The story is way too forgiving of this horrible man. It tries to make you understand him and feel sympathy for him, but it doesn't succeed. I do not know why the black community seems to rationalize their father problem but here it is "he is a monster but its ok thats just how it is"
shareI don't think they tried to paint him as heroic at all, just he wasn't monster either. He did everyone around him wrong, but he also did them right as well. He didn't shirk his responsibilities for his family, he didn't abandon his daughter, he loved his wife. Yeah, he was hard man no doubt about that, but even though he did people in his life who he genuinely loved wrong at some point in their life, they knew that he loved them and they loved him back. He just wasn't easy to get along with and the way he grew up was a really hard upbringing, so it really does say a lot about his character that he was able to come back from that be the man that he was. He was just a man, with flaws as we all do.
sharethey knew that he loved them
Yeah. I'm not sure about the loving part either. Responsibility yes, but the love was hardly there.
Then again after he leaves we hear his daughter say that Troy constantly refers to her room as Cory's room. Maybe there was something there after all.
Poorly Lived and Poorly Died, Poorly Buried and No One Criedshare
He was just awful. He was cheated out of a mainstream baseball career and that shouldn't have happened. It though was not the fault of his wife and children. He abused them. He was already a criminal. He learned baseball while in prison. He also was a ladies' man before and after being married. He also took money from his disabled brother whom he wasn't caring for but didn't want in a home.
I can understand him wanting his older and married son to have a more secure job at that point in the son's life. I though believe he was just jealous of the younger one then having a chance. He could have at least received a college education if he didn't make it to the pros. He shouldn't have had sex with another woman to have created the daughter. He wasn't being a good man. Her mother died and he brought the child to his wife who should have told him he was on his own. I don't doubt the child would then have been placed up for adoption. All he did was work but his brother's money bought the house, and his wife took care of everything else. He was not a good man at all.
It doesn't ever get to a point of making you think he's a hero. This is about passing on qualities if yourself to your children. Good or bad. You need to see the good you can take.
shareI agree that the character of Troy isn't presented as heroic. I think the bigger picture (at least part of it) is that we're encouraged to forgive our parents and to realize that we are who we are because of them -- and that instead of blaming our parents for our problems, we should attempt to change ourselves.
shareHe wasn't painted a hero. He was painted a bitter and stubborn man who believed in duty and responibility to his family, who ultimately destroys all he has, including himself.
Precisely correct Sue-534 - and most everyone else except for the person starting this thread. The sequence when Rose (What an all-time great performance by Viola Davis) confesses that he knew the soil and roots were rotten but she put all she had in him to make him good put who he was in perspective. He held onto this as well as he could for as long as he could while constantly fighting his own self-loathing and anger, roots earned by the horrible start he had to his life and desire to be a better person than his father, the last being the only positive gift he could manage to give Cory.
shareAwesome! Your interpretation alone made me well up. A brilliant movie, such a shame if it doesnt get the recognition it deserves.
shareCorrect. I didn't see anything heroic about him.
His son couldn't stand him, everyone else feared him, he irreparably hurt his wife and family, he ended up with a job he hated, a dead mistress and had a permanently damaged brother.
Then, he dies. Alone with his bat and ball. And his fence.
And life goes on. Because that's what happens in real life.
He was "allowed" to be the man he was in the movie because that's the man he was. Just because a movie paints an accurate picture of someone, it doesn't mean it's "ok" to be that way.
It just is.
"the only way through it is through it " -Jackson Browne
Heroic? It never portrayed him as that. It showed him as wounded, deplorable, selfish, and ultimately HUMAN. It's about forgiveness and finding grace for oneself, as they ultimately did by at least acknowledging Troy's own sense of trying to do well from his own wicked upbringing.
shareI wasn't a fan of that ending either. I would have preferred it if when Gabe blew the trumpet the ground cracked open and you saw fire and lava. He should have suffered some kind of consequences for the way he was. I thought maybe the wife or son would attempt to take their own life. He was such a hard person. The only one who got punished was his mistress. It makes you wonder what the message was supposed to be.
It's not that it was a bad movie because of it though. It just rang a little hollow to me.
I took the subway to Wayne Station and Batwalked up the road.
He was human....he took care of his family ....gave his wife all the money every week...wanted better for his son and although he could not come to terms that times had changed and that college would have been great for the son he wanted to protect him from his same failures. He took care of his brother but the fact that the only reason he had the home was due to his brothers accident struck at his pride.
He took so many hits in life (battling the devil ) that sometime the devil won in a big way but he kept fighting and pushing through. He cheated on his wife b/c the liquor obviously wasn't enough to make him feel like the man he had the potential to be.
What he did wasn't always agreeable (or in the case of adultery right) but throughout the movie whether in monologues, song or straight out he explained his motives for his actions.
The ending showed he wasn't altogether wrong, his oldest son followed in his footsteps not having father figure in home , while youngest did better .
The younger son realizes it when recounts the song Old Blue that Troy always sung.
"These songs are Troy's and Cory's and Raynell's way of responding to a world that has rejected them. Troy could be victim of tragedy (like a Greek tragic hero) and kill himself, or he could have a victory over his suffering and sing the blues. The song gives him a way of both coming to terms with and sharing his grief with others. By singing about Old Blue (suffering), Troy is keeping the dog (and his suffering) alive.'
so many layers...so many points I forgot ...I can't wait to rewatch
Yeah me neither. I got academy screener, but im going to pay to see in theater. More nuance on big screen for sure.
shareAre you sure that was not what we were seeing? From what I understand, if you heat something hot enough, it can glow like the Sun...😀
shareI fail to see how is shown as heroic lol. wtf?
shareFrom what reviews, I read Washington is more of a tragic antihero.
Whatever you are, be a good one.
The story is way too forgiving of this horrible man. It tries to make you understand him and feel sympathy for him, but it doesn't succeed. I do not know why the black community seems to rationalize their father problem but here it is "he is a monster but its ok thats just how it is"