Kristen and I went to see the movie Capote tonight. (Yes, it was better than one of our previous date movies… Hotel Rwanda… but barely as romantic.)
To summarize the movie. It’s the true life story of author Truman Capote as he researches and writes a non-fiction novel about a homicide in the plains of Kansas in 1959. The story in itself is interesting enough, but only made better by the immense moral failure that we see exhibited by Capote.
See, in order for Truman to finish his novel, he needs the 2 murderers story to end. So, on the one hand he is busy using one of the murderers for information about the murder by coercing him for information by exchanging Capote’s ability to motivate connected people to hear his appeal to avoid execution. On the other side is Capote needs the two of them to be executed so he can finish the novel and get famously rich.
Notice I said he was narcisistic and not a sociopath. Truman is terribly effected by his moral decisions. At one point he is literally paralyzed with the reality of his decision to stop the appeals so he can get his book in print.
When it is finally over… when his wish [prayer as he calls it] is finally over and the men are executed… he is equally devastated. The reality is that he knows his actions have led to the execution of his friend. While he becomes famous beyond measure… he never recovers.
Here’s a quote that sticks with me… it’s from the credits. Truman wrote this as an epilogue to the last book he never finished.
"More tears are shed for answered prayer than for unanswered ones."
Nice quote and in his story I can see it as true… but I wonder how true it really is.
Leave a Reply