About La grande Guerra one of the questions was:
What single "error" by the Austrian officer turns
cowardice into courage? Does a moment of pride redeem the decision to be
traitors?
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The
Austrian officer is overwhelming
arrogant and confident the soldiers will tell him where the bridge is. In his
arrogance, He makes fun of their courage as Italians. He references that “all
the Italians know is the Venetian dish liver with onions“. As a result, the
officer underestimates the pride and courage of Busacca. I believe Busacca was
redeemed for his traitorous pledge by defending his courage and engaging in
telling off the Austrian General. He knew exactly what the outcome would be for
him. Oreste Jacovacci was witty in telling the General that only Busacca knew
where the bridge was. In the end, a moment of pride does redeem them of their
decision to be traitors because the end result was not traitorous. The irony is that no one will ever know of the courage they
displayed at the end of their lives.
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- The Austrian officer insulted
Giovannis pride by paying his debts in front of the two soldiers for losing a
bet that they would not have given the location of the bridge because they
seemed more courageous than they were acting. Giovanni had a sudden surge of
pride and since his ego had been insulted he decided to act out and refuse to
give the location of the bridge. Giovanni lost his life for refusing to give
the location, however, the heroic act is lost because his decision to do so was
based on a selfish impulse and not a selfless act for his country. I do not
believe that Giovanni’s moment of pride was redemption for their initial
betrayal. They were willing to give up the location of their fellow comrades in
order to save themselves and there is no way to redeem yourself for that
deception.
COMMENT and REPLY to a comment that caught your attention.
The second reaction to the question caught my attention, due to the fact it was a polar opposite to what I had thought. I agreed with the first reaction. I think the second reaction is interesting in that this person thought Giovanni did not think about acting out towards the Austrian officer before doing it-making him reactive. I thought he was conscious of the result his prideful moment would have, but accepted his fate. It was more important to Giovanni to stand up to the officer and die, than take the criticism and live a life of regret.
ReplyDeleteHey Katherine,
DeleteYour response was interesting to me because I agree with the second response. I understand the reactive response versus the conscious decision to risk his own life to save his fellow military members. I don't think in the two seconds he had before he responded that he realized the repercussions of his decision to speak out against the officer. However, I empathize with your answer in wanting to feel that they both acted heroically to save their country.
Both of these answers offer a different and interesting perspective on the circumstances. I have a different understanding of the events. I see them (Giovanni and Oreste) redeeming themselves of their traitorous decision by sacrificing their lives instead of providing the location of the bridge because in them not providing the location saves the lives of many other people.
ReplyDeletePerhaps they did sacrifice their lives, but I believe it was for they own pride- it just so happened that this sacrifice helped the Italians, and the means do not justify the end for me with that argument.
DeleteI agree with the first reaction, because I feel like not giving up the bridge was able to save lives of innocent people. I also understand the second reaction because Giovanni lost his life because he didn’t want to give the location and stood up for himself but at the same time it was selfish because of the bet that was taken place. The intention behind the sacrifice might seem heroic but, the approach was completely wrong. It something that he wouldn’t be able to redeem, so he had a choice to make and it was give up the location and live with guilt the rest of his life or make it look like he did it for his country.
ReplyDeleteBoth answers are interesting I agreed with the second response. I agree that they were both still acting cowardly. It is true that Giovanni lost his life without giving up critical information that saved many people however he was not acting out of a will to protect his people. His response was directed by an insult to his ego. Meanwhile Oreste was cowardly through the entire scene. He chose to give up the location with Giovanni and then when Giovanni decided he wouldn't give the Austrians the bridge location, Oreste still cowardly refused to say by claiming Giovanni was the only person to know the location which was not true. So I believe they both acted cowardly and although many people were saved as a result of their deaths they did not redeem themselves necessarily because it wasn't a thoughtful and meaningful way of losing their lives with a bruised ego and cowardly attempt to save their own life.
ReplyDeleteCrystal,
DeleteI don't think I would have liked either of these men who have connived probably their whole lives. They were survivors. They did not want to be heroes, they just wanted to live. I would like to think that all people have it in themselves to do the right thing. For that reason, I wanted to believe Giovanni had a higher purpose in his last moments.
I am more swayed by the second response. From the way Giovanni had been acting the whole time and how quick he responded to the officer, led me to believe that he clearly was responding from a place of hurt ego. He didn’t have a plan to save the Italian army that he had been trying to abandon from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, Giovanni and Oreste did not betray their country. Throughout the movie, all they did was trying to escape from the war. It makes sense to me because it is human nature that everyone wants to survive. They betray their country only if they give the location to Austrian officer. Instead, they did not give the location. They died and protected the country.
ReplyDeleteBoth answers are pretty different, but explained really well. After reading both responses, I agree mostly with response one. I think it was very foolish of the officer to taunt the Italians, as it ultimately led to their betrayal and his demise.
ReplyDelete