The United States of Leland :: essays research papers

     In the movie, The unify States of Leland, Leland Fitzgerald commits a murder and becomes the center of attention as people fork over to understand why he did it. The only individual Leland trusts is astragal, the juvenile sign of the zodiac teacher and aspiring writer who assists Leland to examine the truth of his crime. Unkn aver to Leland, Pearl had his own agenda, and uses Leland to obtain material for a book. Pearl does this until he begins to condition that Leland is giving him something he never expected. Leland is not given the concrete resultant role Pearl figureks, but the realization that now is the time to change his own life for the better.      Leland is a soft spoke fifteen-year-old boy that appeared to be headed in the right direction despite his un commonplace background and past life. He moved around from place to place, with no foundation or person to attach himself to. His background and past actions, being as they were, did not commemorate signs that would prove him a criminal.     The movies organization was very misidentify and messy towards the beginning, but was done on purpose. This disorganization parallels the disorganization of Lelands thinking and feelings. He began talking with Pearl. The relationship seemed to be one that was to help Leland figure out his reason of committing murder, but in actuality the words and reasoning of life Leland gave allowed us to relate our mistakes with his. As various people castigate to deal with Lelands murder they all expose their own mistakes and we get to see how different people deal with them. The most telling message comes from the conversations between Leland and Pearl. Pearl is not a great guy himself - hes a liar, drinks also much, cheats on his girlfriend, and uses others for his own benefit. He is called on a lot of this and responds with the usual "Im only human" lines until Leland calls even those in to question. Leland asks, "How come people only regularize that when theyve done something bad - never when they save a baby from a burning building?" He gets Pearl to admit that he valued to do those wrong things and that is why he did it. Pearl realizes that he had no excuse for what he did and needs to deal with it. It is scenes like these that pull us away from contemplating Lelands crime and forces us to deal with our own motives.