"Evil" is several orders of magnitude beyond merely "morally wrong".
Nope. Just a synonym. Check a dictionary. And that's what I mean when I use it. So don't play word police. You have no authority to tell me what I mean by the words I use. You may choose your words; let me choose mine.
Were we watching different films?
He explicitly gave her permission to grant the extension. It was her decision. She had the authority. She even admits it to Clay, at the end.
He specifically tied the situation to the question of whether she was ready to "make the big decisions", and made it clear the bank wanted to acquire the "trapped equity" in Mrs Ganush's home.
Yes. He mentioned the "trapped equity". But he still left the decision to her. And the "trapped equity" is not something the bank is entitled to. It's a purely speculative value in any event, and to the extent it is more than that, it is cheating. When one forecloses, one is supposed to pay the value of the house, not less than the value of the house. In theory "trapped equity" should never serve as a financial incentive for foreclosure.
Same with the bank making a sizable amount in "fees" (which Mr. Jacks also mentioned). These fees are supposed to merely reimburse the bank for the costs of foreclosure. They are NOT supposed to serve as a monetary incentive for foreclosure. If they do serve this purpose, they are excessive.
What Mr. Jacks' comments really show is that the banks' legitimate interests were not threatened in any legitimate way. There was no need to be cruel to a dying old woman.
If you agree that Christine wanted initially to help Mrs Ganush, then how do you account for the fact that she changed her mind after assuring the boss that she could handle the situation?
She was maneuvering for a promotion. She thought, based on what she saw as Mr. Jack's hints, that by showing how tough or cruel she could be she could win brownie points for a promotion.
Does not change the fact that he gave her permission to do the right thing.
Perhaps it's how you feel banks should behave in real life,...
They do behave that way in circumstances like this one. Yes, even in real life. The cruel destruction of helpless old ladies is bad publicity. And they really did not have much to gain by cruelty in circumstances like this one. They could have given another extension at no real cost or risk. Their money was safe.
Christine didn't just "decide" to "crush this little old lady".
That's exactly what she did. She even admits it at the end of the film. It really was her "call"; just as Mr. Jacks said it was.
This is not really debatable. It's right there in the script. Not only at the beginning, and at the end, but also in the middle, when she visits the psychic granddaughter, and tries to lie about it, but the psychic granddaughter knows she is lying, ... because she's psychic. It is amazing how many viewers try to deny it.
Raimi's goal was to get viewers to identify with Christine. It worked too well with some of you.
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