Entry 12

The Minister of the Interior from Terrorism and B.B.Q. is fascinating in what he does and does not choose to do. Throughout the film, he is essentially the only person calling for a peaceful resolution of the hostage situation so as to avoid the loss of life. Other government officials continually attempt to railroad the man into decisive offensive action rather than giving the "terrorists" a chance to surrender. In the end, the Minister of the Interior chooses to allow the so-called terrorists to leave. When it became apparent that the "terrorists" were gone from the building, he seems to be the only one to realize that they were likely among the hostages which had just been released. Rather than stop the former hostages, he watches them walk away. it would have been quite easy for him to send soldiers after the hostages to catch them before they were too far away, yet he did not. It was postulated that this was because he did not want to loose face, however my belief is that he chose to allow them to leave because of personal reasons. Whether it was as a subtle form of revenge against his colleagues or perhaps because of sympathy, these reasons are unclear.