MovieChat Forums > '71 (2014) Discussion > *Spoiler* I don't understand why...

Spoiler I don't understand why...

posted 10 years ago by benkiely93
10 replies | jump to latest

Towards the end of the movie, after the kid refuses to shoot the soldier, why did he decide so quickly to kill the man who was trying to murder the soldier? Throughout the movie he has a couple of opportunities to kill Gary Hook but judging by his reaction he's physically unable to kill anyone. Then he coolly shoots another man just before the end. Maybe I'm missing something here but this just didn't make any sense to me.

Great film other than that. Wasn't a fan of the shaky cam but it's a great concept and an enthralling story. Fantastic performance from Jack O'Connell as well.

[–] ronfirv 10 years ago

Jack is turning into a darned good actor ; look out for him in the future, peeps.

[–] GlasgowNick 10 years ago

May have had something to do with the fact that the guy he shot had just shot him.

[–] kyzasoze2003 10 years ago

Being an IRA-rookie he wanted to kill a Brit but was unable to kill Jack as maybe he saw himself in him, or realised that as a individual he didn't hate Jack as much as to kill him in cold blood. The guy he shot was a Brit who had just shot him, so he felt it was more justifed.

[–] benkiely93 10 years ago

Thank you!

[–] Depleted 10 years ago

You needed an explanation to understand that?

[–] benkiely93 10 years ago

I had forgotten he shot the kid first. I was at the premiere. Drinks were consumed after the screening. Subsequently, some scenes got lost in my brain.

[–] chris-rogers2 10 years ago

No, he needed it because the film - and that scene especially - was poor. The real reason the IRA boy saved him was to continue the thread of lost innocence set up in the opening at the approved school/children's home, but it was so badly done it destroyed any credibility the film had left by the.

www.chrismrogers.net, a website for architecture and visual culture

[–] gobears87 9 years ago

Yup, Sean shot the guy (corrupt MRF sergeant) who had just shot him.

Also, I wonder if the film was trying to suggest that Sean shot Sarge in order to save Hook. Sean thought he wanted to be an IRA gunman and kill British soldiers. However, when given the chance to kill Hook, he couldn't go through with it. Was that a lack of nerve, or a crisis of conscience? Killing the Sarge suggests Sean had begun to make a distinction between rank-and-file British soldiers (not really the enemy) vs. the real bad actors like the Sarge. OK, maybe that's a stretch.

[–] activista 9 years ago

What does MRF mean? And, yeah that scene was pretty nerve-wracking.

[–] ttaskmaster 9 years ago

What does MRF mean?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Reaction_Force