The Last Castle Essay Example

warden’s office. Colonel Winter describes how things run, explains the rules of no saluting, and asks Irwin what he hopes to gain while imprisoned. Before Irwin leaves, the warden asks him to sign his copy of the book the General wrote.

He leaves the room to get the book and his assistant shows Irwin the warden’s collection of wartime artifacts. As the warden is entering the room, Irwin points out that this is a collection of a man who has never step foot on the battlefield. Colonel Winter hears this and throws the book on a shelf. From that point on, the warden has a grudge against Irwin. Some of the men decide to approach Irwin in the chow hall to convince him to use his military status and connections at the Pentagon to get the warden fired. They tell him of the harsh treatment and the “accidents” that have occurred which resulted in lost lives of fellow inmates.

Irwin shuts them down and tells them that he is here to serve his time and get out so he can spend time with his daughter and grandchild whom he has never met. While sitting in the yard, a fellow inmate by the name of Aguilar approaches him and salutes him. Irwin shuts him down and tells him not to salute, but Aguilar doesn’t put his hand down until Irwin salutes him back. As Irwin tells Aguilar the history and meaning behind the salute, Colonel Winter watches from his office and tells his assistant to punish Aguilar for not following the rules of no saluting fellow inmates. Aguilar is sentenced to a punishment of

saluting in the rain.

When the day’s final horn sounds, Aguilar goes to leave and is stopped by the assistant. Irwin steps in and stops the guard from hitting Aguilar. He is beaten for touching a guard and later placed in the hole, which is a dark cell in the yard. Once he gets out of the hole, he is told to move the heavy stones in the yard from one side to the other. Even though he has inmates yelling for him to quit he continues on moving stones. After he has moved all the stones, he is told by the assistant to keep moving stones until the chow hall horn blows. By the time his punishment is over, he has most of the inmates cheering along as encouragement.

The next day in the yard, Irwin talks with a fellow inmate and explains to him that the wall of stones he is building is not for the warden, but for all of the inmates in the prison. He tells him the three important things to a castle and how he is a part of that castle. Irwin points out that Aguilar’s father knows about masonry and that together the inmates have the tools to knock down and rebuild the wall properly. Over time, more men become involved and build the wall together the right way. The warden sees the camaraderie and orders that the wall be broken down.

As the bulldozer is about to knock it over, Aguilar steps in front and doesn’t moved until the warden orders him to be shot in the head with a rubber bullet, killing him.

The warden and Irwin later have a meeting in Irwin’s cell to talk about how the men want a resignation from the warden. Colonel Winter doesn’t budge, but later has a meeting with General Wheeler to discuss getting Irwin to a mental facility. Wheeler blows off the idea and asks to meet with Irwin. While in the meeting, a hand written letter is sent to the warden threatening to hold General Wheeler hostage.

Colonel Winter orders a lockdown of the prison and Irwin notes their techniques. The next time the men are at the chow hall, a staged fight breaks out, allowing Irwin to be alone with the men. He speaks words of encouragement and reads from the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) on what grounds a commander can be removed from their position. He then proposes that they seize control of the facility. Irwin sells the men on the plan and everyone is ready to see it play out. Colonel Winter decides to bring in Yates to try to work a deal with him to get out of prison early if he becomes a snitch.

Yates begins to hang around and find out more information. He uses his unique position to gain the trust of Irwin and the warden. In a turn of events, Yates steals the flag from Winter’s office and hides it in the stonewall the men had constructed earlier. The warden orders a shake down and sends all the men to the yard and Yates to the hole. Once the men are in the yard, their plan of attack begins. The warden realizes too late that this was

all a set up to isolate the guards in the buildings. The inmates chain off the doors, take control of the water tank, run off the guards, and blow up the towers.

The warden orders the helicopter in, but Irwin is one step ahead and orders Yates to take down the helicopter. Once all the weapons have been ceased, the men retrieve the flag from the stonewall. They all line up in military style at they prepare to raise the flag upside down, the last stage of the plan. Before they can raise the flag, the warden and all the guards meet them in the yard. He has guards line up on the top of the prison wall with their guns drawn on the inmates. He tells the men to drop to the floor or they will be shot dead. They hesitate until Irwin orders them to drop.

Once they are on the ground, Irwin begins to take the flag to the pole. He is yelled at by Colonel Winter to stop and not raise the flag because Yates told him earlier it was going to be raised upside down as a sign of distress. Colonel Winter orders the guards to shoot him down. The guards disobey the warden and Irwin makes it to the flagpole and begins to raise the flag. Colonel Winter takes it upon himself to stop Irwin by shooting him several times in the back. Winter is then disarmed and handcuffed by his assistant and Irwin raises the flag until he dies at the base of the flagpole.

The movie ends by showing the flag raised high with

General Wheeler and his troops arriving to provide aid. Yates narrates what General Irwin described at the three important rules to a castle. It closes by showing the constructed stonewall with Corporal Aguilar and General Irwin’s signatures on two of the stones. Traits Associated with Leadership In the movie The Last Castle, General Irwin displays seven different traits of being a leader. The seven traits and examples of each one are as follows: Drive- An example of drive in this movie would be how General Irwin handles his punishment for touching an officer.

When he is tasked with moving the pile of stones from one area in the yard to the other, he doesn’t fright or argue, he just accepts it. While he is moving one stone at a time, he is being ridiculed and cheered for by the other inmates. Some of them want him to succeed while others want him to fail. Once he has completed the task, a guard tells him that he must continue to move stones until the horn blows, even if that means moving the new pile back where it was originally. Even though he is tired and struggling, he continues on and completes the task, showing everyone there he is not giving up.

Desire to Lead- General Irwin is a good example someone who desires to lead. He used his knowledge and social skills to approach the men to give advice or encouragement. One example is when he spoke with Aguilar about the saluting and where it came from and what it means. Another example is when he had two of the inmates start a fight

so the rest of the men could be left in the chow hall. Once the altercation was taken outside, General Irwin talks with the inmates and reads them the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) aloud so they know if writing how a commander loses his position.

He proposes they cease control of the facility. Honesty & Integrity- A great example of honesty and integrity would be when General Irwin owns up to his mistakes. He comes out and takes responsibility for the men that he lead and got executed because of his decisions. He doesn’t try to make excuses or shift the blame to anyone else. He owns up to it and moves forward accepting the consequences. Self-Confidence- An example of self-confidence would be when General Irwin went up to an inmate and told him that it’s not the Colonel’s wall, but the inmates.

Later on the same inmate asks General Irwin what he meant by “It’s our wall? ” Irwin goes onto explain the idea of a castle, how important the structure is, and that this wall is just as important. Irwin puts the idea out there about rebuilding the wall and points out that Aguilar knows about masonry because of his father. He inspires the men to figure out how to knock it down and work together to rebuild it. General Irwin is there the whole time providing encouragement and advice to keep the men motivated. Other men that weren’t originally involved with building the wall come over to join in order to be apart of the process.

Once the wall is done, Aguilar signs it and they all

marvel at how beautiful it is. Intelligence- An example of intelligence would be how General Irwin used the information from the fake setup to hold General Wheeler hostage. He had the letter planted to see the prisons protocol for high stress situations. Once he knew their procedures, he got the men together in his cell and he explained his plan to them. He had the plan from start to finish with solutions to each obstacle planned out, but he sold it to the men and had all on board to see that it played out.

The men later executed that plan perfectly as if they had rehearsed it a million times before. Along the way General Irwin was able to place men on the fly to handle the next plan of attack. Job-Relevant Knowledge- When General Irwin found out the details to get Colonel Winter removed from his position in the Uniformed Code of Military Justice (UCMJ); he knew that he could devise a plan to see how Colonel Winter operated. From his time in the military, he knew that standards were set in place to handle a hostile situation no matter the circumstances.

He had a letter written and addressed to Colonel Winter that was to be read while General Irwin met with General Wheeler. He knew that whatever they did to handle the possible hostage situation, it would be the same protocol if he and the men were to cease control of the facility. If he did not have this knowledge he wouldn’t have known exactly what to do in order to find out common procedures of the prison. Extraversion- In

this movie, General Irwin displays traits of extraversion, but in a more subtle way. He is energetic and lively, but in a more humbled manor.

He doesn’t walk around trying to gain the attention of the room by being loud and obnoxious, he gets the men’s attention by how he carries himself and his drive. General Irwin is sociable, but doesn’t go looking for conversation. He talks to the men when approached and provides wisdom where he sees fit. Even though he doesn’t go around talking all the time, he makes sure to speak up when needed. When the Colonel tells Aguilar to stay outside and salute, Irwin speaks up and rambles off the rulebook. When he chooses to speak, it is straight to the point and of value. He doesn’t speak to hear his own voice.