The Road To Perdition Movie Analysis
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5 Pages
Samuel Alexander (Sam) Mendes is an English director who is best known for producing films such as American Beauty, Skyfall, Spectre, and The Road to Perdition, which are movies that are a part of different genres. The Road to Perdition is a movie that looks at the life of a mobster, Mike Sullivan, and his quest to seek revenge on the man who murdered his family, and get his son to his aunt’s house, in a town called Perdition. In this movie, Mendes uses the characters of Michael and Mike Sullivan, as well as the relationship between the two, to show that although the desire to seek revenge is a primal response when a member of one’s “tribe” has been harmed (Frauley), revenge is an addictive indulgence that should not be confused with justice
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For example, the first act of revenge that is showed in the movie is the killing of Finn McGovern, the man whose murder was witnessed by Michael. This murder is committed because, as stated in the previous paragraph, Finn denounced Mr. Rooney for unjustly ordering a hit on his brother: “he was loyal, brave, and he never told a lie” (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 13:20-13:39). Moreover he is also killed for accusing someone else of stealing money from Rooney. Since Connor was the one stealing the money, he killed McGovern to keep it a secret for his own benefit (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 24:00-24:45). Moreover, the revenge that Sullivan seeks is driven by his emotions. He wants to kill those who hurt him and his family. Whether he sees it as justice or revenge, it is an act that is driven by his anger and sadness, therefore revenge (Frauley). Furthermore, Rooney makes decisions that qualify more as revenge than justice. Seeing as the mob mentality is based on revenge, which is driven by the “an eye for an eye” mentality (Frauley), Rooney says: “Lose one of us, it hurts us all” (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 10:56-10:59). The “hurt” is an emotion, which would then be acted upon, and result into a hit, or the infliction of
For example, the first act of revenge that is showed in the movie is the killing of Finn McGovern, the man whose murder was witnessed by Michael. This murder is committed because, as stated in the previous paragraph, Finn denounced Mr. Rooney for unjustly ordering a hit on his brother: “he was loyal, brave, and he never told a lie” (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 13:20-13:39). Moreover he is also killed for accusing someone else of stealing money from Rooney. Since Connor was the one stealing the money, he killed McGovern to keep it a secret for his own benefit (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 24:00-24:45). Moreover, the revenge that Sullivan seeks is driven by his emotions. He wants to kill those who hurt him and his family. Whether he sees it as justice or revenge, it is an act that is driven by his anger and sadness, therefore revenge (Frauley). Furthermore, Rooney makes decisions that qualify more as revenge than justice. Seeing as the mob mentality is based on revenge, which is driven by the “an eye for an eye” mentality (Frauley), Rooney says: “Lose one of us, it hurts us all” (Mendes,The Road to Perdition 10:56-10:59). The “hurt” is an emotion, which would then be acted upon, and result into a hit, or the infliction of