Cawley Good

Throughout the film GOOD, I believe Halder fights with the idea of what a “good” man is and what a “good” man does. It is apparent that he means to be the best man he can be, however he ultimately fails. The moment he becomes a member of the Nazi party, there is no fight to achieve goodness. He conforms to the unfortunate norms that shrouded Nazi Germany and even fails to protect a friend of his. The title of the film is to mirror the internal moral struggles of not only Halder, but also many other men and women throughout Nazi Germany. This argument can be traced to the well-known quote, “If your not trying to fix the problem, you’re part of it”. The photograph is taken from the scene where Halder attends a Nazi banquet. The expressions on their faces sum up the feelings they have in the scene as well as the entire movie. Halder is accused and humiliated in this scene over his female guest (who is not his wife) and again, he is attending a Nazi banquet. Nothing about the situation supplements the possibility that Halder is a good man. I do believe this film could have been released in the United States, however, there seem to be reasons it was not. For one, I believe an American audience would not understand the symbolism behind the title. Most Americans would immediately disagree and possibly hate Halder and his decisions, as a character for the Holocaust is a very touchy subject. Citizens of the USA most likely would not look past the popular belief that everyone around Nazi Germany was an evil person.