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How exactly was it a noble or unselfish act? MAJOR SPOILERS

posted 14 years ago by nilbog_king
6 replies | jump to latest

Ok first of all I wnat to say that I like this movie a lot so this is not ripping on it or anything. But one thing that i just sort of realised is Kane's suicide really isn't a noble or unselfish act. Earlier in the film ewhen talking about sacrificing ones self as a noble act Kane gives the example of a soldier throwing himself ona grenade to save ones fellow soldiers etc. Well I agree thats noble but Kane did not save anyones life by killing himself. So How is it Noble? also you cant even call it unselfish because Kane had a brother who cared about him and was devasted when he committed suicide. can anyone explain?

self-respect is simply the act of respecting your own wants and needs.

[–] Boycee69II 14 years ago

His "act" shocked Cutshaw back to sanity... pretty simple really.

It aint like it used to be, but it'll do

[–] haroldbishoplives 14 years ago

Cutshaw questioned the existance of god and wouldn't go to the moon because he was afraid of dying up there alone. Also he was nuts!

Kane's suicide served two purposes,

1. It saved Cutshaw's sanity, not just his but everyone in there.

2. The St Christopher miraculously appearing in the car at the end proved to Cutshaw that there was an afterlife, meaning (to him at least) that there must be a god.

Kane was a broken man, he was truly lost after Killer Kane reared his ugly head. Obviously he couldn't live with it anymore so sacrificed himself for the greater good, pretty noble if you ask me!

Go spit Riggs!

[–] 14 years ago

[deleted]

[–] cookieman108 9 years ago

When you think about it, what greater sacrifice could someone make for another than to take their own life? Compound this with the idea that the person taking their life also believes in God and is thereby risking eternal damnation to boot? Pretty strong stuff....

Also, I do not believe Cutshaw was full on insane. I believe he was on the line, some of his act being fake and other times it being real, but I believe he passed himself off as being insane as it was easier to deal with his stuff. If this was the case then I think it would be a lot easier for him to come back to normal, whatever that is, than if he were truly out of his mind.

[–] Edward_de_Vere 11 years ago

In Kane's mind, giving up one's life for another person is selfless, while suicide is a selfish act. Suicide is about ending one's own life to end your personal pain, giving up one's life is about ending another person's.

Right or wrong, Kane thought that his actions were closer to the soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save his brothers in arms than a man taking his own life to end his personal suffering. That being said, there was certainly a lot of rationalizing involved, since it's also implied that at some level Kane wanted to die.

[–] poofta1970 11 years ago

Kane is a broken man trying to fix himself, he wants to believe it is possible.

He is already lost to Vincent, he just can't face it yet.

Cutshaw (and the other inmates) is a man pretending to be broken to prevent himself from breaking, he is daring the universe to prove his pessimism right while deep down hoping he is wrong.

Inertia is described by Newton as "The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line."

It has both characters in it's grip.

One has to disturb inertia to create the momentum necessary for a cure.

Ergo shock therapy.

Kane sacrifices his chance at self cure in order to prove to Cutshaw his hopes are stronger than his doubts.

In the absence of a redemptive force he becomes a redemptive force or as Marcus Aurelius puts it "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one".

It mirrors the end of "The Exorcist" where Karras tired of waiting for God to provide a miracle becomes one and in doing saves Regan.