Let's Give Our Sociopath a Hug Film

(lifted, verbatim, from Cowboys & Aliens, but still concise)

You may not be familiar with this kind of film because I made it up, but they are typically biographies of figures that commit mass murder, like Hitler, Stalin, and Ché (and apologies, of course, if this last historical reality spoils your T-shirt), and how they have issues, because their puppy died. The fact that they killed their puppy should in no way diminish our sympathy, or increase our confusion why we’re spending time with someone both repellent and banal.

Of course gangster films (excepting Gomorra) fall into this category (poor Tony Soprano. He’s so complex!) But it can also include, and explain, the boring Episodes 1-3, which are about, from a story point of view, why Darth Vader is sad (Poor Darth Vader. He’s so, well, not complex.

He’s so simple!).

Perhaps this is personal taste, but finding out that someone horrible has his (sic…kinda) various reasons is infinitely less interesting than finding out why we would be so interested in his reasons in the first place, or, for that matter, why we always seem to be doing what tyrants, petty and otherwise, ask us to do. Like see their movies, for example.