Man on Fire - 6

This is a powerful film. It has a lot of blood and guts but also a lot of heart as a killer looks for redemption. It is not your typical revenge movie, in that justice is whatever the main character thinks it is, rather this film recognizes the complexity and the challenge that justice is in a mixed up world of police, crime and corrupt cops. It asks good questions about the value that we place on life, and also how those values compare to the hopes and dreams of family, status, and wealth. This film does a good job of showing that what we care about directs our actions, and when we are pushed we cannot lie about our deepest desires. As a movie dealing with the issue of revenge I like it. But I think that there are serious issues that these films do not address; that hostage taking for money should not work. The kidnappers are using death threats to get money, but the comparison is not valid. If one reject paying the money, then all that does to the kidnapper is force them to make a choice to be killers or not, and in the end they want money, not to kill people. So, not negotiating with them is the best policy, although emotionally hard, and maybe impossible. The question of what one would give their life for is a challenging one which most won't be forced to answer in the same way that the characters in the movie do.