River scene.
I can’t really talk about this without talking about the scene with the dead boy as both happen in the same timeframe. Boy first then river. That scene, I feel, is a somber sort of…. admission on his part? He’s admitting that people have their own dreams and that by fighting for HIS dreams they are willingly sacrificing not only their aspirations but their lives for him. It’s him acknowledging that people are going to die for him and HE’S going to have to be the one to form their bodies onto the staircase.
“ I feel no responsibility for comrades who’ve lost their lives to my command. They choose to fight and die just as I choose this” He says as he digs his fingers into his arms– while, of course, saying that all he can do for the dead is to honor them by achieving his dream. He digs into himself NOT out of guilt for the boy’s death or disgust at what he’s done, but out of conviction to believe what he is saying. He’s more or less beating it in to himself. Their death is not to be weighed on him if HE is to achieve what he wants. They knew what they were signing up for. This is what he’s attempting to convince himself as he digs into his arms.
It’s very much an intense denial of accountability.
