MovieChat Forums > The Usual Suspects (1995) Discussion > Did anyone notice that Soze speaks perfe...

Did anyone notice that Soze speaks perfect English with no accent?

posted 9 years ago by brokedickdog7
7 replies | jump to latest

SPOILER

He not only speaks English perfectly he has a Kevin Spacey New Jersey accent.

Unless you learn to speak a second language in early childhood under certain circumstances you will not speak the second language with native pronunciation.

If you learn a second language after puberty you will retain some pronunciation from your first language.

Henry Kissinger is a perfect example. Former Harvard professor, Secretary of State, etc., he reads and speaks English much better than most native speakers. But to this day he has a German accent.

So how does Soze fool everyone into thinking he is a native English speaker?

As Keaton said at the dock "it can't be done".

Maybe this has been mentioned before. I've only been to this board a couple of times.

Also shouldn't his last name be spelled "Sose" not "Soze" as that is the way it is pronounced?

I give this good film an 8/10. Baldwin was miscast, the make-up was poor (a minor complaint to many but it slightly effect my rating of this film. Chazz Palminteri is clearly wearing facial make-up and red lipstick and you can see make-up on other actors.)

A great screenplay. Except for Baldwin a good ensemble cast. But this does not belong in the IMDB top 50 for the seasons stated above.

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[–] Stratego 9 years ago

What makes you think Soze is really Turkish? Verbal tells Kujan that people claim he's Turkish and that his father's German, but we can't be sure about anything regarding the Soze myth. We don't even know if Keyser Soze is his real name.

Didn't you already post your opinion about this movie some time ago? I remember someone bringing up the EXACT same points about Baldwin and the make-up.

[–] brokedickdog7 9 years ago

"Didn't you already post your opinion about this movie some time ago? I remember someone bringing up the EXACT same points about Baldwin and the make-up.

Yes, that was me. You have a good memory Stratego. That was some time ago!

I haven't seen the film in a long time. But Soze is Turkish, right? In Spacey's narrative he is with the Turkish mob and lived in Turkey. So he is Turkish, correct?

My point is that if he was not a native English speaker he could learn to read and write English fluently but he would have an accent. Like Henry Kissinger.

Also- shouldn't his name be spelled "Sose" unless "Soze" is the Turkish spelling? If it is the Turkish spelling then he is Turkish and he would have an accent.

His name was clearly pronounced "Sose".

[–] Stratego 9 years ago

I haven't seen the film in a long time. But Koze is Turkish, right? In Spacey's narrative he is with the Turkish mob and lived in Turkey. So he is Turkish, correct?

Verbal tells a story to Kujan about Soze being from Turkey and killing his family when they were held hostage by Hungarian criminals. Verbal says he believes the story is true, but I think we can take it with a grain of salt, just like Verbal's other stories. Especially since the director points out the cigarette box with an Ottoman harem motif on the police detective's desk, which seems to be have been an inspiration for the story.

My point is that if he was not a native English speaker he could learn to read and write English fluently but he would have an accent. Like Henry Kissinger.

I think it kind of depends on your native language, the country you're from, the age at which you learned speaking English and the age you are at the moment. Kissinger's accent seem to get progressively worse the older he gets.

Also- shouldn't his name be spelled "Sose" unless "Soze" is the Turkish spelling? If it is the Turkish spelling then he is Turkish and he would have an accent.

The spelling is "Söze". "Söz" is a Turkish word meaning "talk". I'm not sure if it's a real Turkish surname, but even if it was, it could just be an alias. Or perhaps his parents were only Turkish, while he was raised in the US.

[–] jbaddock 9 years ago

Firstly, we don't know if Keyser Soze is Turkish, or even that he exists at all - we only have Verbal's word for that. Secondly, we don't even know for certain that, even if he exists, Verbal is Soze - there are arguments that he could be Kobayashi, or that he doesn't ever appear in the film at all and that Verbal is simply working for him. You're assuming that Verbal told the unvarnished truth about Soze, but we know that a good deal of his story was pure invention.

[–] drystyx 9 years ago

Like the others say, his accent is a big clue to his real identity, which is someone who is lying about everything.

Really, the only way this movie makes any sense is if Kaiser is really the Devil who is showing up five people who think they can kick the Devil off his throne (the other four, and the lady lawyer).

Now go away or I shall taunt you a second time!

[–] Great_Gazoo 9 years ago

LOL! You've got to be kidding.

Everything he told the cops was a lie that he made up off the top of his head!

Keyser Soze is NOT his real name. Soze is just a Kingpin drug lord name like Heisenberg. And he made up all the details surrounding it.

Roger Kent is the character's real name! He just cultivated the image of a cripple while secretly running the drug trade under the alias of Keyser Soze. And a legend/myth went along with the name he created because he was such a powerful drug lord.

Seriously, think about it. Kent had done time in jail, been to court, had been arrested numerous times, had his mugshot taken and fingerprinted in a computer system. You cannot do all of that under a fake name. Kent was definitely his real name. Soze was just the Heisenberg persona he created to control the drug world.

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Long ago men competed on a show to date a woman who competed on a show to date Flava Flav.

[–] spank-my-17 9 years ago

Yes, finally someone that has the same interpretation as me. After the twist ending, it seemed the most logical explanation.
A lot of people on here seem to want Kobayashi or someone else to be Söze, or literally believing the whole Keyser Söze myth/backstory was true. :-/