Sucrose

You know, as much as people love to carpet American films for their sacchrine endings, I think there really is something to be said and praised about them.

Last night I watched this rather depressing Greek film called The King. It ended with the main character (Vangelis) hanging himself in a Police station, after finishing a chess king for his friend the local (corrupt) police chief. Why was he in the police custody? Well unfortunately he didn't have much control on his temper, and in the culmination of the persecution arising from typical small town bloody mindedness where they are jealous/afraid of any new person, in which, after failing in an attempt at getting him thrown out of town through legal means (which only succeeds in him having to undergo psychiatric evaluation) and whilst he is out of town on said evaluation, they destroy the bridge that he has repaired, trash his house (which is his dead grandfather's house which he has been repairing) and slaughter the wild goat that he has adopted, and throw it down his well. Not to mention trashing his bicycle which was left in the town square. He takes the bicycle fairly well, but when he gets back to his house and sees this, he goes beserk running back into town. He goes into the cafe where they all hang out and starts to lay into them, however the mob take him outside where they proceed to beat him up. However when the slightly more sympathetic young man who runs the cafe tries to stop them, he accidently gets stabbed in the stomach by Vangelis.
Then when the Police chief and Vangelis' girlfriend come to the local cemetary to bury him, the local community are all there blocking the way and the local patriarch shuts and locks the gate. As they drive away, it starts to rain (which apparently it hasn't for a long time) and all the towns people are rejoicing. The movie ends as they bury him at his house, with his girlfiend and the police chief standing in the rain.

That's it. No justice. The cowards and bastards feel justified in what they've done. Now I know that happens everyday. Our world isn't a fair place, but we "know" this man, after all we've just spent two hours getting to know him, to feel for him and he dies and there is no justice? We hate this when it happens to real people, especially when it's people we know. It's the sort of thing that starts vigilantism and blood feuds. So why is it any less real that we would want a happy ending for someone that we've come to know and like (which any good film maker can do).

So here's for a little bit of sweetness in the world, for people being happy and for us being happy for them. To quote from The Happiness patrol (but without the menace) - person 1: I'm glad you're happy Person 2: I'm happy you're glad.