Psychology technique · used in 4 films
Giving a flawed hero a cause, such as one victim or one person to save, that tests their conscience. Their heroism stays tangled with their weaknesses.
Examples
Jonathan Demme · 1993
Joe Miller starts out afraid of Andrew and sure he does not want the case. A single moment of watching Andrew be mistreated changes his mind. The cause tests his conscience, and his own flaws stay in the picture.
Where to see it: The law library. Miller sees how people treat Beckett and decides to take the case.
Woody Allen · 1995
Lenny tries to fix Linda's life. He helps her escape her pimp and tries to set her up with a boxer, Kevin. The rescue is partly about Lenny's own need to feel useful. It does not go the way he planned.
Where to see it: The boxer. Lenny sets Linda up with Kevin, and the relationship sours when Kevin learns about her past.
Francis Ford Coppola · 1997
Rudy keeps the case about Donny Ray, a 22-year-old with leukemia whose insurer refused a transplant. Each scene with him raises the stakes without any legal jargon. By the time the jury hears him, you know exactly what the case means.
Where to see it: Donny Ray's family. Rudy and Deck take the Black family's case after their son is denied a bone marrow transplant.
Robert Zemeckis · 2012
The same man who saves 96 people is the man who drank before the flight. The film never lets you pick one version of Whip. In the end he tells the truth even though it costs him.
Where to see it: The confession: At the hearing, Whip cannot blame the dead flight attendant Katerina for the vodka. He admits that he drank and that he is drunk right then.
Questions