insane by a society which views men only as sperm donors and meal tickets and a legal system which thinks it is OK to deny a man access to his young daughter?.
Don't think it's about the ills of society, more about how someone who 'looses it' can regard their reactions as perfectly acceptable in the circumstances. For me the important line was when he said something like:
"Wait, so I'm the baddy in this story?" (forgive the massive misquote).
We all think our behaviour is right and justified given our circumstances - but some of us are psychotic nutcases. D-FENS has gone from a failed relationship, to pretending to the world that he still has a job, to using a missile launcher, and each step into insanity appears perfectly reasonable to him.
The more I think about it, it's really not commenting on the evils of women, nor is it about the poor policies of McDonald's breakfasts - it's about the process of going over the edge in response to all the little inequities life deals us. The actual inequities are irrelevant - it's the response that's important. Both D-FENS and Prendegast are surviving in the same world, yet one goes far off the deep end, the other doesn't.
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