MovieChat Forums > Dead Man Walking (1996) Discussion > Does good and evil even EXIST in your op...

Does good and evil even EXIST in your opinion?

posted a year ago by TheMan18 (13178)
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Or are they, however valid, mostly human constructions and also that, with regards to death penalty even if it is against guilty heinous criminals, that even HERE people argued against even that sense, well... Where does this matter fit in this massive moral jigsaw puzzle?

And also, even in this film...

How come for instance, even in theory, the subject of good versus evil and good guys battling against bad guys, heroes and villains, and winning, and it is seen as happy ending, and whether in life it is that simple, isn't even BROACHED?

And do you think that either of this film's characters have ever thought about it, including Sister Helen, or did they all realize ALREADY that life IS more complex and complicated than that?

Cheers.

P.S. A lot of what I read here hasn't totally spelled things out or provided a universally satisfying narrative, but deep down inside, maybe I shouldn't expect EITHER, correct? Life IS complex, no matter what others tell you, or even stuff like speaking ill and rudely of criminal perpetrators (and even if such people are a bit wrong, can they be understood, especially how given that we won't want to be victims from such perpetrators first and foremost)? RIGHT?

[–] TheMan18 (13178) a year ago

ALSO.

I read quite a few err, well, BITS OF INFORMATION HERE, about how, even seemingly evil MEN, as portrayed here, didn't all just become and choose to be evil and do evil deeds, and they spoke of either background of abuse, or poverty, or neglect, or some kind of illness or defects and fair enough, and I don't deny that at least SOME if not MANY (as in, MAJORITY) of those individuals MAY have been that way, and sometimes even very seriously so.

But what about certain individuals who are just spoiled, or rotten, or greedy, or scum, or don't know better etc etc, once that haven't been mistreated etc or abused in any way? And plus...

In many ACTION movies and fairy tales, with some minor exceptions, you rarely and at times even downright NEVER hear about them having troubled or abusive past, even if it doesn't of course fully absolve them if they DID, but may at least make some of them seem like more than evil villains, and there if they get defeated and die, we see it as a happy ending, and this is how it is supposed to be.

But movies like this tend to have a DIFFERENT approach and say, well, its not that simple, and many people or some seem to know it all too well. And they also don't start vulgarily insulting such even guilty individuals and calling them names or wish for them painful death etc, and again, WHO IS RIGHT?

Also, if death penalty is FUNDAMENTALLY wrong, does that mean self defense killings and heroics aren't totally right either? And at other times, we even find out that what we have been told before for decades isn't totally true and heroic either and that some "heroes" have dark sides of their own. So are we simple individuals then really much "better" than guilty criminals of serious and severe crimes? And death penalty is a VILLAINOUS system THEN?

LIFE doesn't seem to make a lot of sense with all of this in mind to be honest. Or does it?