When Butch said "I've only killed two people in my life, one hurt my mom and one hurt you", from Butch's (as a father's) lens, I held back my tears just because I'm an adult who doesn't understand sound. But as Philip turned back to run to his ideal father, as someone who really knew Philip's experience firsthand, tears welled up in my eyes.
Philip grew up in a single-parent family and never saw his father. Under the strict discipline of his mother, his childhood was incomplete and bleak (no exaggeration). The fun of trick-or-treating" can't be enjoyed. Until a fugitive who escaped from prison appeared in his life, from being held hostage at the beginning, to the shot that he mustered up the courage to fire at the end, in fact, there were several times when Philip could have escaped completely and returned to his original home. He was by his mother's side, but he really longed for his father's care so much that he regarded the process of the two working together to escape the police as an adventure, a father and son outing. Rather than explaining his motivation in terms of Stockholm Syndrome, I prefer to understand this lovely little boy from the fact that Butch fills the void in his father's role.
Like Philip, Butch's childhood was full of ups and downs. His mother was in an underground career, and his father was a criminal who drank, gambled, and had a hot temper. He grew up in such an environment, and entered a correctional institution when he was a teenager. Banban, murder, escape from prison, despite this, his heart is still upright. Butch sympathizes with Philip's experience, protects him along the way, and strives to give Philip the fatherly love he never had in his role as a qualified father. Butch hates his unjust childhood, and confronts a passer-by who scolds his child for dirtying a new car. Violence. Fortunately, Philip bravely stopped the violence, which is exactly the courage and discernment that Butch had hoped to see. Even though he was shot in the body, he did not hold any grudge against Philip, and the two ended up together. Saying goodbye to a meadow in Texas...
There is a saying that "lucky people are healed by childhood, and unfortunate people are healed by childhood." This sentence is by no means pretentious. In the movie, Philip's love and Butch's self-salvation both confirm this sentence. Compared with the warmth and happiness of "Kiujiro's Summer", the tragic ending of this film seems to be closer to American values, but the theme of the story is almost the same. The love and warmth from the family are so simple, plain and precious.
After this film, Clint Eastwood directed and acted in several films with the same core but different plots, such as "Classic Car" and "Million Dollar Baby". The ability is really a treasure director.
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