"You see, dear brother? You and I are BOUND together!"
The Work[]
Strings is a 2004 Danish film about marionette puppets. No really, puppets. Unlike something like Team America World Police where puppets are used as a form of comedy, this is a fantasy drama taken seriously with minimal humor.
This is a world where everyone is connected to strings from the sky above (who or possibly what is manipulating them is never given). The strings play a part in controlling not just the puppets, but their life force. Have one of your strings cut and that body part is lost forever. If your head string is cut, game over.
We follow the story of Hal Tara, son of the Kharo of Hebalon, a city-state at war with nomads called the Zeriths. After his father's death, he goes on a vengeful hunt for the leader of the Zeriths, Sahro. However, we learn that the Zeriths are completely innocent and the Hebalonians were the villains all along, with his own uncle being the one pulling the strings. Get it? Since they're puppets?
Who is Nezo[]
Nezo serves as the royal advisor of the Kharo, and happens to be his brother. Aided by his minion Ghrak, they aided his majesty in plotting a genocide against the Zeriths. Centuries ago, Hebalon was established by stealing their capital city Abagos; the people were massacred and the women were raped. All those who survived were forced to retreat as fugitives, others were captured and made into slaves. Not just for labor, but for spare parts; should a Hebalonian lose say a string for a hand, they can simply remove the limb of a slave and reattach it to themselves.
At the film's opening shot, the Kharo, remorseful for his countless years of war crimes, writes a suicidal note to his son Hal to set things right as the next king before slicing his head string. Nezo and Ghrak, however, discover his body first. Nezo mocks his fallen brother as it will be him who will become the next Kharo, and not his "spoiled, gilded, self-obsessed, arrogant, and childish son." He slices the remaining strings and destroys the note, framing the event as a murder by the Zeriths, specifically their leader Sahro.
Hal is accompanied by General Erito to the Zeriths' land while Nezo is made the Kharo in his stead. He plans for Hal to die during the expedition so he can become the Kharo permanently. While on their journey, Nezo sends Ghrak to deliver a message to Erito: to kill Hal or else they will kill his wife and son. Erito can't bring himself to kill Hal and leaves him.
Meanwhile, Erito's wife Eike discovers paper on the Kharo's podium stained with ink from the previously destroyed note and reveals this to Hal's sister Jhinna. Jhinna attempts to sneak out of Hebalon that night to find Hal, only to be captured by Nezo, as Ghrak had been secretly spying on her. Nezo wants to execute Jhinna for knowing too much, but Ghrak convinces him to toss her in prison instead, as he wants to make her his wife.
Erito returns and tells Nezo that the Zeriths have captured Hal. Nezo remarks that he'll kill both with one stone, via a new and improved Ghrak who he appoints as his new commander-in-chief and has Erito imprisoned. Hal is also discovered alive in the desert, having escaped the Zeriths after failing to kill the Sahro upon realizing their identity to be Zito, his love interest, and he's imprisoned as well.
Now that they know where the Zeriths are located, Nezo sends his soldiers led by Ghrak to wipe them out. But first, Jhinna makes it fully clear that she will never marry Ghrak. As such, the two decide to go ahead with the aforementioned execution. In front of the shocked Hebalonians, Nezo slowly cuts his niece's strings one at a time. Hal manages to escape prison by climbing his own strings and pushes Nezo down before he can cut the last string. Alas, it snaps from pressure and Jhinna dies in his arms.
As Hal is mourning his sister, Nezo sneaks up from behind and prepares to kill him as well, only to be intercepted by Erito. Wounded, Nezo taunts Hal that the soldiers have likely already made it to the Zeriths' village and goads him to give into the bloodline by killing him. Hal remarks that he's nothing like his uncle (Simba is that you?) and instead leaves his head and a hand intact, banishing him from the kingdom to meet his inevitable wretched fate.
Mitigating Factors[]
Zilch. He's your cold tyrant played dead straight who is fully intrigued on causing a genocide and willing to dispose anyone who dares stand in his way, even his own niece and nephew.
He works with Ghrak, but nothing is hinted at any relation between them other than working together and sharing the same goals to wipe out the Zeriths.
Work's Standards[]
Ghrak is also a potential candidate, as he willingly aided Nezo in attempting to wipe out the Zeriths, butchered a slave to steal his body, and wants to make Jhinna his wife despite being decades older than her. However, he has quite a heavy mitigating factor in his backstory where he refused the Kahro's orders to massacre a caravan of women and children. Now, he could possibly negate this with his current intentions to leave no survivors, but if that's strong enough to surpass his past... I'll leave that for another day.
The Kahro is also revealed not to be a good person as he started the entire war in the first place. He kills himself at the beginning out of remorse though.
Verdict[]
Keeper.