Albert Nascimento
Ms. B
WRPR
P3D1
The Crossroads
The problem of good and evil becomes very evident in The Guns of Navarone.
A large contributing factor is the background of WWII and the threat of the Nazis.
There is a common debate about how far someone can go when they are fighting for
something considered “good” without crossing the line and becoming “bad”
themselves. There are several incidents throughout the film which we witness some
characters facing the decision to cross this line or not. A great example is the
treatment of Major Roy Franklin by the Nazis and also by his own team. Both groups
push the line to the limit; the Nazi group at one point meets the line and crosses
over to the “bad” side while Major Franklin’s group meet the line and chose not to
cross it.
Major Franklins group realizes that he has broken his leg and are faced with
a big decision. They can either leave him in the cave they are hiding out
(where the Nazi will eventually find him) or bring him along with them as far
as they can. They come to the decision that they are going to carry Major Franklin
with them and complete their mission. Although this seems like it was an easy and
logical decision to make they had to make the decision at the crossroads of good and
evil. Cpl. Miller, a friend of Major Franklin’s, suggests that they leave him there to be
found and “well cared for” by their enemy. On the opposing end Captain Mallory,
claims that if the enemy soldiers found Franklin they would disregard their code of
war, and force him to reveal their plans, so he orders two of his men to carry
Franklin on a stretcher. Both ideas had the intention of “good” but realistically
speaking if Major Franklin was left the enemy soldiers would’ve probably tortured
him until he gave up their plans or died.
When the group of American soldiers were captured the Nazis brought them
to a room where they could be interrogated. Commander Muesel is the first Nazi
general to interrogate the soldiers. He fails in his attempt to persuade them to give
up the location of the explosives before his fellow commander arrives. Commander
Muesel decides not to torment Major Roy Franklin because he sees that he is injured
and believes in the code of war (if a enemy soldier is found they will provide good
care for them). Commander Muesel chose the “good” path as he pleaded and did all
he could to convince the American soldiers to give up their explosives; he didn’t
come close to crossing the line of good vs. evil.
On the contrary, when Captain Sessler arrives he doesn’t chose to go the
same route as Commander Muesel, as he realizes that his way wasn’t successful.
Captain Sessler questions the men for a short amount of time, and then he lays his
eyes on Major Franklin. Sessler quickly runs up to the line of good and evil and
decides to fly right by it and torture Franklin. He puts his pistol against his leg and
hits it a few times. We see the pain and agony in Major Franklin’s face as Captain
Sessler strikes his leg with his pistol. Clearly Captain Sessler disregarded their code
of war, and took matters into his own hand. Although Sessler may argue that his
actions were for the best of the Nazis, we can ethically argue that what he did was
evil.
I believe that each character involved in this scene had a different point of
view and reasoning for their actions. Captain Mallory took command of the mission,
and we get the feeling that he wanted to save Major Franklin no matter what. In his
view, Major Franklin was part of his crew and he didn’t want to leave any of his men
behind, if he had the chance to save him. Commander Muesel, although of the
opposing side, doesn’t really want to cause harm to any of the American men
especially Major Franklin. In Captain Muesel’s view Major Franklin was completely
harmless to the Nazis because he had a broken leg, therefore making him incapable
of doing anything. He simply wants the information about the explosives with the
least amount of harm possible. Cpl. Miller wanted to leave Major Franklin behind
because he felt like carrying Major Franklin around would slow them down. In
Miller’s view, he was considering the best option for them to finish their mission and
be able to save the boats that were on their way. Captain Sessler on the other hand,
did not care about Major Franklin in any way; he was leading towards torturing him
at all costs to get the information he wanted. If Commander Muesel had not stopped
him I believe he would’ve continued to torture Major Franklin. In regards to
Sessler’s view, he simply saw Franklin as a wounded, worthless enemy soldier,
which was in a vulnerable position to give up the information he needed.
Both the American troops and the Nazis were faced with the decision of
going down a “good” or “evil” path. For the most cases everyone chose to go down
the “good” path. Captain Mallory, Commander Muesel, and Cpl Miller in my opinion
settled on the “good” path. None of these men wanted to cause harm to Major
Franklin. Captain Sessler in my opinion is the one character who chose to go down
the “evil” road, as he could careless about Major Franklin. Overall in this scene the
path towards “good” or “evil” is determined by each persons personal desires and
what costs they are willing to go to, to get them.