Sacrifice

This is the movie The Guardian, a fantastic film about  the coast guards, but more importantly about life and death, not giving up, and the past that haunts us. The movie as a whole is really good, but this last scene I found so impacting. I don't think that there is any background needed, but I'll just give a short synopsis: they are both United States Coast Guards, the older one taught the other in training, they originally disliked each other very much, but grew to become close friends. After rescuing stranded sailors on a ship they are about to leave. In this situation I would consider the older man, Kevin Costner, a Christ figure. Simply put; a Christ figure is a person or character who parallels Jesus Christ. In this instance he is a Christ figure because he is sacrificing himself so that someone else may live, as Jesus Christ did. Other movies that show this are; Gran Torino, Matrix Trilogy, and The Lion King. I find any movie where someone sacrifices their life so impacting, especially when it's a good movie to begin with like this one. It's an odd thing to think about, sacrificing yourself so that someone else may live, to wonder if you could actually have the will to do something like that. It's very possible to think you could do that for someone you love, but what about someone you don't even know? Now that's a scary thought. I personally want to think that if the situation called for it, that I could do such a heroic/Christ-like thing and sacrifice myself so someone else may have the chance to live, whether I loved them, knew them, or never even met them.