[the condemned] when genius is not

We watched an allegorical film last night, "The Condemned", in which a charismatic but evil genius manipulates those about him to help satisfy his perversions, in this case, putting some people on an island and watching them rape and murder each other until one is left standing, all lovingly captured for internet streaming.

He's suave and debonair, the so-called genius, with a pleasing exterior which conceals the sick individual beneath and it's enough to satisfy his "friends" and cohorts that he is a man with a mission, a man of ideas and the gift of the gab ... plus he has a lot of money.

However, one by one, those cohorts, starting with his girlfriend [in a manner of speaking] are sickened, not only by his antics but by the relish with which he watches the gore - this relish is what brings him down in the end.

It is a tale of how ordinary people can be hoodwinked and even bribed into assisting evil and that evil comes out in other ways too, for example, the two who get the most brutal treatment are the husband and wife who are first separated and then endure much, not unlike martyrs.

How dare they even think of the power of love at a time like that.

In the end, love does win out when the most flawed fulfils his ambition to get back to his love interest, killing off all the baddies along the way. For me, it pointed out quite starkly that those people considered genius, when they turn to evil, are already on the way out and are no geniuses at all - just clever and well spoken fools.

There is also the question of where they are going to end up, these people. The "hero" himself is so flawed that it is line ball where he'll be but what's fairly certain is the warm welcome the sicko is going to receive in the nether regions when he pops his clogs. He had his chances - he could have stopped the spectacle on a number of occasions but like a true fool, he either didn't or couldn't.

When you mistreat people, it all comes back on you one day.