Samaritan: The Movie That Questioned the Concepts of Good and Evil

If we look at the focal point of the story; We can talk about two characters that are in the human body but seem to have undergone a mutation or transformation (change-transformation) for some reason. One of these characters, named Samaritan and Nemesis, represents good and one represents evil.

From what is described in the movie, it is understood that in the past Nemesis has dragged people into chaos and anarchy. Samaritan, on the other hand, appears as the guardian of the order his brother is trying to destroy. For those who have not watched the movie, who are considering watching it, or who have watched it like me, but do not realize the situation at first glance, it may seem like good and evil are separated very sharply. But in the following scenes, you will see that this is not the case at all…

Two steps further, Sam had a dream hidden in reality:

The main character that draws attention in the movie is Sam, a little boy who does not have a father and lives only with his mother. This boy has admired the Samaritan for as long as he can remember and grew up with his stories. He’s someone who’s always out there looking for evidence that he’s alive. I think the reason for this is that he is a child who lost his father at a young age and needs a protective father figure.

After all, Samaritan is a superhero in his eyes, a savior who can replace his father. As a matter of fact, when you read this article and watch the following scenes of the movie, I believe that you can see that my thoughts are answered.

Now, to talk about the point where the events gained momentum; We need to go back to the moment when Sam finds out that the Samaritan is indeed alive. Sam gets involved in a gang and while he is having problems with this gang, Samaritan rescues him from his situation. This way things get even faster.

Also, the head of this gang is a Nemesis fan. The gang leader seems to have vowed to revive Nemesis’ power by gaining access to her weapons. Will this person truly be able to awaken evil and cause chaos, or will he encounter an experience where he will have to relearn the meaning of evil?

Good and bad can never be brothers(!)

From the fratricide theme in the movie, we can get a sub-message that good and evil are always in conflict. After all, in the conversations between Sam and Samaritan, since Samaritan always seems angry with his brother, the audience also develops a dislike for the other brother. However, for some reason, despite all of Sam’s insistence, Samaritan does not prefer to do good to people, to protect them, and even our character adopts the attitude of a desolate man who is not very interested in people.

Now on to the interpretation of the scenes where Sam is in grave danger again with the gang and Samaritan comes to his rescue. Some people who watched Sylvester Stallone, who played the Samaritan once, in this movie talk about the fact that he can no longer act as well as he used to because the actor is getting older. Personally, I do not agree with this and I say Rambo again, the Rambo we know. Because in the final scenes where Stallone fights the gang leader and his crew, I think one of the problems that make his acting look bad is the facial effects used.

This scene is not a fire scene.

Especially the effects in the fire scene look so poor that it looks as if the actor’s face is warped. Of course, the effects are not the only thing that spoils the image of the actor, I think there is also a problem with the make-up applied to the actor. Especially the cinematographic (in the most general sense, image management) errors in the fire scene give the actor the impression that he is an animated character rather than a real person.

Nemesis: the inevitable end

Nemesis, according to Ancient Greek belief, represents a divine punishment imposed on people who are arrogant. Also, Nemesis is the goddess of revenge in mythology. This goddess takes revenge to bring justice. Another meaning of this concept is Adrasteia, which means inevitable. In other words, the meaning of this word is to give the appropriate punishment to what is deserved. It is no use calling this punishment good or bad. Because this concept is based on the belief that “if a person has made a mistake, he should be compensated for it somehow”.

The reason I mention these is because there is a surprising fact about the Nemesis character known as dead in the movie. I would like to explain this surprising fact without any spoilers: This character is a character who is always badly known and always believed to do bad things. As I explained above, this concept actually means that justice should be provided in response to a wrong done, not good or bad. At this point, I can say that even if Nemesis has made mistakes in the past, this time justice for both himself and his brother, as it should be.

I also want to say that this movie did not give us the expected ending in superhero movies where good always wins. In other words, there is no ending in other superhero movies where the good ones are always good and the bad ones are always bad and they are rewarded accordingly. Did you get the message? Actually, this is a bit like the life we ​​live: We cannot say that good people always do good things or bad people always do bad things. Such linearity is not possible in real life.

In other words, like Ying and Yang, deficiencies-pluses, right-wrongs work as a whole. In this respect, I think the fact that the film is built on a narrative that is both fantastic and very realistic makes it more original than other superhero films.

Editor’s Note: Since I don’t give spoilers, you may not fully understand this part. However, I think it will fall into place when you watch it. If you have watched the movie, you can write your thoughts in the comments.