Sgt. Water's last words...
What were Water's last taunting words to Petersen right before he was shot, for some reason, I still can't make it out.
share"They still hate you!"
shareInteresting, I wonder who were the 'They' that he was referring to....
shareHe was referring, IMHO, to never being considered equal (to whites of course)no matter how much was personally achieved, especially in light of how his achievements compromised his soul.
He was dealing with his grief (earned though it was) at the suicide-death of CJ, which he intentionally caused. In his belief that it was a necessary evil to "weed out" black men who diminished the race overall he was dutiful but the grief and regret remained.
This grief was why he was blindingly drunk, out of his spit and polish character and therefore vunerable that night.
Ironically,
He saw in Pete a kindred spirit, one that was willing to do "what must be done" to elevate the race. He was exactly right- Pete was capable of the necessary action of killing to weed out a evil. They simply disagreed on the definition of what was evil.
He recognized it in his final seconds and gave out the statement, 'as a don't make the same mistake I did' warning to his Oedipal son when he realized his chickens were coming home to roost. That was the meaning of his statement "They still hate you"
I saw this in high-school this maybe the best "Black" movie ever.
"Are we not men?" D E V O
You can say that about American workers and young people. No matter how hard the American worker does to make the American companies profitable, he/she is still hated by the rich people of this country. The American worker is never going to be treated as an equal partner in the American social, political, and ecomonic landscape.
In America, young people can earn BA, MBA, and Ph.D degrees, but the older folks look at the young people and tell them directly or indirectly that their achievements do not mean a thing. It is amazing that a college degree 100 to 50 years ago would get you somewhere but nowadays it doesn't mean a thing. It seems that nowadays a college degree is downsize to that of a high school or GED degree. It seems to me that older people like to pump up their achievements in getting a degree while their attitudes to the young people getting degree seems to be is "so what, what makes you so special, when I can go around the world and find people with the same degree but I can hire them for less money." Many years ago, on the Phil Donahue Show, Mr. Donahue made a statement that American society hates the American youth. I think that has been true since the day this country got its independence. We did not outlaw child labor until 1933 and use kids as scabs for a long time. Furthermore, we are always cutting back on money for small classes, musical and vocational programs and then we wonder why kids drop out of school and go into the world of crime to make some real lucrative money from drugs, counterfitting money and ID cards with high tech printers and using computers to hack into the Corporate America's files to steal people indentities, their stocks and bank accounts. We give more incentives to discourage kids instead of encouraging them.
I had no problem with Sargeant Waters' last words at the END of the movie, but they are also spoken at the BEGINNING of the movie (without revealing the whole surrounding drama)--all we know is that the drunken sargeant is almost flat on his back, and says these words to someone)--and there, I didn't understand them. 50 viewings ago, this presented me with a probloem.
Of all the great actors in this movie, white and black, I liied Larry Reily (C.J. Memphis) best. *beep* it!
"A man who don't know where he belong gotta be in a whole lotta pain"--(C.J. of Waters)
"Thus began our longest journey together." To Kill a Mockingbird
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What, pray tell does all of this have to do with this film? Furthermore, are you an American, born and bred, or are you perhaps from the Peoples Republic of Britain?
If you are NOT from the UK, please ignore this remark. However, if you are, then thanks for helping to ruin my country! As an Englishman (and bloody proud of it) I regret that I finally had to leave a country I deeply love because I could no longer bear the socialised everything. I was able to hang on as long as it was just myself, but when I married and had children, I just could not stand the thought of them being schooled in the bloody awful private (read that as "public" in the USA) school system.
Anyway, I'm off to read more about films; I just hate talking politics... and this site is not the place for it anyway!
Ta'
TjB
reply to Siptea's comment: Since your comment is kinda off the subject, my reply will be. That being said, I agree with you 100%, on your comment regarding America's treatment of the youth. Where I live, in Baltimore. They do so little to encourage the children and have so few programs. Of course, there are always options if you have the money. My daughter is gifted and talented at age 6, I ask her teacher about possible summer programs. Her reply was, "we really don't have much for gifted students, only those who are having difficulty." What encouragement is that for an exceptional child. All the activities her are either high priced or for seniors (elderly). We have so many big businesses here it is ridiculous. What ever happened to giving back to the communities you are profiting off of.
Back on the subject....Sgt was a confused, self-loathing character. He did see Pete going in the same direction as him.
I'm wondering several things about your post. What in hell does it have to do with the last words the character spoke in the movie? Also, please do not denigrate my four years getting my undergraduate degree in Film History and my current graduate school attendance. GED? Downgraded? I believe you do not understand the amount of work it takes to get a college degree nor its worth. That said, I still can't figure out what the hell the words are and am glad someone was able to discern them for us.
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