What Does Brave Really Mean?
By Alina Popescu on Nov 5, 2007 in Movies Reviews
I love Jodie Foster. That’s why I was so keen on seeing her new movie, The Brave One. And now I have to wonder. Does it send out the right message? Cause I have serious doubts.
WARNING!!! If you want to see the movie and not have me spoil the ending for you, then don’t read!
The movie tells the story of a woman that has to recover from a serious trauma: she and her fiance are attacked and beaten. The fiance is killed while she spends long weeks in the hospital. Foster’s character, Erica Bain, does a wonderful job at depicting the fear that comes after such a terrible experience. For quite a while, she is even afraid to go out on the street in broad daylight.
Then she illegally buys a gun. And faith brings here close to dangerous people, murderers, thieves and rapists. She kills them all and saves a girl in the process. She even kills those who had beaten her and murdered her boyfriend. Nothing very wrong with this picture, we all know fear, revenge and everything evil can happen to us one day, no one is safe and resisting the temptation is more difficult than one could imagine from the outside.
But she suffers no consequences. She gets away with acting like a vigilante. And it’s one thing to see this in movies like Spiderman or Superman or when it comes to other superheroes, and a very different thing to see it in a movie such as The Brave One. What is the message? Anyone can take justice on their own hands and to the police’s work better, then get away with it? That is simply not right. What will happen if every victim would go buy a gun and then start shooting people around?
We have no right to judge others. We have no right to play executioners. Or tell other people it’s ok if they do so! If they are careful, they might get away with it! Just this time, I expected something else from Jodie Foster…Because from what I could tell about the post-trauma Erica Bain from the movie, there is no guarantee she won’t kill again and again. Which indeed, makes her no better than her aggressors. No one has the right to play with lives.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Alina,
I partially agree with you. Hmm.. But Justice in Romania? What justice?
The ones responsible for the accident at Mihailesti got away with it…
and there are so many cases in the civil (not criminal) cases (return
the properties stolen by the communists and so on) that just aren’t
fixed, for a decade now.
And besides, if everyone obeyed the law, and the goverment, and the
police forces, I mean all LEGAL authority, the 1989 revolution wouldn’t
of happened. Where can u draw the line between what’s justified and
what’s not?
It all comes down to the latins’ question: Qui custode ipso custodes?
b0gdan | Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
sorry Bogdan, but I don’t agree. Revolutions are
one thing. Murder is another. I agree the revolution needed to occur. I
don’t think the Ceausescu’s needed to be killed. We are human and we
make mistakes. We cannot always judge correctly. Should any offense be
punished with murder? I don’t think so. If all of us want justice,
maybe we should work towards obtaining it. How many of us support NGOs
that have such an objective? How many file complaints and refuse to be
corrupted?
Alina Popescu | Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
Common, don;t take it so literary…
i just wanted to show that there are always the grey areas.. and we
don;t always know where we are.
Quote from you: “We are human and we make mistakes. We cannot always
judge correctly.”
If we can say that about people who make mistakes, we can say that also
about someone who decides to take the matter into his own hands.
b0gdan | Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
You are right, there are grey areas, but I think they need a different approach, not an entirely different system.
And the problem is not the mistake making. It is the lack of consequences
That is the worst part.
Alina Popescu | Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
On, a lighter note, thanks for warning those of us
who haven’t’ seen the movie, I, wasn’t able to help myself… I read
on. I agree with what “brave” should portray but a movie must strive
for what will pull in audiences regardless of ethical messages. Money
is bigger than all of us…isn’t it?
Sia | Nov 6, 2007 | Reply
Hi Sia!
Still, I hoped for something more from Jodie Foster 
Yes, you are right, sometimes it feels like money is bigger than all of
us
Alina Popescu | Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
Don’t shoot the messenger, sis.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but from the perspective you pointed, how
is Erica Bain different from all the main characters of the last
century’s action movies? They all lose something/get caught up in
something and end up doing the biggest carnage since WWII. Even in
police movies, they get nowhere until they get suspended and take the
matter in their own hands.
But from what I understand, this is not your average big-budget action
movie, as Jodie Foster is not your average action star. So they took
all the big booms out of it and put in some psychological
introspection, and ended up with “The Brave One”.
So I’d say a thumbs up for Jodie Foster, as I take it this is a movie
that troubles its viewers, unlike all the others of its genre that make
“an enjoyable way to spend a Sunday afternoon with the family if you
haven’t got any better plans”
Ryan | Nov 7, 2007 | Reply
Yes, Ryan, you are right. But at least those movies
keep a sense of authority (cop, FBI, CIA). Even if they do it on their
own, in the end, they have the legal authorities on their side. And
they are trained to apply the law to some extent. Apart from that, your
average action movie is so out of this world (see Bruce Willis throwing
a car at a helicopter), that fewer people would envision reality as
similar to these movies. But when it comes to a movie showing something
that seems so real, something that could actually happen to anyone of
us, it’s a different story. Yes, the movie does trouble you, or it can
leave you with the wrong idea of how things should be done. I doubt at
16 you are wise enough not to be influenced.
Alina Popescu | Nov 8, 2007 | Reply
What do you think of “Mr. Brooks”, then?
Ryan | Nov 8, 2007 | Reply
I do not really agree with you.
I mean I do agree when you say that we shouldn’t all buy guns and go
out there shooting people.
But in this movie’s case it wasn’t like that. She had to choose between
kill or be killed (or raped by a knife or other “pleasant stuff”). In
her situation I really don’t see what other choices she would have had.
I for one have loved this movie and particularly its ending. As I
already said I know we can’t all buy guns and start shooting the ones
that did us harm but as every rule this one has its exceptions. Those
guys really and truly deserved what they got. Jail time would have been
too easy on them after destroying that woman’s life and killing her
boyfriend like that.
I don’t know, it may be just me but I do think that law sometimes
punishes people way too little for what they actually deserve.
Kay | Dec 2, 2007 | Reply
Hi Kay and welcome to WOBM
Well, I have to disagree with you. First of all, if something like that
would have happened to you, would you ever again ride the subway train
late at night alone?
Secondly, from a point on, she started asking for situations like
these, wondering the streets at night. And last, don’t you think some
electric shock thing would keep those men far from her?
Whatever happens to us, we do not have the right to kill others. True,
some punishments might seem to easy. From the outside. As rapists
generally get raped in prison, over and over again. Still, if one
thinks this is too little, the should support death penalty, not go
killing others. See, I see death as the easy way out. I think it’s
easier than, for example, getting beaten by cell mates or raped or
being locked in a cell where no one can ever speak to you. And this
last one is what I’d choose. I’d isolate wrong-doers. For as long as
they stay in prison, not let them socialize, exercise and have fun. I
would not mistreat them, but I’d leave them in complete silence.
Alina Popescu | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply
LOL. Of course that if had something like that
Besides that, hers is the right way
In my opinion she knew what being hurt was and,
happened to me I pretty much doubt I would have had the courage of
going out ever again. Not to mention at night and/or in isolated
places. But she is the brave one
not mine - isolating yourself after such an event is understandable but
to be avoided, right? Besides that she had the same right of being in
that train even late at night regardless to her past traumas. That was
a horrible event and I was really glad she had her gun - else it could
have gotten really ugly.
I started wondering about the situations she voluntarily put herself in
after a while too. I certainly wouldn’t have done that - once again
she’s the brave one
having seen in the subway how easy it is for a person to get hurt, she
wanted to keep people from harm. Just think about it - it’s all well to
wait for the police and so on - but there are cases when you do not
afford to wait (the subway) or calling the police is useless (the guy
on the roof). And while I once again agree that being a vigilante isn’t
the way to be there is no point to be idealistic about the police
either. Unfortunately one cannot be protected by harm 24 hours a day by
police alone.
End of this comment - to be continued
Kay | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply
(my Internet has some issues and I didn’t want to
)
)
write too much and risk losing it all
Now, I do agree with you that theoretically death is the easy way out.
However I am not quite sure if you are right about the state of prisons
- what with human rights campaigns they seem to be given more rights
than punishments lately. Not to mention being released early for a
variety of reasons. Well I don’t know about you but there are people
that I really don’t want to have among us. In my mind there is nothing
to stop a person who doesn’t have respect for the human life to kill
again and again. That’s why I’d rather have those away for good.
In the end, life is not perfect. I _know_ what people should do, you
seem to know too (let law handle everything, only the law is entitled
to punish, etc.). It just doesn’t seem to work like that in the real
world, does it? I think the subway scene sums it up best. Things can
get out of control so easy…
Not in the least I think this movie is about revenge. Not only justice,
but revenge. I am not a vengeful person, I would of course never think
about killing a human being - but neither me nor you have been in her
situation, have we? You know how they say, it’s very easy to judge from
the outside. She herself probably wouldn’t have thought herself capable
of all that.
Oh, and thanks for the comment on my blog - I am very looking forward
to finish the puzzle too but I don’t think it’s going to happen any
time soon as it’s HUGE (13224 pieces
Kay | Dec 3, 2007 | Reply