Rivera Good is in the Eye of the Beholder

First off, I really enjoyed this movie. I thought Mortensen did a brilliant job of portraying Halden's transition from a timid German father to just another gestapo following orders. I think the word "transition" is really important. In reading the articles posted on Blackboard, I feel as though Mortensen made a really great point. This movie talks place in Germany in a time where the National Socialists were just seen as the new government. Mortensen notes that while filming, there was a young boy playing in the sand with a nazi flag. The boy was having fun, to him, the flag meant nothing. Today, the nazi flag is viewed as a symbol of a horrible time, it's unlikely you'll see anyone playing in the sand with a nazi flag today.

I think there can be a great many interpretations for why the film is titled "Good". From what I gather, however, good is simply a title on Halden's mindset. This film is all about good; a good German, a good new life, good opportunities, living life in a good Germany. The events occuring around Halden cause a slow transition in his life. Initially, Halden is confused, these events seem unimportant to him, it is when he is pulled into the outside life that things, at least to Halden, begin to make sense. Rather, Halden makes them make sense in his mind, he becomes lost in an elaborate illusion that he sets up for himself driven by the want for a feeling of greater importance. The way this film is written, it is hard to shrug off Halden's character as a villian. Even Ann, as evil as her character comes to seem, one cannot say that she is only a young, naive girl following the norm she is exposed to. After all, "if something makes so many people happy, it can't be bad" right? I do think that it's fair to say that Halden's first family in the film are victims. However, they are not victimized by Halden, but by the influence of the German government, just as is Halden. In short, this film is titled "Good" to show how things were back then, that a lot of the people who were involved were confused, maybe even originally had good intentions for their country.

As far as the picture goes, I think this is a perfect frame to show the state Halden has come to. For me, Ann represents the pull of the Nazi party, she mirrors how easily a good person could be pulled into going against their beliefs. Throughout the movie, against many drab colored outfits, Ann can often be seen wearing red, the color of the nazis. The frame symbolizes the connection between Halden, an apparently good man, and his new voluntary connection to bad influences in his life.

I don't have a definite answer as to why the film was not released in the US initially. I would say it has something to do with Americans not wanting to accept that, yes this happened in Germany but, this could happen to anybody, anywhere. Ron James, a former high school teacher attempted to prove this to a group of his students one year. James created a group called the "Third Wave" and only allowed certain students in. James told the students that they were superior to other students and told them their primary goal was to recruit new members that they saw fit. In the end, James lost his job for the events that took place, however, he later wrote a book and it was even turned into a movie in the US and a German version was also released in Germany in 2008. I highly recommend that you try and see "The wave", or read the book. The film itself isn't super amazing, but knowing that these events really took place make it a definite must see. I posted the end of the film below, I think it has importance in this post. I do apologize for the poor video and audio quality.

*SPOILER*SPOILER*SPOILER*

The video below contains the end of the US film, "The Wave".