BF1+48234

Film Response (48234)

Four Brothers Film Response 48234 Professor Barrett April 16, 2012

Film Response (48234)

The film that I have chosen to write a response on is Four Brothers. This film touches on many different aspects of human kind. This film is based in Detroit and is about Four Brothers whom were brought together by unfortunate circumstances. Even though they make look and act differently they are brothers in every sense of the word. They share a very strong bond with each other and their mother. After hearing of their mothers murder they all return home not only to burry their mother, but also to get answers as to who did this and why it happened. They want revenge.

The movie begins with Evelyn Mercer teaching a young boy a lesson about stealing. Instead of screaming at him and belittling him she asks him if this is the way that he wants to grow up. She tells him she believes that he is worth more then this and that he also needs to believe that. The shop owner pretends to call the police, using the scare tactic. Evelyn earns the young boys trust because she tells the shop owner not to call the police because he has learned his lesson. Teaching the boy that there will be consequences for his actions as well as self respect helped her to achieve a better outcome. In the future the child will be more willing to listen to her advice as well as thinking twice before stealing because of his respect for Ms.Mercer and himself.

Shortly after they send the child home masked men enter the store taking the money from the register as well as killing the shop owner and Evelyn which is a form of Aggression.(Lifespan Development p. 232) Evelyn was a social worker for more then thirty years. In those thirty years she placed hundreds of children into foster homes. There were only four boys that she could not find homes for because they were so troubled so she adopted them herself. Bobby Mercer was the oldest, then Jeremiah, Angel, and Jack was the youngest. She gave these young boys a chance at a better life one filled with love and respect, because of her love for them their lives took a very different path behaviorism could be taken into consideration because of the environmental changes.(p32) The Mercer boys as well as everyone that knew her considered their mother a saint.

Soon after their arrival the detectives put on the case to solve their mothers murder go to speak with them. After their condolences Bobby informs the men that he did not come back for a funeral but that he is going to find out who did this to his mother. Bobby and his brothers want revenge. The only person that ever cared for them was taken away from them and they won’t rest until that person pays. Even though this may not be seen as morally correct people have a tendency to want bad things to happen to those that do bad things to them. Bobby goes into the bathroom to cry because he does not want anyone to see him crying because it is seen as a sign of weakness and real men don’t cry. When he emerges he even goes so far as to tease his youngest brother about crying to cover up the fact that he shed tears. Jeremiah recommends that they get a Turkey to celebrate Thanksgiving because their mother would have wanted them to eat as a family, and they all agree that she would have. During their meal together each of them sit in the seat that they did as children leaving their mothers chair empty which is symbolic because then they all experience After Death Communication.(Bill & Judy Guggenheim 1995) ADC is the phenomenon when someone hears the voice and or sees the individual that has passed on. All of them envision their mother at the table except for Bobby the oldest, but he does acknowledge her absence. Instead of allowing this to get to him he distracts himself and says they should go play hockey. This could be noted as a defense mechanism, instead of allowing himself to hurt emotionally he wants to feel and dish out physical pain as his outlet. Bobby is a prime example of the oldest sibling always taking charge as the leader, he is highly respected by his younger brothers.

Evelyn Mercers sons all agree that she was the greatest mother ever. They want answers because they feel they owe it to her for being the only woman who ever cared and loved them. They feel indebted to her for loving them when felt unlovable and that maybe such a thing did not exist. A man from their community tells the boys how sorry he is for their loss. He tells them that the community is outraged and saddened by what happened to their mother showing concern and empathy. He then tells the brothers that the word is that a gang was involved and their was a witness to the shooting who was playing basketball that night. Jerry the reasonable brother suggests that they let the police handle the investigation instead of taking matters into their own hands. Jerry is the brother with the most to lose since he is married with two children this may make him think before he acts the others feel they have nothing to lose because they’ve already lost what mattered most to them beside each other. None of them can figure out why anyone would want to hurt the sweetest woman in the world. After investigating themselves and watching the video of their mothers murder they see that it was not a mistake at all whoever killed their mother meant to do it. They also find out that the witness as well as the story is fabricated the killer paid someone to make up a story to set up a diversion from the true suspect.

The brothers will stop at nothing to avenge their mothers death, means-end behavior.(p123) Their behavior is a direct action in the goal they share to make the person responsible pay. They all experienced very hard childhoods until their mother rescued them from a life of damnation. As a united front they are unstoppable because of their true love and respect for their mother and one another. They completely disregard the fact that everything they are doing while seeking revenge is against the law. Their willingness to lie, cheat, and kill is an example of conventional morality(p. 351). Their are studies that show that after a traumatic experience when someone is grieving they seek retaliatory aggression(p291). This is using your aggression to get back at someone has hurt you badly. This is exactly what the brothers are doing in this situation. In the movie the man that is responsible for their mothers death is Victor Sweet. Victor Sweet is a known criminal. He continuously belittles people to show that he has some sort of power over them. Victor Sweet uses hostile aggression(p.233). Using this to try to gain respect and control will only last a short while before those below you rebel. The brothers begin to suspect that their brother Jerry may be involved after an Insurance broker shows up at the house saying that he needs to speak to Jeremiah regarding their mothers $400,000.00 life insurance policy that he has made payments on for years. When they confront him about making these payments he informs them that their mother did that for his girls and he paid all of her bills and none of them helped him. Jeremiah experienced the care giver burden(p.470). He was the sibling responsible for caring for his mothers needs financially. Jeremiah is the responsible one always thinking of his family, his wife and children. They suspected him of going into business with Victor Sweet that was not the case though he refused to business with him her pay him off so Sweet had Jerry’s plans of opening his own plant stalled. After the city shut him down Evelyn leaped into action. She knew that the accusations of her son being corrupt were not true. Even though Jeremiah did not tell his mother anything because he did not want to burden her she knew something was wrong. Jerry could not keep anything from his mother he never could she had a mothers intuition she knew her son’s. After his mother figured out a crook was trying to stop her son from pursuing his dreams she did everything in her power to help her son to be able to fulfill his dreams. Evelyn Mercer only wanted the best for her sons like most mothers do. It did not matter to her that the boys were previously delinquents(p.356), or that they were not biologically hers she loved them whole heartedly as if she had given birth to them herself, maybe even more. She was an example of a great mother proof is her selfless act of love. One of the cops on the case discovers that his partner had spoke to Evelyn a week before her death for more then an hour and destroyed a police report that she had filed and did not tell him about it. Upon his discovery he comes to the conclusion that his partner is a crooked cop working for Victor Sweet. Often times people do the wrong thing even when they know they are wrong because of greed this is unfortunate. Only in the perfect world would this type of behavior not exist. Hopefully one day we can all live in that perfect world but for now we are all surrounded by it everyday we only need to be strong enough to not give into temptation.

There youngest brother Jack is killed by Sweet’s men the brothers question what to do next because they have already lost their mother and a brother. They only have each other they have no extended family, they do not want to suffer anymore losses of their loved ones. They use assimilation to make sense of the situation(p.36). The brothers devise a plan of action to bring down Victor Sweet. Instead of paying off Sweet with the remaining insurance money like Sweet is lead to believe they are going to pay his mistreated workers that he belittles to turn against him to come onto their side. When people are treated badly by others for a long period of time time they may no longer remain loyal. Feelings shift and change over time. Those being mistreated may have unintentionally suppressed their feelings which could lead to a brief moment of temporary insanity. While Jeremiah and Bobby go to the meeting with Sweet their brother Angel has to keep the bad cop away from them. The bad cop informs Angel that no one will believe anything he says and that his words will be tainted because he is a Mercer. Their is a stigma that goes along with their name. People believe the Mercer brothers are bad because of their past, not because of who they are presently. The Mercer brothers were previously known to be untrustworthy and hot headed. Angel then tricks the cop telling him that the police are there for him that he is wearing a wire and they heard his entire confession about killing his partner and he falls for it. When Sweet orders his men to kill Jeremiah they refuse Jeremiah replies by saying,”It’s cold outside when you’re by yourself.”(Paramount Pictures 2005) Sweet cannot believe his employees would betray the hand that feeds them. This proves that when you treat people badly they feel no loyalty towards you. The Mercer brothers knew that Victor Sweet would not let them live even if they paid him the money he would have had them killed so they decided to be proactive and take matters into their own hands. The men begin to rally around while Bobby battles with the man responsible for his mothers death. Bobby prevails and gets the revenge that him and his brothers were seeking avenging their mothers death.

As a form of healing the brothers begin to pick up the pieces of their lives and begin to rebuild their mothers home as a family. As a point of symbolism the movie ends with the oldest Mercer brother Bobby the only one who had not experienced ADC previously sees his mother and she speaks to him. She tells him that it is good to have him home and asks if he is going to stay awhile. He responds by saying yes. This is symbolic because it shows that he is finding closure and although he will never forget he is ready to move on.

This movie can be somewhat controversial. Even though the actions portrayed are not morally correct many people act this way on a daily basis. They may not act to the degree that the Mercer brothers do but people seek revenge actively. When people feel bad they tend to want to make others feel bad also. Is the want or need to do this programmed in us or is this a learned behavior, reaction? I can honestly say that if someone intentionally hurt my loved one I would immediately be angry and want them to pay also. The difference is I would want Justice I would allow those in positions of the law to do their jobs. I believe death for those who commit serious crimes is the easy way out I would rather they sat in a cell and lived the rest of their lives in a cell to be reminded of what they did everyday.

References John Singleton, Four Brothers Paramount Pictures 2005 Denise Boyd, Helen Bee (2009,2006,2003) Lifespan Development, Pearson Education, Inc. After Death Communication __[|www.afterdeath.com]__ 1995 Bill & Judy Guggenheim

__ Subject Matter—18 points out of 20 __ website for after death communication is still under construction

__ Higher-Order Thinking—18 points out of 20 __ : You leave a lot unsaid about parenting styles, poverty, resilience, and other key issues from the film that are covered in the book. You don't have to cover all of them, but there is definitely room for more.

__Organization--30 points out of 30__ Simple and straightforward--great job!

__ Format--5 points out of 10 __ Good details and citations. Your references are not in MLA or APA format.

__ Grammar/Punctuation/Spelling--10 points out of 10 __

__ Readability/Style--2 points out of 10 __ Only the references were supposed to be in MLA format--there's no need for page numbers or a title page on the wiki. They make for jarring transitions and interfere with reading.

Grade: 83/100