MovieChat Forums > The Subject Was Roses (1970) Discussion > Sympathy for the dad ?

Sympathy for the dad ?

posted 9 years ago by chet19
1 reply | jump to latest

So are we supposed to feel sorry for the lying, cheating, drunken, abusive father because at the end he didn't want his son to leave?
I felt bad for the mom 100%, and I felt even more for her when Martin Sheen yelled at her and she took off. I had sympathy for her and really really wanted her to walk out on the men.
It seems the writer was going for "dad is a victim because mom and son allied against him," but didn't the father deserve such a fate for all the crap he put them through?

[–] octobercountry (10) 3 years ago

Yes, I found the father to be VERY unsympathetic; a real jerk. I just didn't have patience for that sort of a**hole personality, and ended up wanting to punch him in the throat. Heh---okay, maybe I didn't quite have such a physical reaction, but in this film, all my sympathy went to the mother.