Tonight I saw Quentin Tarantino’s latest movie, Inglourious Basterds. If you hate Tarantino’s style or are offended by violence and gore, I don’t recommend it. However, I’m still processing the film, but right now I would put it in my list of the ten most amazing films I’ve ever seen. Yes, it’s that good. The dialogue somehow maintains the Tarantino sizzle in three different languages. As in Pulp Fiction, the storyline involves multiple intersecting plotlines with enough twists to keep you hooked Beautifully shot and acted, it’s a well-made film that is generating Oscar buzz. But enough movie review…
***SPOILER ALERT***
Tarantino rewrote the ending of World War II. (he’s a bit audacious) Maybe halfway through the film, the audience first learns the true destination of the film: the assassination of Hitler at a movie premiere in Paris. To get all the details, you’ll have to see the movie, but the film provided a semi-plausible scenario in which civilians, soldiers, or both could actually pull it off. The premise intrigued me with an old, difficult ethical dilemma: given the chance, would it be right to assassinate Hitler (or Stalin or Hussein or any other brutal world leader) to save the lives of millions of other people? Given the chance, would you do it? Could you do it?
I’m still wrestling with that question myself. On one hand, God used people to carry out His judgments on other people, including punishments of death. The Canaanites sinned greatly against the Lord, and God used the Israelites to destroy most of them. Then the Israelites committed idolatry repeatedly, so God used the Babylonians to destroy many of them and carry many of the survivors into exile. On the other hand, Jesus calls us to be merciful, to love our enemies, and not to murder. Did Hitler deserve death? Absolutely. However, according to Romans, so do each of us because all sin is abhorrent to God. The question is, who had the right and responsibility to kill him, if anyone?
What do you think?
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I haven’t seen the movie, but have read a little history. There were several assassination attempts on Hitler’s life from within his Nazi military staff. Most attempts failed because he was constantly on the move. One attempt almost succeeded in his conference room in Berlin. He was injured, but survived, and with rage, had several hundred suspects in the plot, executed…Granddaddy
There’s another movie called Valkyrie that addresses one of those attempts. Tom Cruise stars as the main plotter, I believe. I never got around to seeing it but would like to. I can’t help but think that many within the Nazi regime knew they were wrong but were too afraid to oppose Hitler.
I believe everyone effected by his reign of terror had the right to kill Hitler and the responsibility to kill Hitler to satisfy justice if they had the opporutnity. I do not believe in precognition justice though a la “Minority Report”. I believe everyone should have freedom of choice. If that choice is a bad choice then it is our right to make that bad choice. We must face the consequences. I could not praise a god that would punish us is a precognition way for sin de jour without us actually committing out sins. This does not satisfy justice. Our actions are not set in stone. There is not set “fate”. “Fate is what we make” – Sarah Connor.
Some interesting thoughts, Mad Bomber. May I (hesitantly) add a couple more? I think the key word in Andy’s epistle is “Assassinate”, e.g. a secret gov.agt. eliminate a Hitler. This is different from military action during a war. It is official U.S. Gov. policy not to assassinate world leaders we may not like. Terrorists are different, and we can hunt them down individually. An interesting bit of history from WWll. Adm. Yamamoto, architect of the Pearl Harbor attack, was shot down by P-38 fighter planes in the Solomon Islands in 1943 on orders of President FDR. Yamamoto was a national hero in Japan, and his death badly hurt their morale. And surely helped ours.
One more idea and I’ll close. inre “Fate is what we make” That sounds like we control our destiny. I would posit that there may be a little more to it. There was once a best seller, “Fate is the Hunter” by Ernest Gann. It is a wonderful read about flying, but he believed “in the phenomonon of luck – that the pattern of anyone’s fate is only partly contrived by the individual”. The rest may be luck. Great example is accidents that come into our lives, through no fault of ours..
“Evil triumphs when good men do nothing” -Edmond Burke.
The same logic that says that God could have been using Hitler to punish people for evil can be applied to the idea that God could be using the individual to end Hitler’s brutality and murder. I cannot allow the possability that “‘evil” is the will of God” to make me stand aside and allow evil to continue in my presence when I have the opportunity and ability to put an end to it.
What if all life is not precious to God just because it is life?
At one point or another, God decides it’s time for each of us to die. Sometimes He uses disease or simple old age to do the deed. Sometimes He uses a car wreck or skiing mishap. Sometimes He uses people who work for the government, as in capital punishment or a shooting by a police officer. Sometimes He uses an assassin.
However, based on my own experience and what I’ve read in the Word, I do believe in “fate” in the sense that God has a plan for everything. Without some sense of certainty regarding the future, Biblical prophesy such as Daniel and Revelation would be worthless and inaccurate. I believe God’s plan includes the gamut of life from major world events (the rise and fall of the Nazis, 9/11, etc.) to the details of individuals’ lives (because I decided in advance not to go to tutoring at IBC last week, I was able to address a problem that arose with Brenden’s crib). In ways I will never understand, God gives us free will but also uses our choices to carry out His own will.
I’m OK with the idea that God might put someone in the position to assassinate Hitler, knowing that the person would choose to do so and succeed. That person would be God’s instrument, the tool He chose to execute His judgment.
Could I have been that person? I’m not sure.