The High Table

 

In John Wick: Chapter 2, Gianna D'Antonio (Claudia Gerini), the recently elevated head of the Italian mob who succeeded her deceased father into that seat, is hosting an enormous celebration in Rome.

All manner of potentates are present, even Vatican representatives. At one point, she meets with an African crime leader named Akoni (Chuk Iwuji), who challenges her taking of property that belonged to his people.
D'Antonio sluffs off the man's objection, saying the property was given willingly.
"With a knife at their throats," he says.
She corrects him. The knife was for their children.
"They were only meant to watch."
She icily ends the meeting and invites Akoni to rejoin the party.
A few minutes after this exchange, D'Antonio, who has been marked for execution by her envious brother (Riccardo Scamaracio), ends her life cutting her wrists before John Wick (Keanu Reeves) can put a bullet in her head.
Wick asks her why she was committing suicide, and she said she'd always lived on her own terms and would die on her own terms.

Throughout the five chapters of the Wick series, the taking of life is referred to as part of the business operated by the international criminal cartel called the High Table, which has its own laws and currency. All of those working for the High Table -- who pledge to serve and be of service -- are assets -- at once well-compensated and dispensable.

While it is foolish to search for real-world applications in every movie narrative, it is tough not to see the coldness of this country's present political enterprises through a "Wickian" lens, especially the targeting of the most vulnerable to provoke fear, intimidate, force compliance, silence resistance.

I think those reels of thousands and thousands of air travelers waiting hour after hour to board planes have the effect of intimidating non-travelers -- those of us who might feel powerless to force warring parties to agree.

I think we are simply meant to watch.