The Man Without A Face

            In the movie, A Man Without A Face, a young boy named Chuck Nordstadt befriends a disfigured man whom the people of the town are not fond of. Rumors spread all over town about Mr. McLeod. People who had never even met the man seemed to have their minds made up about him and who he was as a person. Chuck sees McLeod one day on a ferry and was frightened, but also intrigued by him. One day, Chuck decided to walk to the library to study for his exam to get into boarding school. As he was walking, he decided to go off with some of his friends on a boat and ended up outside of Mr. McLeod’s house. After being scared off by McLeod’s dog, Chuck realizes he had left his books on the rocks outside of the McLeod’s house. Upon his return to McLeod’s house, Chuck encounters the “disfigured man” for the first time. Chuck then discovers that McLeod was a former teacher and seeks for his help to prepare him for his upcoming exam.

            At first, Chuck failed to see past McLeod’s deformed face. During the time McLeod was tutoring him, Chuck could only focus on the missing side of his face. It was obvious that Chuck was frightened by the man’s appearance and had reasonable doubt as to how capable McLeod was at helping him. At times, Chuck would refuse to listen to or obey McLeod’s orders, such as writing an essay or doing homework. By Chuck’s actions, it showed that he was not certain he could trust or even depend on McLeod for help. Chuck also thought that what McLeod was teaching was irrelevant and had nothing to do with the material on his exam. For example, when McLeod would ask Chuck to dig a hole, Chuck thought that it was a waste of time and did not understand the significance of it. Although Chuck didn’t understand why he was digging them, McLeod was actually teaching him geometry through a way other than sitting down and practicing problems for hours. Whenever Chuck refused to do what McLeod asked of him, McLeod would say, “Disca et Disceda,” which meant “learn or leave.” McLeod had seemed to be teaching the boy manners and how to build character in a way to prepare him for his exam. As the movie continues, we see a growth in Chuck and Mr. McLeod’s relationship. Chuck arrives at the moral certainty that he can trust McLeod despite the fear and doubt that were brought about by the rumors. He does this by seeing McLeod as a friend instead of only a teacher. McLeod teaches him about poetry and acts out plays to help Chuck better understand Shakespeare. The material McLeod teaches him intrigues Chuck, which makes him want to keep coming back to learn more. The more the boy meets with McLeod, the closer they become. Chuck also begins to see McLeod not only as a teacher, but also as a friend and father figure. He develops a sense of trust with McLeod after he is told about the car accident that left half of McLeod’s face and body distorted. Even after McLeod explained how he became the way he is, Chuck doesn’t think of him any differently.

            One of the several things McLeod taught Nordstadt was not to “cheat” on the problem of using his freedom to decide whether or not the rumors that were spread were true. Towards the middle of the movie, McLeod tells Chuck, “Start taking responsibility for what you want.” McLeod was trying to teach the boy to voice his own opinion and stick up for what he wants and believes. It was important to McLeod that he did this because this was another lesson he was trying to teach Nordstadt about life. Only Chuck could decide what to believe about McLeod based on what he knew about him. McLeod did not want Chuck to base his beliefs off of what other people thought, but instead on his own beliefs of what he knew to be true.

            Something in particular that I liked about this movie was how it foreshadowed in the beginning what would happen in the end. The movie started with a dream that Chuck had of graduating from boarding school. He was lifted in the air being carried on the shoulders of his fellow classmates and looked into the crowd as if something were missing. He says, “Whatever the dream, there’s always a face that I cannot see, that I keep missing, out there beyond the edge of the crowd.” This dream in the beginning of the movie foreshadows the friendship he makes with McLeod. At the end of the movie, it shows Chuck four years later actually graduating like he dreamed of. He looked out into the crowd with a smile and realized something or someone was missing. As he looked into the distance, Chuck saw McLeod walking off into the distance. To me, this was one of the best parts of the movie and showed how connected they remained to each other after everything that had happened between them.