Roselle U.

Casiguran 3S UNTHINKABLE

The movie begins with Yusuf who made videotapes of three separate nuclear bombs he placed in the cities of America. He was captured through his own doing by standing in front of a video monitor in a mall. After being captured, he was held in custody by the FBI where he was tortured by the special interrogator in order for them to know where Yusuf placed the bombs. The movie is all about whether the end justifies the means. The means employed by the special interrogator H is torture. One by one he cuts off Yusufs finger in order to make a point. Special Agent Brody attempts to put a stop to the torture but to no avail. When Yusuf made a demand in exchange for the location of the bombs, he asked that the President of America to announce the cessation of support for puppet governments and dictatorships in Muslim countries and withdrawal of American Troops. The group knew that the demand was impossible to be complied with and told Yusuf that the United States does not negotiate with terrorists. After a while, a deliberation within the group states that maybe the bomb is fake. When Brody confronts Yusuf, the latter breaks down and agrees. However, upon checking the address, a tremendous C-4 explosion at a nearby shopping mall break loses, killing 53 people. Brody angrily returns to Yusuf and cuts his chest with a scalpel. Special interrogator H questions Yusuf again. He first brought in Yusufs wife and slashes her throat in front of him. Still Yusuf did not cooperate, thus prompting H to bring in the formers children. H assured the group that he will not torture the children but only to scare Yusuf. Through fear, Yusuf breaks in and give the 3 addresses, however H still did not

stop stating that there is still a 4th bomb which Yusuf had not admitted. After a while, the official in charge of the operation demands that the children be brought back for further interrogations. However H will only agree if it will be Brody who would bring the children back because her decency will give him the moral approval that he needs to do the unthinkable. When Brody refuses to retrieve the children, H unstrapped Yusuf setting him free. Yusuf grabs the officials gun and kills himself. The movie talks about whether the end justifies the means. Whether the torture or the killing of one man in order to save the others will be okay. The reality of how far are we willing to go. The movie allows us to think of what human beings can do and what any of us would hope not to happen. Special Interrogator H depicts of a man who is not a sadist nor does he enjoy torturing Yusuf. But it was clear to him that it had to be done. What he was doing was merely a means to an end. While Agent Brody is a person who thinks that H methods were evil, but was forced to weigh the reality that the rights of the terrorist is not above the lives of many human beings. I do believe that the end does not justify the means and vice versa but when we are given no choice, sometimes we think of doing the unthinkable, placing our morality aside and doing which will justify the ending.