Man Withount a Face

Kiaya Nickens

Mr. Sanchez

Christian in the World p.8

October 18, 2012

The Man without a Face Reflection Essay:

In the movie The Man Without a face there are two main characters those being Norstadt and  McLeod. Norstadt is a young boy that is in need of a tutor in order to pass his military entrance exam. Norstadt is intrigued with McLeod but at the same he is afraid of him. Norstadt lives his life in solitude and usually keeps away from others around him, therefore McLeod is reluctant in helping Norstadt with his exam. After a few visits with McLeod; Norstadt finally convinces McLeod into becoming his  teacher. After continuous visits of tutoring the relationship between  the two evolve into a friendship. Everything goes great until Norstadt’s mother becomes aware that her son has been visiting this man. His mother as well as the entire city become skeptical to what McLeod’s intentions with Norstadt are. They all become convinced that McLeod is trying to molest Norstadt. At the end of the movie, there is a dramatic scene where Norstadt questions the entire relationship they have experienced thus far. Questions run through his mind of whether or not their entire relationship was a lie or if McLeod was genuine in his attempts to help Norstadt. McLeod is persistent in Norstadt giving him an answer immediately. The question we were trying to answer in class was why was McLeod so persistent in finding his answer, or in other words "How does Norstadt arrive at the moral certainty that he can trust McLeod despite the fear and doubt that is raised in him by the rumors? We came up with three logical responses, those being the following: risking all of the possible consequences, the sharing of personal life, and the fact that McLeod as an educator challenges Norstadt.

At the end of the movie the audience learns that McLeod was previously charged with child molestation. The fact that McLeod would even risk being charged again with another account of child molestation proves how much he cares about Norstadt. He cares so much about this young boy, he cares to educate him, and for him to ultimately succeed in his attempt to pass his military entry exam. And that point in itself, is one reason why McLeod possibly could have been so persistent in receiving the answer from Norstadt at that very moment. McLeod realizes how much of a risk he has taken all for the love of one young boy. And the fact that Norstadt can’t realize this fact, tears him up inside and makes him feel like their entire relationship was pointless. And on top of Norstadt not realizing the risk, Norstadt’s mother or any of the citizens in the town didn’t realize it either. It never crossed anyone’s mind that McLeod knew how much of a risk he was running, but helped Norstadt anyway because he cared about him so much. Norstadt should have answered the question regarding their relationship based on the experiences the two had and not of rumors that have formed others around him.

Along with McLeod risking going to jail a second time, McLeod also shares his entire life with Norstadt. McLeod from the beginning of the movie is characterized into being a person who is extremely secretive of his life and lives a life of seclusion. The fact that McLeod shares his personal life with Norstadt shows how much he genuinely cares about him. McLeod lets Norstadt in his home to see every aspect of his life. McLeod by simply letting someone in his personal life, is stepping out of his comfort zone. A real friendship is taking risks and making sacrifices for the people you care about. The fact that McLeod makes a sacrifice by stepping out of his comfort zone by letting someone enter his personal life, illustrates that he has a genuine sense of care toward Norstadt.

The final explanation that shows how McLeod cares about Norstadt is that McLeod takes the role as an educator, and when an educator truly cares about their students they challenge them. The educator challenges the students to work as hard as they can and to achieve everything they possibly can. Norstadt comes to McLeod with the desire to pass an entry exam, but McLeod takes what he desired and expands his mind so that he can accomplish much more than a simple entry exam. The fact that McLeod cared enough about Norstadt to teach him above and beyond shows how much he genuinely cared.

Along with establishing the fact that McLeod genuinely cared about Norstadt, the question of why it was so important for Norstadt  not "cheat" on the problem of using his freedom to decide on his own whether the rumors are true. It is so important that he does not cheat is because he should configure this answer based on the experiences the two have shared with each other and make a plausible explanation. And not “cheat” and use others opinions.Through their all of McLeod’s and Norstadt’s experiences, McLeod clearly demonstrates how much he truly cares, and that in fact is why he was so persistent for Norstadt to give him an answer at that very moment.