metoo wrote:I agree.Jameron wrote:I can't think of anything that tells us Conny is picked on. Are you thinking of when his brother grabs him from behind when he comes to borrow Conny's keys? For me that is just familial horseplay, they part on mutually friendly terms.
Coming from behind, yes, but there's a certain attitude when he demands Conny's keys that clearly shows him acting as the boss, and he's knowingly doing it in from of Conny's friends.
If Oskar relished violence, he would've hit Conny more than once or tried hitting the other, too, and not tried to dissuade him from attacking until the last possible moment. Oskar employs the absolute minimum of force that would still mean effective self-defense. I don't think Oskar's exhilaration is at the violence, but at his victory over Conny, which I think is an important distinction. And Eli's advice would work with the garden variety of bully, and in any case Conny is an obvious coward and it would've worked like a charm had it not been for Jimmy (Conny is such a coward that though his gang outnumbers Oskar three to one once Oskar does hit back he runs to his older brother to save him - we also don't see him pick on anyone who will fight back, however feebly).Klesk wrote:That is not what you see in Oscars face after he hit back. Necessary? Maybe, but there is more than that. It is a two-edged sword. Somewhat attractive, exciting and wrong. It is nothing what really helps Oscar to solve his problems. On the contrary the situation escalates and becomes worse.lombano wrote: I don't think there's anything attractive about the violence in LTROI - both Oskar and Eli accept violence can be necessary, but they don't seem to relish it.
That depends on what is meant by "necessary." It certainly put an end to their bullying of Oskar. As far as Eli knew, they'd shown themselves to be pitiless and not easily deterred, and not run-of-the-mill bullies but genuine threats to Oskar's life. She dispatched them quickly and with the only means immediately at her disposal. She did not torture them or inflict drawn-out deaths on them. Given what Eli knows, she's merely applying overwhelming force to a problem that had proved intractable with more moderate approaches (yes, killing Jimmy would've been enough, or even just breaking his arms, but Eli has no way of knowing that). She spares Andreas, perhaps because she's not sure he's part of the gang, perhaps because as he's not near the edge of the pool he clearly poses no immediate threat, but in any case it shows restraint, and there were pragmatic reasons to leave no witnesses, yet she spared him. Yes, I'm biased in that I think Jimmy had it coming, but still.Klesk wrote:At the end Eli is very brutal, more than it is necessary. She does not just kill them, she literally slaughters them. In fact, even to kill the bullies is not necessary. Jocke and Lacke are getting a “smarter” death, because it is not revenge what drives her.lombano wrote: Eli certainly doesn't.