Catholic Faith Exposed In The Film Boondock Saints
Graham Brugger
Dr. Graham
Boondock Saints Boondock Saints is a violent film in which two Irish Catholic brother seek vengeance* on Boston Mafia members. In this film the brothers are portrayed as the extremely good vigilantes that destroy evil. The two brothers do respect the laws of society to the most part, but are evil annilaters**, whom believe they have received a message from God to kill all evil and purify the city of Boston. The film consists of the “purifications” of the brothers and the quest for one detective to find out why these men are committing such brutal murders to the top mob bosses and soldiers of the city of Boston. In this Catholic faith influenced film the ideology and main theme of the film is that “God’s will …show more content…
is of much greater importance than of any laws of humans”. The MacManus brothers believe they were called on the God in their sleep to rid the evil of the city of Boston in which they live.
When the priest announces that the “indifference of good men” or bystanders that do nothing are the ones that should be feared, the brothers know that they must act. The Catholic faith called upon different people to fulfill ministries within the Bible and scripture; the brothers believe it is their time to fulfill God’s mission and to destroy the evil, the Russian mafia and sinners. This ironic for a number of reasons, killing is a sin and a commandment to not kill, but also the brothers do a number of things which would characterize them as sinners: drinking, cursing, and disrespecting individuals. This is all justified though because God told them to. In this film, God’s law is more important than any social behavior or law of man, which gives them the right to do whatever they want, which is what most Christian unorthodox practices would be justified as, such as the Crusades hundreds of years ago. God’s vengeance on the sinners in the world is carried out by these two brothers and their accomplice Rosco. Another interpretation to why these men are killed is because they are not Christian but some other, but apparent they are not Catholic because of their murderous feats. In the Catholic religion within film, everything is seen in as
black and white, good or evil; there is no midway agreement. Whatever is bad, the brothers do not hesitate to kill it. A question raised in the film is who is the source of leadership, and since God is the almighty master and priests just his peons to spread his word, God’s word is more important and urgent. The sinners in the world and nonbeliever, which is insinuated that anyone who is part of the mob does not believe in God’s teachings should be “punished” translated by the “saints” as “killed”. In conclusion, the Catholic faith condones violence or any other act as long as someone interrupts a dream or message that it is divine will by God. An understanding of the brothers good will by dishonest and not-socially accepted acts is that it is needed to fulfill important goals is key in this film. After the first, incident they are sitting inside of a Catholic hospital of some kind, they are playing with a young injured boy. The one brother is playing a game where palms are nearly touching and the protagonist tries to pull their hands away before the antagonist, one of the brothers, of the game slaps your hands ; the other brother slaps his hands and make him belief it is some supernatural ability by dishonesty by the brother, which brightens up the child’s day. Shortly after a Terrets-inflicted friend comes in to tell them they must turn themselves in from word of Smecker. This advice is given in exchange for the weapons and loot bummed off the two dead mafia members. This unholy act in exchange for weapons can be interpreted that the Catholic faith gives security in exchange for the release of power, and to trust in one, such as God, and to humble oneself and to submit to a higher power, which in this case is the police. If you want to be saved you must give everything to be sheltered, as done by the police when they walk into the police station, to be roomed inside of a cell for the night.
The contempt for society by police is also a common theme in this film. First, the police do not disclaim any information to the media after the brothers killed the first two men in the beginning of the film, because the MacManus brothers asked to not have it so. This is violation of information to the public, after violence erupted in their city. This film also shows the ignorance and stupidity of the judiciary system. This is represented by Detective Greenely’s interpretation of what happened in the first two murders, which involves a serial crusher theory and extremely marred looking bandages which he believes had no affiliation to their murder. This goes along with the intense, medium-close-up, which is one of the few taken in this film of Smecker trying to explain to his colleges that these mob murders is a result of an international gang war, which is completely false. Also the hospitable Agent Smecker’s quote to the brothers to gain information, “You guys aren’t under oath, just answer the questions.” This line proves the cops are not out for right or reason just information that may even be false. They certainly do not abide by religious means to gain truth, which proves the police are not going about God’s mission which proves the “saints” deemed by the media and called by the police must pick up where, the judicial system lets off and clean up the mess.
In the first scene of this film a priest announces that the evil men in the world should not be feared but “the indifference of good men”. The proclaimed “saints” use their vigiliantism to serve justice to the evil of Boston. By doing so it shows the incompetence and corruption of the judicial syetem. For example Papa Joe, was tried several times and always got away because he pai off bribes and his status as mob boss always got him off. This film, by the court scene in which they bombard in the court room and take everyone as hostages to kill the mob boss. They rip out the judge from his seta, which represents no need for the judiciary system when matters can be handled through the just killings of Boston’s most corrupt. This vigilantism is interpreted into the no need of governmental agencies to serve correction, when servants of a higher power are sent to cure the evil and serve the people their repentance away from sin through their speeches and acts. The Boondock Saints kill the corrupters “ so the innocent may flourish”, which takes the power into their own hands to service the people not themselves, as messengers of God. In the first flashback to the first two killings of the film, the brothers are in relaxing, when disturbed by the two Russian mobsters they beat-up the prior night. The mobster takes brother of the primary antagonist outide to kill. The brother in a desperate attempt to save his brother, handcuffed to a toilet, sheds blood from his wrists as the cuffs cut into his flesh. The shedding of blood could be related to Jesus shedding blood to cure all sins; but in this case to kill the men so repetence is enacted for them. It is perceived that he looks up to Heaven to ask for strength as hewrenches the toilet lose as water sprays from the disembodied toilet, as the floods have come to doom the evil. The film cuts to a beautiful shot of the brother holding the toilet against the Boston skyline as the camera pans down, to represent an angel dropping from Heaven to protect his fellow brother or angel. The wounds inflicted from this feat are all white: white bandages, white foot prints, and a white toilet to finally subdue the partially incapacitated mobster. All of this reflects on the theme of keeping family first and family morals to protect your family comes before yourself. In a beginning scene the chief detective, Paul Smecker, gets out of the back seat of a police car, signaling he might be above the law with the concept that he is without handcuffs and the law works for him; not he works for the law. Another example of the law working for him as a n actual justice-finder*, he sends the younger, stupid, obnoxious Detective Greenely to get him refreshments as he proceeds to do the actually investigation. Another interpretation of his arrival into the film is he walks through the crowd with upbeat music playing as the soundtrack to acquaint the highly respected detective with the crowd, who can be represented as a religious leader coming through a crowd as Jesus had done in Biblical scripture of Palm Sunday, with glass and trash littering the ground of the scene of the murder. This detective has a cd player playing opera house music, which could be interpreted as the voice of guidance and a helping hand, as God or a guiding spirit. As the scene proceeds, he wiped “liquid paraffin” on the dead mob member’s hand, which finds races of gunpowder which is black with the red solution on his hand which marks sin with the intent of bloodshed on his hands.
Dr. Graham
Boondock Saints Boondock Saints is a violent film in which two Irish Catholic brother seek vengeance* on Boston Mafia members. In this film the brothers are portrayed as the extremely good vigilantes that destroy evil. The two brothers do respect the laws of society to the most part, but are evil annilaters**, whom believe they have received a message from God to kill all evil and purify the city of Boston. The film consists of the “purifications” of the brothers and the quest for one detective to find out why these men are committing such brutal murders to the top mob bosses and soldiers of the city of Boston. In this Catholic faith influenced film the ideology and main theme of the film is that “God’s will …show more content…
is of much greater importance than of any laws of humans”. The MacManus brothers believe they were called on the God in their sleep to rid the evil of the city of Boston in which they live.
When the priest announces that the “indifference of good men” or bystanders that do nothing are the ones that should be feared, the brothers know that they must act. The Catholic faith called upon different people to fulfill ministries within the Bible and scripture; the brothers believe it is their time to fulfill God’s mission and to destroy the evil, the Russian mafia and sinners. This ironic for a number of reasons, killing is a sin and a commandment to not kill, but also the brothers do a number of things which would characterize them as sinners: drinking, cursing, and disrespecting individuals. This is all justified though because God told them to. In this film, God’s law is more important than any social behavior or law of man, which gives them the right to do whatever they want, which is what most Christian unorthodox practices would be justified as, such as the Crusades hundreds of years ago. God’s vengeance on the sinners in the world is carried out by these two brothers and their accomplice Rosco. Another interpretation to why these men are killed is because they are not Christian but some other, but apparent they are not Catholic because of their murderous feats. In the Catholic religion within film, everything is seen in as
black and white, good or evil; there is no midway agreement. Whatever is bad, the brothers do not hesitate to kill it. A question raised in the film is who is the source of leadership, and since God is the almighty master and priests just his peons to spread his word, God’s word is more important and urgent. The sinners in the world and nonbeliever, which is insinuated that anyone who is part of the mob does not believe in God’s teachings should be “punished” translated by the “saints” as “killed”. In conclusion, the Catholic faith condones violence or any other act as long as someone interrupts a dream or message that it is divine will by God. An understanding of the brothers good will by dishonest and not-socially accepted acts is that it is needed to fulfill important goals is key in this film. After the first, incident they are sitting inside of a Catholic hospital of some kind, they are playing with a young injured boy. The one brother is playing a game where palms are nearly touching and the protagonist tries to pull their hands away before the antagonist, one of the brothers, of the game slaps your hands ; the other brother slaps his hands and make him belief it is some supernatural ability by dishonesty by the brother, which brightens up the child’s day. Shortly after a Terrets-inflicted friend comes in to tell them they must turn themselves in from word of Smecker. This advice is given in exchange for the weapons and loot bummed off the two dead mafia members. This unholy act in exchange for weapons can be interpreted that the Catholic faith gives security in exchange for the release of power, and to trust in one, such as God, and to humble oneself and to submit to a higher power, which in this case is the police. If you want to be saved you must give everything to be sheltered, as done by the police when they walk into the police station, to be roomed inside of a cell for the night.
The contempt for society by police is also a common theme in this film. First, the police do not disclaim any information to the media after the brothers killed the first two men in the beginning of the film, because the MacManus brothers asked to not have it so. This is violation of information to the public, after violence erupted in their city. This film also shows the ignorance and stupidity of the judiciary system. This is represented by Detective Greenely’s interpretation of what happened in the first two murders, which involves a serial crusher theory and extremely marred looking bandages which he believes had no affiliation to their murder. This goes along with the intense, medium-close-up, which is one of the few taken in this film of Smecker trying to explain to his colleges that these mob murders is a result of an international gang war, which is completely false. Also the hospitable Agent Smecker’s quote to the brothers to gain information, “You guys aren’t under oath, just answer the questions.” This line proves the cops are not out for right or reason just information that may even be false. They certainly do not abide by religious means to gain truth, which proves the police are not going about God’s mission which proves the “saints” deemed by the media and called by the police must pick up where, the judicial system lets off and clean up the mess.
In the first scene of this film a priest announces that the evil men in the world should not be feared but “the indifference of good men”. The proclaimed “saints” use their vigiliantism to serve justice to the evil of Boston. By doing so it shows the incompetence and corruption of the judicial syetem. For example Papa Joe, was tried several times and always got away because he pai off bribes and his status as mob boss always got him off. This film, by the court scene in which they bombard in the court room and take everyone as hostages to kill the mob boss. They rip out the judge from his seta, which represents no need for the judiciary system when matters can be handled through the just killings of Boston’s most corrupt. This vigilantism is interpreted into the no need of governmental agencies to serve correction, when servants of a higher power are sent to cure the evil and serve the people their repentance away from sin through their speeches and acts. The Boondock Saints kill the corrupters “ so the innocent may flourish”, which takes the power into their own hands to service the people not themselves, as messengers of God. In the first flashback to the first two killings of the film, the brothers are in relaxing, when disturbed by the two Russian mobsters they beat-up the prior night. The mobster takes brother of the primary antagonist outide to kill. The brother in a desperate attempt to save his brother, handcuffed to a toilet, sheds blood from his wrists as the cuffs cut into his flesh. The shedding of blood could be related to Jesus shedding blood to cure all sins; but in this case to kill the men so repetence is enacted for them. It is perceived that he looks up to Heaven to ask for strength as hewrenches the toilet lose as water sprays from the disembodied toilet, as the floods have come to doom the evil. The film cuts to a beautiful shot of the brother holding the toilet against the Boston skyline as the camera pans down, to represent an angel dropping from Heaven to protect his fellow brother or angel. The wounds inflicted from this feat are all white: white bandages, white foot prints, and a white toilet to finally subdue the partially incapacitated mobster. All of this reflects on the theme of keeping family first and family morals to protect your family comes before yourself. In a beginning scene the chief detective, Paul Smecker, gets out of the back seat of a police car, signaling he might be above the law with the concept that he is without handcuffs and the law works for him; not he works for the law. Another example of the law working for him as a n actual justice-finder*, he sends the younger, stupid, obnoxious Detective Greenely to get him refreshments as he proceeds to do the actually investigation. Another interpretation of his arrival into the film is he walks through the crowd with upbeat music playing as the soundtrack to acquaint the highly respected detective with the crowd, who can be represented as a religious leader coming through a crowd as Jesus had done in Biblical scripture of Palm Sunday, with glass and trash littering the ground of the scene of the murder. This detective has a cd player playing opera house music, which could be interpreted as the voice of guidance and a helping hand, as God or a guiding spirit. As the scene proceeds, he wiped “liquid paraffin” on the dead mob member’s hand, which finds races of gunpowder which is black with the red solution on his hand which marks sin with the intent of bloodshed on his hands.