2001 Talk About Movies
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Little Notes
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Follow Me




Contents © 2001
by Jim Holman.
All rights reserved.

THE FUGITIVE

Ernie: The anti-Church lieutenant has a knowledge of the Church, and he knows what a priest should do. He says to the people, 'If he loved you, he would show himself and die for you.' He's giving himself away there; he has more respect for the Church than he's supposed to let on. Matthew: He knows priests ought to be heroes. Ernie: And he's right. The priest himself says later on, 'When the trial came, I failed. I let other men die for me.'

* * *

Ernie: The cantina girl represents the lieutenant's human side. They'd clearly been lovers; it's clearly his child. In his more human moments, he has more sympathy for the Church. He says, "I'm making a better world for you and for the baby...." Matthew: But it's abstract. Ernie: And later, he asks the priest if he baptized the baby. He was sympathetic when he thought of religion on an individual level.

* * *

Matthew: I liked that the heroism of the priesthood doesn't lie in earthly glory. He does it for the love of God. There's no grand defying of the government. He's just doing what a priest does, giving the sacraments. He has his moment of courage, and it doesn't matter if he succeeds.