MovieChat Forums > Morituri (1965) Discussion > Was the girl telling the truth?

Was the girl telling the truth?

posted 18 years ago by TPro1
5 replies | jump to latest

So was all that stuff for real or was she just a nut? Im kinda lost on who she was and how she came to be in Nazi control, that part kind of confused me from the beginning.

[–] Gluck-3 15 years ago

The film gave no clue as far as I can see that the girl's claims was anything but the truth. And why should it be unbelievable? As a Jew, her family evidently from some Nazi-occupied territory, the Nazis could have done anything they wanted with her -- and the horror story she relates, although shocking, is much in line with the abuse Nazi victims suffered. (German law forbade having sex with Jews, as was a major point in SCHINDLER'S LIST, but certainly this rule must have easily been broken time and again.)

MORITURI earned points regarding a subject matter that often wasn't treated so openly in films from this time period. It was very courageous, and terribly depressing, to see the girl easily offer herself to the dissenting American crew, in order that they may participate in the ship's revolt. When Brando's character catches her being worked on, her smile powerfully and sadly expressed her damaged psychological state, in a manner that would probably be unacceptable in today's sexually political climate. In addition, it was also refreshing to be offered a rare balance, as shown by cinema's usually "good guy" American WWII servicemen as up to behaving like sexually abusive beasts, little different than their Nazi counterparts.

[–] sly_3 8 years ago

she was hysterical, for sure, and she's (at the least) escaped a situation that was sexually dangerous, it's never clear but implied - so she's certainly got a right to be especially fearful of brando's intentions.
i have no doubt that such savagery was present on all sides during WW2.

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@sly_3

[–] ibbi 11 years ago

Not sure why you'd assume she was a nut

___
They so bad their cows had to die.

[–] Jefbecco-1 8 years ago

The U.S. Army court-martialed many soldiers for the crime of rape during WWII. Especially in Europe where there were large numbers of civilian females. WWII is one of those wars that has become rather mythical and that's dishonest. Both sides had their shares of atrocities. Granted the Nazis led the pack, but neither side got through that war with clean hands and both sides were capable of acts of great courage and great brutality. She was damaged and I'm sure she was pushed off the deep end when she found herself back in German custody in the Pacific! Remember after she was "rescued" by the Japanese sub the German officer (who was helping to train the Japanese on wolf pack tactics) on board mentioned that she was on her way to Australia on an American ship. She probably thought that while there was the chance that she could be killed at least it would be at the hands of the Japanese and not the Nazis and then she finds herself a prisoner of the Nazis. That would make anybody crack a little.

[–] brux (14724) 6 years ago

In the British series Enemy At The Door, about the German occupation of the Channel islands during the war, a German soldier is executed early on for raping a girl, and it was not even forcible. That is a very good series by the way.