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I disagree with almost everything I have read on this forum. I think the movie artistry was great. I thought the music was great. I think he wasn't self centered at all, infact many of his actions and motives were the direct intended opposite of it. I don't think he was running away from his problems as much as he was running to possible solutions. And I don't think his death being avoidable really took away from his efforts and ideals. I still have my issues with the ending, but I certainly don't think the rest of the movie supports him having false virtues.

Here is my personal philosophcial view of the movie:

I see things deontologically, not consequentially(particually on such an existential level as this)and I happen to agree with his thinking. The movie as well, I think depicts his thinking in a rather positive light, until the end, which is unavoidable with the narrative.

As I see it, it was a shame he passed away, but the virtue of what he was attempting is not diminished. He actively looked for the virtuous and placed such high regard on it, that it seemed he'd be willing to die for it, even if he had not wholly contemplated that consequence occuring at that moment. That is what I appreciate. We will all fail, and often when it is easily avoidable. It is not something to aspire to, but in itself does not take away from the efforts of greatness, which do not neseccarily hold simply from winning or surviving.

If it was hubris, in wanting to think greater of oneself for the ego, I would agree it detracts, but if it was simply from the urge to adventure and experience as I believe it was, it's worth remains for me anyway.

Personally, what detracts from the moral I was attempting to take from the movie, is not his death, but his turn in thought, depending on how one interprets it. He seemed to change philosophy in has last moments, with plenty of impetus from emotion and self preservation, and not from the knowledge he had previously placed in such high regard. If you believe he died in sound mind, and was not speaking simply for the benefit of family and friends, then his beliefs changed abruptly and possibly unreasonably(though quite understandably).

He did not have an experience that introduced him to the greatness of human companionship immediately before his death and so when such words came out of his mouth, if not through deep honest introspection(which was constantly going on anyway), then it came about through an emotional response to the threat of death.

So although the ending took away from the lesson I was attempting to derive, the ending still ellicits emotion and introspection, and displays how people may often act in such situations. So the ending makes for an even better ending than the one I would have hoped for.

Consider how your views of the movies point would change if he had survived and the movie ended with him prepairing for another adventure. How would the rest of the movie line up with your reasoning?