Blog Directory CineVerse: Adrift in a sea of moral uncertainty

Adrift in a sea of moral uncertainty

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Hitchcock's "Lifeboat" is a departure for the movie maestro away from his trademark murder mystery-intrigue type of suspense picture. But it's no less riveting in the way it tightens the knot and pits its characters against each other in a desperate situation where violence and evil are likely consequences. The film is particularly fascinating as a time capsule study of wartime propaganda--the merits of which, or lack thereof caused "Lifeboat" to endure surprising criticism from some reviewers back in 1944. Here is what our CineVerse group observed about this movie:

WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CONTROVERSIAL ABOUT THIS FILM UPON ITS RELEASE IN 1944?
The depiction of a Nazi officer as smarter, more emotionally controlled, and physically capable than the American and English passengers on the ship.
Additionally, Hitchcock makes us identify with and slightly sympathize with the German: consider how he yawns when the young mother becomes histrionic, how he seems at first to be their salvation from a death at sea, how he successfully amputates the American’s leg. Later, after we learn what the Nazi has done and is planning, our sympathies shift to the others on the boat. According to film reviewer Dan Callahan, “Hitchcock’s shifting sympathies guarantee our guilty involvement with the characters until he builds to a climax of intellectual and spiritual excitation.”
Several horrible incidents occur throughout the film, including an amputation, a descent into insanity, stressful confrontations and deliberations, and multiple deaths—such as the death of a baby, the drowning/possible murder of its mother, the drowning of an American amputee, and the violent mob killing of the German. These sobering events cast a downbeat, negative pall upon the picture and upon humanity.
The progression of the survivors from a group of trusting, optimistic hopefuls into an angry, violent mob capable of suddenly murdering a fellow passenger suggests a dark, primitive side to man’s nature—even if they are killing a Nazi. In fact, the nurse—a caregiver dedicated to healing and compassion—is the first to mortally attack the German, which says a lot.
This would have been a convoluted, difficult-to-digest propaganda film during World War II. On one hand, Hitchcock defended the movie as a “microcosm of the war,” saying in an interview “we wanted to show that, at that moment, there were two forces confronting each other—the democracies and the Nazis.” On the other hand, the German is shown in somewhat of a sympathetic light as an admirable resource of strength, intelligence and cunning, which many critics viewed as pro-Nazi propaganda. 
Interestingly, Hitchcock has Joe remain on the sidelines during the confrontations and mob killing—perhaps elevating Joe to the high moral ground of a Christian pacifist and, mercifully, preventing audience backlash against an African American character being involved in an act of violence against a white man—which could have riled up viewers in the mid 1940s. Hitchcock also takes a dig at racial politics of the time by having Joe as if he gets to cast a vote.
The adult sexuality is also a bit racy for the times: Connie is a loose, sexually experienced and enticing female, and the nurse has been having an affair with a married man.

WHAT IS THE MORAL TO THIS STORY?
Every person is capable of benevolence and cruelty, of compassion as well as hatred—even if the hatred is justified in the cause of war.
“Survival of the fittest” is an inhumane philosophy among desperate humans.
Fascism and totalitarianism is evil, and its followers cannot be trusted. Consider how Connie—the surrogate for the audience—at first gives the German the benefit of the doubt and trusts him with saving their lives; yet she, like Ritt and the nurse, changes her opinion about the German later in the film.
Faith in humanity and human connection is more important than material possessions—consider how Connie eventually loses all her prized belongings, one by one, and how even the rich businessman loses at cards. The message here to moviegoers is that true sacrifice and rationing by Americans back at home is needed if we are to win World War II.
“War’s first casualty is human decency,” as written by movie reviewer Glenn Erickson.
God helps those who help themselves—which also serves as a rallying cry for inspiring the troops and the families at home during World War II.
“The more we quarrel and criticize and misunderstand each other, the bigger the ocean gets,” says the millionaire—which becomes one of the themes of the film.

HOW DO YOU INTERPRET THE ENDING OF THE FILM? STANLEY SAYS “WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH PEOPLE LIKE THAT,” TO WHICH CONNIE REPLIES, WELL, MAYBE THEY CAN ANSWER THAT.”
The “they” Connie is referring to are the people who were killed before and during their shipwreck experience.
It’s as if Connie is insinuating that this is a very complicated and confusing morality—how are the living to judge the living? Perhaps only the dead can judge the living, in this case, the Nazis.
On the other hand, saying “maybe they can answer that” suggests that, of course, the dead cannot talk and provide an answer, but their deaths don’t have to be in vain if the survivors are able to avoid the same fate and learn from their deaths.

WHAT OTHER FILMS OR STORIES DOES “LIFEBOAT” REMIND YOU OF?
Disaster thrillers like The Poseidon Adventure, All Is Lost, Life of Pi, and Abandon Ship!
Other Hitchcock “confined setting” movies like Rope, Rear Window, and Dial M For Murder
Lord of the Flies

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