To put it simply, IN A BETTER WORLD is about revenge. And we see this form of behavior happening all over the place so its theme couldn't be more relevant today. Al Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center in New York so the US attacked Afghanistan and Iraq. Israelis attacked the Palestinians. Palestinians attacked back. Indians attacked the Pakistanis. Pakistanis attacked back. And on and on it goes. The important question that is raised in IN A BETTER WORLD is: How far should you go when someone does you wrong? It is important to defend yourself when someone attacks you. This is what happened in IN A BETTER WORLD. At the beginning of the film, a bully picked on a weakling named Elias. The bully called him names and pushed him around. His friend, Christian, was horrified by Elias not standing up for himself so he took it upon himself to defend Elias. This is a recurring behavior of Christian throughout the movie. If a person did him or someone else wrong then he sought revenge. He did this with his father by accusing him of not loving his mother. He did this with a mechanic who struck Elia's father. And, as I said before, he did it with the bully who picked on Elias. Why does Christian have this vengeful nature? It could all stem to his mother's death. He probably felt cheated out that his mother died at a young age so he is now filled with hate and revenge. And if he sees any kind of injustice in the world, he fights back. The problem with Christian's thinking is that it's impossible to fight all the injustices in the world without incurring some consequences. And some of those consequences are horrible. Unfortunately, Christian has to learn this lesson the hard way. So, how far should you go when someone does you wrong? Go and see IN A BETTER WORLD to find out. Highly recommended.
Review of In a Better World
