MovieChat Forums > Mean Creek (2004) Discussion > Why the cover up?

Why the cover up?

posted 10 years ago by jared1101
15 replies | jump to latest

Dumbest idea ever. How can a group of 5 humans think that's a plan? Bury the body! Lol. What happened was clearly an accident even if they had initially planned to prank George they didn't go through with it. They explained things to George rationally and apologized and got an irrational response..yes, yes George has some issues but he still flipped which caused a bit of a fight leading to his landing in the water. I did not see a "push" I saw someone trying to separate a scuffle and accidentally knocking someone in the river.

Again, clearly an accident. Some person in the group couldn't talk some sense into them before going with bury the body?? So weak. A simple, row the boat back with dead George and explain exactly what happened gets the job done and no jail time. There was absolutely zero thought process from the 5 remaining for that couple/few hours that they remained on the bank after George drowned. It lost me there with the shear stupidity of their actions. Done with rant, it just really bothered me to the point of laughter.

4/10 Glad it was only 89mins

[–] Hellzkitchen 10 years ago

I hate to break it to you buddy, I'm a criminal justice major and I know that "no jailtime" is not true at all. The camera evidence proves that they didn't help George until it was too late. It was an accident but he was clearly drowning and they just watched him drown. I would have jumped in immediately and saved him. The fact of the matter is the group was actually relieved to watch him suffer which is why nobody helped him.

And Clyde tried to talk sense into them and he wanted to go to the police but Marty would not let him. he even said to Marty, "If we bury the body it's gonna look like we did it on purpose." did you forget about that?

A simple row back to shore and "Oh hey, sorry we killed George but it was an accident!" is NOT gonna get any of them off the hook that easy. Marty said "We schemed this" their plan was to humiliate him and throw him in the river as a prank. Marty states that the police are gonna figure out their plan when they start interrogating them asking millions of questions. I myself have been interrogated by the police and they do break down on you to the point of wanting to crack and to tell the truth. There is NO WAY any of those kids would have stuck to their "concealed" story about an accident. Lets not forget that George assaulted Sam at school so once the police interview Sam's classmates they will bring that up and put two and two together that Sam had a vendetta against George all along.

Truth be told their best bet would have been to just turn themselves in. Rocky would have gotten some jail time. Depending on whether he's 17 or 18 with 18 being an even bigger punishment. Sam, Milly, and Clyde were in the safe zone, but Marty also refused to help save his life until it was too late. Standing there and watching someone die and not trying to intervene DOES make you an accomplice to murder.

[–] jared1101 10 years ago

Your views I'm sure are valid. I didn't like the direction of the scenes after George's death, to me it needed more conflict between covering it up or going with the truth. If they had more of a debate with each other instead of just going off by themselves and crying I would have appreciated the movie more.

[–] Hellzkitchen 10 years ago

Yeah. I understand that it sucks that the movie just ended on a blank slate of nothing. Leaving the audience to assume way too much. All in all I really love this movie though.

[–] Movieloverrrr 10 years ago

how could he be an accomplice of murder? it makes no sense

[–] christianeagles 10 years ago

They realized he couldn't swim and watched him drown and how would they have gotten off free. After being interrogated by the police one of them would've cracked under the pressure.

[–] Theshornwonder 9 years ago

That's not murder. And they did go after him. Waiting a few minutes doesn't make it murder, or even a lesser crime. It makes it an accident with dumb kids.

[–] FireMinstrel 9 years ago

The camera also captures the real cause of death: George hitting his head against it, hard enough to knock him out and draw blood. If he hadn't hit his head, someone would've said "C'mon, we've gotta go get him." and they would have probably rowed over to him and let him grab a paddle(No way I'd jump in with him flailing around like that. He'd probably pull me under.). How could anybody know he'd hit his head with his own camera?

[–] Theshornwonder 9 years ago

It's not nearly that cut and dry. They very easily could get no jail time. They watched him struggling, and when he didn't come up, jumped in. That's probably enough. When you get in a scuffle on a boat and one person falls into a river, it's certainly understandable you wouldn't jump in immediately after.

[–] tony3920 10 years ago

I agree completely. 5 people corroborating a story about a dead kid nobody liked. They would have gotten off scott free.

[–] usapunk 9 years ago

Yes I agree. It was an accident. It could have been left at that and nobody would have known the difference. That happens every day.

The problem is that George was not much of a friend to any of these guys and it would have been suspicious that he went on the river with these guys in the first place, even though they were going to prank him the police would suspect fowl-play. Plus word would have gotten out that he beat Sam up earlier and that would have raised a red flag. I'm guessing their thinking was that without a body, there is no evidence.

Also this movie would have ended rather quickly if they merely said that George had fallen into the river and drowned.

[–] shawnmichael15 9 years ago

I used to be a certified lifeguard and I was told by someone if your certification is current that holds you legally obligated to save someone's life who is drowning even if it is somewhere off duty... I don't even think that's true so I doubt the kids would go to jail for accomplice MURDER for not saving him. His weight and the fact that he was a violent person probably could have put someone else's life in danger while trying to save him from drowning to be honest..

[–] yajji 9 years ago

It was an accident but he was clearly drowning and they just watched him drown. I would have jumped in immediately and saved him. The fact of the matter is the group was actually relieved to watch him suffer which is why nobody helped him.

This.

The kid's repressed urges to see the "bully" die a slow death were satisfied by watching him die and they knew this, which is what led to their guilt. Even the girl, who probably didn't come along to see anything violent, felt like she was somehow responsible, even if she only dreamt of something harmful happening.

[–] Mr_Ectoplasma 9 years ago

I see a lot of the posts here referring to the characters in terms of "humans," and "people," which I think is eliminating a major component that would influence their decision—they're KIDS. All of them are high schoolers and under, so it's not that shocking that a group of kids under the age of 18 would make a bad choice like that under the circumstances of having just inflicted/witnessed the death of one of their peers. That kind of panic in a teenager is not always going to lead to moralistic and sound judgments, so I don't find it at all exceptional that they'd attempt to cover up what they did.

[–] macken74 (654) 7 years ago

Yeah from that moment on i lost real interest in the film ... when characters start making dumb nonsensical decisions in movies then they lose me bigtime !

Scriptwriters let the film down in its third act !

[–] yvesyves (683) 5 years ago

I feel the cover up could have worked as long as they all had their story straight and had a strong mind in case the police would go to school to interrogate his classmates.

Telling the truth could have worked WITHOUT telling the big brother had shoved him which made him fall in the water as he definately would go to jail.

The 3 kids were young so i guess they wouldnt have been sentenced but the two older kids apparently being over 16 most probably would have got jail time.