Lord of the Flies movie

***SPOILERS****


Human nature at its worst. What happens when a group of boys are marooned on an island? Same thing that would happen to anyone.

First, they work together. They assign a leader, make a camp, and keep a steady fire going. It's all good. The leader believes they will be rescued.

Then interests of the boys change. One wants to spend time hunting and having fun, while the other wants to remain as civil and discplined as possible.

There's an argument after something dislikable happens. The boys split up into "the hunters" and "the others." Slowly, the leader of the others is left with only one person because the other kids don't feel secure being on the other side of the hunters with their aggressive nature and sharp spears.

Their leader of the hunters has planted superstitions and beliefs into the minds of his followers. They are now afraid of a monster. No, they are afraid of disobeying their leader. He is the powerful one among them.

One night, the hunters are dancing around a fire with their spears reenacting a hunt when something comes running to them. Still in the hype of the hunt, one points at the incomer and yells, "Monster!" All the hunters grab their spears, charge to the dark figure and stab it mercilelessly. It was hard to tell what it looked like because the clouds were out and the hutners attacked it a yard away from the fire. Lightning strikes and we see the figure. It is a boy. One of their friends. Lying on the beach in a bloody mass. He was coming to tell them that he had found the captain dead.

Next day, no one talks about it except the remaining two Others. Well the Others had enough of the inhumanities of the Hunters, they go to talk peacefully. But some of the Hunters don't want to listen. When the fat Other whom the Hunters call Piggy is talking, one of the Hunters dislodges a rock from the cliff. The huge rock kills Piggy, who was in the middle of nicely asking for his glasses back.

Now, there is only one Other. One boy who has not forgotten who he was. He was the original leader. But the Hunters want him dead, by order of their leader. The remaining Other is then hunted like an animal.

This reminded me of any ideal movement. Everyone starts out working together, then differences arise, groups break apart.

This also reminded me of group mentality. The boys associated themselves with the Hunters because they were powerful. They were brainwashed by the Hunters beliefs and killed one among them and were on the pursuit to kill another. Two of the boys didn't want to believe in the monster or kill the remaining other, but couldn't do anything as a individuals.

This movie freaked me out. How could anyone kill their own friend? But adverse situations cause us to lose ourselves. The Others remembered who they were, remained aware of what was going on, and kept their hope that they would be rescued even though there wasn't much chance. The two remaining Others clung to their humanity even when their lives were threatened.

It's a long post, but I wanted to share what I understood from this movie. The "good guys" stuck to their identity, remained aware, and maintained a level of hope and optimism. Shouldn't we all be like this?