(October 10th) Boondock Saints Screening

                On October 10^th, 6:30 PM, there was a screening of Boondock Saints in O’Leary 222. Basically this film is about religious vigilantes who go around killing “bad” people whenever they please, such as Russian crime mobsters and other gangs. This film was especially infuriating to me in how this was being done “in the name of God”. I absolutely disagree with what these guys were doing, and they aren’t even tackling the bigger underlying issues that even contribute to these crimes.

                Instead of going after corporations, politicians, bankers, etc. the people that are causing the big problems, these fraternal twins go off just killing these people that they somehow know are part of crime syndicates feeling good about themselves that they can’t solve the financial issues of the United States of America. This film was also set in Boston, and gave a poor impression of it. Whenever these “Saints” were saying prayers and quoting religious phrases before killing, I cringed at the thought of religion being involved. The court scene was possibly the most shocking scene in this entire film. A psychopathic prisoner was released and decided to help these “Saints” in their mission of God to kill anyone that is bad. I mean, they even went and killed some porn-shop customers. REALLY? This prisoner and the “Saints” were able to just go into a courtroom and kill Papa Joe before his trial was even finished just completely destroyed the point of the court system. What if these people are killed from rumors? People would also get the wrong message and start to say that what they’re doing is right because it’s what they think is right or that it’s “in the name of God”.

                However, this film does relate to the violence in Townie and raises the question of when violence is justified. What was incredibly appalling in this movie was how these guys were able to always know about crime bosses and “bad people”, and find their exact location and meeting places. You don’t have religious lunatics determine who’s guilty or not, you have the court system to do that. You only use violence as a last resort. Since these guys always knew about the crime bosses and such, they could have tried reporting them to the authorities, get them to trial, and not stir up a bloodbath involving religious phrases before they kill the last person. At least in Townie Andre Dubus III is not involving God into his actions and repeating religious beliefs over and over again. I am livid when religion is used as justification for violence or bad actions. Dubus III instead uses his own conscience and decides himself, not in the name of God, that he should give some people a taste of their own medicine.

                Andre Dubus III states the idea that cruelty is cruelty and you don’t question it in his memoir Townie. None of Andre Dubus’s actions are done “in the name of God”. It really irritates me that religion can make people fearless and blind of their own lives. Hey, these guys are “Saints” that are killing whoever they please. I’ll just go in, have God with me, and suddenly have information on every bad person in the area and kill whoever I don’t like! If I die, I’ll just go to heaven and be a Saint! It sends a bad message, and I really hope nobody takes the initiative to do whatever was being done in this film. This film wasn’t much more than a lot of violence mixed with crude humor and religious atmospheres that freaked me out. Anything I see that involves religion, I’m likely to be very critical of it, especially in the context of it being connected to violence and “a mission”.

                In Townie, Dubus III has to stand up for himself. He considers his own morals and own thoughts. Dubus III grew up in an environment of cruelty, violence, and drugs. He doesn’t go around finding mafia or suddenly knowing information about people’s meetings like in Boondock Saints. Violence is not something that can just be tossed away like nothing happened. In Boondock Saints, the “Saints” were commended by an FBI agent and were able to continue with their murders. It gives me the fear of how these connections established would lead to more corruption, religious intentions, and other things that would cause more problems for everyone else. Boondock Saints might have had some energetic action scenes, but people could easily create a bad message and also go against the court system for not being perfect.