MovieChat Forums > Walk on Water (2005) Discussion > Why does Axel (Spoilers)

Why does Axel (Spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by sfrodobaggins
14 replies | jump to latest

Kill his old grandfather in the end? For me it just seemed like that was totally out of character considering he was all about peace and love. When that scene came up I thought he was going to kiss the old man and forgive him, instead he turns off the oxygen and watches him die.

I know the nazis were evil and all that, but the man was so old and helpless, I just felt like Axel was above that sort of "vengence" plus who sells out their Grandfather, even if he was a nazi. His grandfather brought so much joy to his father at the birthday party, I really didn't think Axel would want to destroy the few short moments of happiness his own father would've had with the old nazi. At the end of the day killing some old nazi isn't going to right the wrongs of the Holocaust and although he wasn't punished by the law, his family still had suffer with their Nazi connections.

Also I felt like Eyal's hatred of the Arabs was a little over the top, I've never been to Israel, I've only seen what everyone else has seen on the news, but his phrases and treatment of Raffik's uncle seemed very "Nazish". Calling Arabs animals and then grabbing money out of the old uncle's hands? I understand the animosty but you can't blame every Arab for the actions of a few not to mention it technically was their land to begin with until Palestine was handed over the Jews of Europe as severence for the Holocaust. If they were fair, they would have given them Germany and Poland.

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[–] finnbar2003 17 years ago

You have to look at it analytically. As Axel finds about about he truth, he will kill his grandfather to end the secret and cycle of lies. Many of the Germany youth are adamently appalled, in which they have to live with sins of their fathers, by the abhorant display of power that the Nazi's inflicted on Polish-German-Austrian-Jews, homosexuals (in which Axel is), gypsies, the old, mentally ill, handicapped, or any other type of humans that didn't fit the Nazi ethos.

Americans (such as I) don't have the psychological baggage like the Germans do, so I'm not surprised by this thread.

If you look at the ending with a psychological and historical perspective, Eyal doesn't kill him because he would be no better than the Nazis, and he also wants to end his cycle of killing too. Eyal wants to live the rest of life without chaos.

The ending is very poetic. After the death of the war criminal, Eyal and Pai will be married, and they will have a baby, and this will be a union of two cultures.

[–] EjioforBond 18 years ago

It wasn't at all out of character. It was even foreshadowed at the end of the subway scene. Do you remember when Axel asks Eyal why he didn't shoot the "piece of sh* t" (skinhead), adding that people like him poisoned the world with hate?

Also I felt like Eyal's hatred of the Arabs was a little over the top

I thought it was an accurate depiction of hostility and mistrust in Israel, not by every Israeli Jew, but certainly recognizable behavior. I hope you don't think it's treated approvingly by the director because it certainly wasn't meant to be taken that way. On the contrary, it's a benchmark that enables us to chart how much the character grows by the end of his stay in Berlin.

[–] jzkbbi 17 years ago

Remember when Axel told Eyal that he should have killed those gay bashing attackers because "people like him poison the world?"

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[–] leftbanker 17 years ago

Sure, and by that same literal, unthinking fundamentalist interpretation of the Old Testament, Axel deserves to and will spend eternity in unspeakable agony because he has the honesty and courage to live as the man "God" created him to be. And that's only the the beginning of the nonsense you have to approve and believe (and try to force others to believe) if you cede your powers of thought and logic to the Christian (or Jewish or, for that matter, Islamic) theo-fascists.

"Nothing personal. Your name just happened to come up."

[–] dodrade 15 years ago

It's been a while since i've seen it, but I remember thinking the ending was pretty dumb, as we're led to believe that while a hard bitten Mossad Agent cannot bring himself to kill an elderly frail war criminal, his own grandson does it without a second thought, it seemed to me, not for the reasons other posters have suggested but in a fit of pique to get back at his father for lying to him.

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[–] thepartydjz 12 years ago

"At the end of the day killing some old nazi isn't going to right the wrongs of the Holocaust"

Right, you can kill and "old" nazi, but you couldn't kill a young one, now it's so easy, not so easy back in the day, remember that.

[–] lubin-freddy 15 years ago

As I've written on other threads, Eyal doesn't want to kill anymore. It's finally sunk in that he "kills everything he comes near to", as his wife/girlfriend wrote in her suicide note. Axel understands this.

As for his hatred of Arabs, yes, there are, unfortunately, people like that, and he's presented such by the filmmakers in a critical manner.

"Sometimes you have to take the bull by the tail, and face the truth" - G. Marx

[–] velcronewsletter 14 years ago

i just want to mention that as for the creation of israel, palestine and the arab countries was home to christians, muslims and jews for hundreds of years. my family is from that area. so saying that, jews have always lived there, long before christianity and islam had evolved into religions and so it was also their land. i don't want to get into a political fight about it because i would prefer to discuss the film instead but jews have always lived there. so whatever you think about process of the creation of israel (which is a long story) jews had petitioned and paid for that piece of land now called israel from as early as 1904. also european jews have lived there since the 1880's as well as the native middle eastern jews. i know wars were fought over it and i also know that you certainly can't trust the news for all of your information. there are also people in israel just like the character of eyal but not everyone is. its not a sinple black and white situation for both sides so simply saying that israel was given to the jews who suffered in the holocaust and it was originally arab land i believe is incorrect

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'Little monkey down! LITTLE MONKEY DOWN!' (Julia Murney in Wicked)

[–] Iconoclast321 (429) 7 years ago

Thank you for saying this (writing this from Tel-Aviv).