MovieChat Forums > The Mule (2014) Discussion > What was the message of the movie?

What was the message of the movie?


As far as I can see the main character and his lawyer are the bad guys in the story. He is a mule and needs to go to Jail. His Lawyer is trying to get him off just for so.

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Yes one of the cops is dirty but regardless committed a crime. And the ending seems like a happy ending but his stepdad got murdered, his friend got murdered, him mum and others know what he's done and even if he recovers the heroin how is he going to fence it?

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It has a rather Shakespearian message through out the whole movie: to poo or not to poo that is the question

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair

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lol the message is that you should never try to test people, because when push comes to shove, you never know what they can do. Everyone thought he was a dope and they could punk him out, but look...he beat everyone in the end.

His stepdad and best friend got murdered, but it was their fault. They are the ones who forced him to swallow balloons of heroin.The friend threatened to hurt his mom and the friend didn't swallow any balloons, even though he said that he would. AND remember, he was only supposed to carry 1/2 a kilo. They made him carry a full kilo, just for their own personal gain and didn't think about how it would affect him. They didn't care about him.

As for his mom, she will forgive him. She is his mother.

The only other person who knows what did was the lawyer and she was happy he got away with it lmao.

And I don't think Ray planned on recovering the heroin. If you notice, he never cared about the money. He only agreed to do it because his so-called best friend threatened to hurt his mom. After he got arrested, he still wasn't bothered about the money or he would have shat it out and gave it to the crooked cop.
He just wanted to be free and for the drugs not to fall into bad hands.

If he does decide to recover the heroin, that's easy. The tv is in the shop where he used to work. He just has to go back and beg for his job back. When the owner is out or after hours, he opens the tv and gets the drugs, easy peasy.

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He just has to go back and beg for his job back.


Ray's mother told him at the hotel that his boss had offered him his job back.

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As far as I can see the main character and his lawyer are the bad guys in the story. He is a mule and needs to go to Jail. His Lawyer is trying to get him off just for so.


As people get older and have more experiences they typically realize that in life there usually isn't good guys and bad guys. Things are a bit more complex.

spoilers below

In this movie the characters who did the crappiest things were the respected business man (Noble) and the seemingly decent cop. Of course Weaving's cop character was despicable throughout, until the end when he does right thing and tells Paris there are lines not to be crossed.

That's part of the reason this movie was good.

So yeah there wasn't good guys and bad guys. There was just people doing stuff, some good some bad.

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I get what you are saying and that is clearly the filmmakers point of view however most criminals can justify their motives to kill (at least in their own heads) that is why we have the rule of law.

Circumstances made me who I am does not get you off in court. This movie is in way the complete opposite of a movie like Spotlight which advocates for personal responsibility at every step.

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Don't substitute the law for morality. That way lies authoritarianism.

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