"Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into the abyss, the abyss will gaze back at you"
-Friedrich Nietzsche
For those of you who are thinking about watching this movie and assume it's just about the beginning of The Great War, Amphibious people and/or the story of a man driven crazy on a remote island are in for a rude awakening. This movie is an allegory of the colonization of militarized white men to foreign lands. The Amphibious Indigenous people are the terrorized, unassuming souls of an island remotely touched by humans. WWI is barely spoken of in this movie. You only become more aware of it by the final scene which I assume is due to it being 1914.
Gruner has no qualms about treating an indigenous female as if she were a dog. He rapes her, kicks her, beats her. Yet he thinks that SHE and her people are the barbarians. If it wasn't for Friend (David Oakes) this movie would have no redeeming qualities. Each scene I hoped that Gruner would turn more civilized only to be horribly disappointed. I believe Gruner wanted the people to continue to attack just so he could continue to exterminate them. The Nietzsche quote in the beginning fits this movie/book quite well. I can only assume that since the war brought many more men to the island, that the rest of the indigenous people would be raped/murdered/bred out and/or completely wiped out. Which is reminiscent of what other cultures have had to endure.
For those of you who are thinking about watching this movie and assume it's just about the beginning of The Great War, Amphibious people and/or the story of a man driven crazy on a remote island are in for a rude awakening. This movie is an allegory of the colonization of militarized white men to foreign lands. The Amphibious Indigenous people are the terrorized, unassuming souls of an island remotely touched by humans. WWI is barely spoken of in this movie. You only become more aware of it by the final scene which I assume is due to it being 1914.
Gruner has no qualms about treating an indigenous female as if she were a dog. He rapes her, kicks her, beats her. Yet he thinks that SHE and her people are the barbarians. If it wasn't for Friend (David Oakes) this movie would have no redeeming qualities. Each scene I hoped that Gruner would turn more civilized only to be horribly disappointed. I believe Gruner wanted the people to continue to attack just so he could continue to exterminate them. The Nietzsche quote in the beginning fits this movie/book quite well. I can only assume that since the war brought many more men to the island, that the rest of the indigenous people would be raped/murdered/bred out and/or completely wiped out. Which is reminiscent of what other cultures have had to endure.