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Boiling
Ethics
"Changing Lanes"
What
can you do when a car accident delay you to an important meeting
that can assure to the company you work in the control over
na amount of (aproximately) 100 million dollars?
What
can you do when, because of a car accident, you are late to
an audience with a judge in which you and your ex-wife are
about to define the legal guard of your children?
Evaluate
the situations described above and define which one seems
top priority to you. This is the way Roger Michell´s
stimulating movie begins, putting the spectator in a crossroad
through its main characters, performed by the stars Samuel
L. Jackson and Ben Affleck.
It
doesn´t matter how the movie ends, it opens several
discussions about priorities and values and lead us, necessarily,
to think. Make us wonder, for instance, about ambition and
its limits. It allows us to analise the importance of family
and, specially, the proximity between parents and children.
It provokes us to think about capitalist society and its ways
of growing socially and economically.
It
is not a question of defining specific roles of bad and good
guys from the moment we watch the film. It is not as easy
as this, on the contrary, this would restrict the debate and
divert the sight of the spectators from what really matters
and mobilizes the story, is a single question: After all,
in what do we believe? Who are we?
We
can´t keep on thinking that the great villains of history
are the persons that work to make profits. Neither we can
believe that every good father deserves a statue in the park
of the city he lives in. It is not up to us to crucify people
that lived the disappointing situation of separation or, to
condemn the ones that suffer from alcoholism.
The
movie puts us in a variety of situations such as these ones,
however, deep inside, it wants to make us face our ethical
beliefs, question whether we would or not maintain our positions
if we had the possibility of getting millions of dollars and
buy whatever we wish (a house in the beach, a trip to europe,
a fancy car...).
In
a certain part of the movie occurs a dialogue between a Young
couple in which we can define the rule of the game to reach
success. One must play with all the tools he/she has and even,
if necessary, use the cards that are hidden under his sleeves...
Do you believe on it?
Because
of that, "Changing Lanes" is an explosive movie.
It is hard to understand why it was not a hit on the cinemas
or the reasons that made it arrive on the video rentals in
discrete way. Maybe the ones that believe that to win we must
do everything (even dirty moves) didn't want to discuss in
an open way the reasons of their victories...
The
Movie
Twenty
minutes. This is the time that Doyle Gipson (Samuel L. Jackson)
has to arrive at the court house. He will meet his ex-wife
and, in the presence of a judge, decide the future of his
two sons. To solve the problem in his behalf, Doyle is buying
a house to install his ex-wife and children (he intends to
live with them again as soon as he can make up with her).
Besides that, Doyle is attending sessions to solve his alcoholism
problem. Everything seems to be on the right direction...
Twenty
minutes. In this short amount of time in which he is travelling
from his lawyer office to the court house, the young and well
succeded attorney Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck) thinks about the
case he has to solve. His company is demanding the control
over an amount of aproximately 100 million dollars that belongs
to a charity institution created by a New York millionaire
that recently passed away. If everything goes on the right
way he will probably be awarded with a nice bonus...
Since
he missed the right exit to the court house and tried to change
his course to get back to it, Gavin hit his car against Doyle´s.
The condition of Doyle's car was so bad that he couldn't continue
his journey. Gavin tried to fix up the situation as fast as
he could offering money to pay the losses of Doyle. Nothing
was solved and, in the hurry, an important document for Gavin's
case was left behind and was caught by Doyle.
The
document is not the only thing to be left behind. Doyle is
also abandoned and looses the scheduled time for his audience.
He also looses the guard and rights over his children...
Without
the document, Gavin cannot solve definively the case in which
he is involved. Threatened by his boss (who is also his father-in-law),
he is about to see his life ruining...
Furious because of the loss of his children's guard, Doyle
doesn't seem willing to help with Gavin. In the desperate
need of the document, Gavin will try everything to get it
back. Even if it means ruining the life of his opponent...
For
Teachers
1-
The first thing we have to think about when we watch a movie
like "Changing Lanes" refers to the concept of Ethics.
Looking out in a good dictionary, searching in philosophy
books, asking friends and family, questioning about ethics
on the professional environment (among other possibilities)
are basic routes for someone to understand the meaning of
this word. But for what reasons should we worry so much about
Ethics? The answer maybe found as soon as we can relate the
abstract concept of Ethics to the real world in which we live
in...
2-
One of the main ideas developed in the movie are related to
the importance of using every way that we know to solve our
problems. It doesn't matter wheter it means using fair or
unfair methods. It means that we can also rely on solutions
that can cause harm and damage to other people. Attitudes
such as these confront the laws of most democratic societies
and countries. In the movie we watch people that use those
unfair ways to obtain profits, success and personal or professional
gains. Even thought we must think about this subject because
of the laws, there are also our conscience to be respected.
This subject could be explored by the teachers with the students
in debates or on the creation of texts. Students could be
asked to consider the attitudes of some characters of the
movie such as Gavin's bosses and his wife.
3-
A research on alcoholism and institutions that treat people
that suffer from this disease could help students to develop
a better comprehension of the effects of alcohol in the human
body as well as its social and economical consequences. It
would even be possible to develop a project about alcoholism
with the help of many subjects such as chemistry and biology
(for the consequences of alcohol in the human body), history
and geography (to understand the way different people and
cultures throughout time dealt with the problem) and languages
(to develop texts about the subject).
4-
What can destroy family relations? In the movie "Changing
Lanes", the character or Samuel L. Jackson suffers the
consequences because of his alcohol problem. Besides that
question what others make families split apart? In which way
a separation affects the life of man and woman? What are the
consequences for the children? A survey about broken families
made through field researches or by information selected from
newspapers and magazines can let us understand this phenomena
in a better way and, eventually, explain for the students
the responsabilities and problems that come for everyone after
the separation.
João Luís Almeida Machado
Master Degree in Education, Arts and History
of Culture (Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, in São
Paulo); Professor at Faculdade Senac in Campos do Jordão;
Middle and High School teacher; writes weekly columns for
the website Planeta Educação
Send e-mails, comments, suggestions and critics for:
profjoaoluis@planetaeducacao.com.br
Technical Information
Changing Lanes
Country/Year of production:- USA, 2002
Lenght of time/Gender:- 99 min., Action/Thriller/Suspense
Director: Roger Michell
Screenwriter: Chap Taylor and Michael Tolkin
Cast:- Ben Affleck, Samuel L. Jackson, Toni
Collette, Amanda Peet,
Sydney Pollack, William Hurt, Kim Staunton, Ileen Getz.
Links
(in portuguese)
-
http://www.adorocinema.com/filmes/fora-de-controle/fora-de-controle.htm
- http://www.cineguia.com.br/index.shtml?cod_filme=CNA25698&rg=0
- http://e-pipoca.cidadeinternet.com.br/filmes_zoom.cfm?id=4122
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