Se7en

Se7en is a suspense film about different murders patterned after the seven deadly sins. A well-read retiring detective named Somerset (Morgan Freeman) teams up with a soon-to-be-father detective Mills (Brad Pitt) to find the murderer responsible for the deaths of different persons. The first victim is an obese person who died with his face on a plate full of spaghetti and it seems that he was forced to eat until he died. The next is a lawyer who defended a criminal and ensured he stayed out of jail for a sum of money. The third is the rapist defended by the lawyer who was bed-ridden due to drug overdose but still survives after the attack. At this point, the two detectives are close to finding out who the next victims are after raiding the house of a Jonathan Doe, a lover of literature and more so of Dante’s Divine Comedy and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. They try to prevent another murder but came late at a club where prostitutes work. The fourth victim is a prostitute who was killed by a man against his wishes but because his very life is under threat. The fifth is a beautiful model who chose to die than to live with a disfigured face. The final two murders are so gruesome that it will make you lose faith in humanity.

DO NOT READ BEYOND THIS POINT IF YOU DO NOT WANT SPOILERS.

Jonathan Doe finally surrenders himself and asks that the two detectives go with him somewhere to see the second to the last victim. There, Somerset opens a box delivered by a man who was apparently paid by Doe already. Inside he finds the head of Mills’ wife Tracy. When Mills learns of this, Jonathan Doe explains that he was envious of Mills and tried to play husband to Tracy but Tracy refused but pleaded for her life and the baby which Mills knows nothing about. Tracy did not tell her husband because she was still deciding if she wanted to give birth to a baby in a dark, broken world. In his rage, despite Somerset cautioning him not to give in to anger, Mills shots Jonathan Doe and kills him, thus completing the seven deadly sins.

This mystery suspense film got me hooked especially because it is related to classical literature. It’s an intelligent movie which gets the point across without going overboard with the gore, which I am thankful for because I watched this on a weekend when I was alone. The movie shows what’s in the mind of a self-righteous psycho, someone who enjoys torturing others. He may be the very example of a man who tried to access the deepest wisdom but failed to become fully enlightened. (As they say, a little learning is a dangerous thing.) As Somerset reads in one of Doe’s many notebooks, "What sick ridiculous puppets we are, and what a gross stage we dance on. What fun we have dancing and fucking. Not a care in the world, not knowing that we are nothing. We are not what was intended." This shows that Doe realized the banality of human life, and it is this realization that pushed him to do the gruesome murders in order to preach and he was very creative in doing so, even causing the downfall of Mills, an agent of the state who is supposed to uphold the rule of law but who succumbed to his passions that he breached the very thing he works hard for. However, I believe that a truly enlightened man will yes, realize the pointlessness of life. This is but the first step. But then he or she will not be so self-righteous as to want blood to flow. Instead, he or she will just continue living in the best possible way he or she can, even though it is difficult and even though life is full of struggles, both externally and internally. He or she will strive to be a better person and not seek to hurt another in any way. In this respect, as an alternative to this film’s story, I would probably add Miguel de Unamuno and Soren Kierkegaard to Doe’s reading list.

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Somerset: "I just don't think I can continue to live in a place that embraces and nurtures apathy as if it was a virtue."

Mills: "You're no different, you're no better.

Somerset: "I didn't say I was different or better. I'm not. Hell, I sympathize. I sympathize completely. Apathy is a solution. I mean, it's easier to lose yourself in drugs than it is to cope with life. It's easier to steal what you want than it is to earn it. It's easier to beat a child than to raise it. Hell, love costs. It takes effort and work."

Mills: "we are talking about people who are mentally ill. We are talking abut people, fucking crazies."

Somerset: "No. We're talking about everyday life here. You can't afford to be this naive.”

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John Doe: It's not something I would expect you to accept. But I did not choose. I was chosen.

Somerset: I don't doubt that you believe that, John. But seems to me that you're overlooking a glaring contradiction. (...) If you were chosen, that is, by a higher power and if your hand was forced, it seems strange to me that you'd get such enjoyment out of it. You enjoyed torturing those people. This doesn't seem in keeping with martyrdom, does it?

(...)

John Doe: And that's the point. We see a deadly sin on every street corner, in every home, and we tolerate it. We tolerate it because it's common, it's trivial.