One very common moral dilemma around us is the justification of taking a human life. For a living being to be evil, spreading harm to society and is able to avoid the law, would it be approved for anyone to eradicate it from its existence with negligence of the law?
Troy Duffy's darkly comic cult film The Boondock Saints (1999) deals with this issue and how the media affects the public opinion towards vigilantism. The story of the film deals with the two Irish-American McManus brothers in South Boston who, after murdering a pair of Russian gangsters in self-defense, believe they are on a mission from God to rid their society from crime and evil.
As this opinion of religious fundamentalism is up for the viewer to decide, an interesting part of the film would be how the media portrays the brothers' illegal murders of well-known crime figures in their area. Apparently, they have been praised for their actions and were dubbed as "The Saints" by the media. This video clip at the end credits is a montage of what regular citizens believe in "The Saints" and how the media plays a role in affecting their image:
From my perspective, the movie is not really about the workings of the media and how it uses propaganda for public effect. But rather the two brothers' religious quest for justice and an eccentric FBI agent tracking them down for legal amends. However, the methods undertaken by the media as shown in the film does pose an intriguing question to regular consumers, whether or not moral beleifs should be chosen by them as individuals or supported by media propaganda.
It's an interesting thought, and the video above does help in showing how other people might approach this matter differently.
Other than that, The Boondock Saints is one heck of a cool film. Another highly recommended movie to see.
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