The Morality of a Nihilist: Collateral


Throughout the movie Collateral, a calm cab driver Max must follow the instructions of a cold-hearted hitman, Vincent. Max is thrown into this situation and has to decide whether he should ferry Vincent around as he kills his victims or stand up to him and risk his own life. Of course, Vincent tries to explain why Max should continue driving him: the deaths of the victims should not matter to Max because he doesn’t know them. Vincent is a sociopath who shows no emotion besides anger, which then prevents him from understanding Max’s dilemma. Max knows that if he keeps driving Vincent, innocent people will be murdered; he will have directly and knowingly assisted in their murders. He must choose between his own life and the lives of complete strangers.

When I first saw Collateral two years ago, I was stunned by the morality of Vincent and that someone could act in such a detached manner. He repeatedly speaks about how our lives do not matter and that no one notices when we die. After seeing this movie several times, I have decided that such a morality and value system cannot last because they provide neither comfort nor good for people. To think that my life is inconsequential inspires fear in my heart. It requires a strong attitude of self-preservation that will not survive due to the ineptitude of providing any benefit to people as a whole. This film clearly demonstrates how adopting such attitude of nihilism will bring downfall upon the adopter. It allows for little cooperation among people and proves to be a detriment to progress as everyone tries to serve his/her own interests. Although Collateral doesn’t tell which value system is best, it eliminates that of Vincent for me and provokes the idea that putting others before myself would, in fact, be better for everyone, including myself in the long run.

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