Depiction of psychological impacts of ww2 in the movie oro, plata, mata

The Second World War has been a timely topic given its relevance to history and its effects to the new world. While the loss of life and reality of injury are dire consequences of war, the psychological damage and loss of oneself are the true tragedies of warfare. There is nothing worse in the world than taking the life of another human being and, in some cases, war may mean taking the lives of not only men but also women and children.

We’re not oblivious of what had happen during the war: the genocide, deception, and all those inhumane acts you could ever imagine however let us shine some light to an issue we don’t often encounter regarding the said war but also plays a crucial part in the lives of our forefathers, not the story from the battlefield, but of those in the periphery strongly affected by the malice of war thus urge the people to turn against one another and condones self defiance for personal advantage The malice of war urges people to turn against one another for personal advantage for its presence degrades us into resorting to our primitive ways just to survive. According to Steve Taylor “ it is natural for us to try to get hold of resources which help us to survive, and to fight over them with other groups.

Other groups potentially endanger our survival, and so we have to compete and fight with them.” (The Psychology of War 2014) also from his book “ Back to Sanity” he mentions that a major motivation in warfare is the desire of human beings to increase their power and wealth through conquering and subjugating other groups. Once the established set of rules disintegrates, revealing chaos, irrational practices and immorality find the strong preying on the weak. From the movie Oro, Plata, Mata the antagonists were not the Japanese but their fellow Filipino who abandoned their morality and principles. Melchor’s character progression revolves around the lower working class being subdued to the higher class in the society, he portrayed how large the gap was between classes yet the war’s manifestation fills in that certain gap which brings forth the opportunity of equality. Everyone is on level ground however Dona Inday’s family and friends want to maintain their hierarchy as being principalia, without worries they laid back, gossiped, and played mahjong, living in a timeline as if no war is taking place, with this image Melchor seized to fight the injustice by using brute force he established what he believed was equally for him. Leading a group of rebels, he kills off the other servants, takes the treasures and food, mistreats the ladies and takes Trining Ojeda with them.

Reflecting to the other film, as soon as the beautiful Malena allegedly loses her husband in war, her protection from male advances by her marital status faded, she becomes fair game. As various men pursue her, their jealous wives begin spreading the word that Malena is a floozy, a rumor that the men are only too eager to believe. Malena’s beauty becomes a curse. After a local lawyer helps her clear her name from a jealous wife’s lawsuit, he demands of her the only payment she can give. Reduced to bartering her favors for food as shortages loom, and given the chance for women to surround and pounce on her, beating and scratching and hurling insults until she is hounded out of town. In this case the people on the upper hand, who savagely lynched Malena, underscores what is largely camouflaged by lewd stares and gossip. The correlation between the films highlights the longing for harmony amongst countrymen in the midst of war, not because it is just but because we see to find our personal endeavors more preferable than everybody else. The malice of war urges people to be self defiant and cope up with the changes during war but not entailing the general call that revolves around telling people that going to war is an act of patriotism but encompasses death, physical injury, psychological damage, and also fighting for the means to survive.

An essay appeared in The New York Times “ Week In Review” says that expressing moral outrage can serve as a form of personal advertisement. People who invest time and effort in condemning those who behave badly are trusted more. That trust then can be exploited for personal gain/advancement — without much care for what it means for others. In the movie Malena the community withdrew morals and human rights and denied Malena respect and justice thus made her condone deviant behavior. Where once she walked gracefully with her head lowered, she pounds the ground with her heels strutting her wasp silhouette and sits provocatively right in the middle of the city square where ironically, the men have been gossiping about her questionable morality for years. Malena sits there among the men that she previously avoided and never frequented. The once shy Malena, in a gesture of worldly sophistication, capitalized the moral exclusion. Malena is virtually forced into prostitution to survive.

With this context Trinidad also displayed the same choice by bargaining her freedom with Melchor’s vison of survival. Both character chose the most favorable option for their lives. This comes to show how the opportunities for the innermost desires of men to unfold from their usual selves conforming under the rules and norms of society. Therefore, war is not a merely a conflict or disagreement of ideals, belief, vision between two prominent figures of power amassing their armies and can be simply branded as the forces of good versus evil but a cataclysmic event that levels the ground through sheer force and brutality a battle royal waging war not just on other but against yourself as a necessity to survive to adapt to delete your former self, your beliefs and morality because of the overwhelming power of the will to live. A war as an opportunity for victors to create their perfect vision of their perspective of a utopia after all the most villainous figures in history often refer to themselves.