History Film / Circle

* ArmiesAreEvil: Subverted. Some of the people in the room suspect that the lone Soldier in their midst might have something to do with their kidnapping or the alien invasion, but he furiously rebukes them, pointing out that he's been risking his neck for years and that he just returned from deployment to see his wife and newborn. He proves himself to be one of the most moral people there in his effort to protect the Young Girl and Pregnant Lady.

** The Lesbian and the Pretty Girl end up in a tie with the Soldier and Cancer Survivor Lady. Rather than try to save one of them and risk the survival of either Soldier and Cancer Survivor Lady, the Wife and Bearded Guy let them die to cull the number of both groups, thinking it will turn the tide to their advantage.

** [[spoiler: When there are only 11 survivors left, the next vote results in a colossal 4-way tie between Soldier, Cancer Survivor Lady, Lesbian, and Pretty Girl, that takes out all of them.]]

* NiceGuy: Soldier, Cancer Survivor Lady, One-Armed Man, and Spanish Translator. [[spoiler: These four take a strong stance against killing the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman and never waver.]] The Minister is also a pleasant man who tries to offer kindness to people, including to a grieving mother whose son died prior to the events of the movie. [[spoiler:He opts to step off the circle rather than be involved in getting the Pregnant Woman and Little Girl killed.]]

** Soldier is shocked when he thinks he's firmly beaten the Bearded Man, only for the majority to switch to the pragmatists again.

* VillainsBlendInBetter: [[spoiler: Eric avoids antagonizing people or calling attention to himself by not making sarcastic comments, rants or arguments about morals. He sometimes intervenes by steering people into targeting others but otherwise doesn't stand out. His soft voice, shirt that blends into the background, generally polite mannerisms and his position in the back row also help with this. Tellingly, the Black Man refers to the Soldier as the leader of the protector camp when it was Eric who organized the faction in the first place before fading back into the background.]]

** The Silent Man, who might be invoking this as a strategy; he never votes or says a word, and as such no one takes much notice of him. [[spoiler: He makes it all the way to the final six before anyone even acknowledges that he's there, and Eric is seemingly the only one to take note of him beforehand.]]

** Regardless of all the other crimes or sins they previously used as excuses to vote for someone, almost nobody thought illegal immigration and homosexuality should be among them.

** On a similar not, the Black Man might be rude about it, but several of the characters there express racists or general bigoted reasoning to deem people "unworthy", so he had a reason to look out for it.

* BrokenAesop: The moral about humanity turning on itself is compromised by the fact that the situation is rigged in the first. Starting from how the people aren't even aware of the rules and of what's going on (several characters are killed at the very beginning completely by chance). The group actually tries several ways to ensure the survival of everyone, or not to kill people, but all methods actually get shut down. When an all-powerful force kills people one by one no matter what, the greatest threat is said all-powerful force, not the nature of humanity.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: [[spoiler: The Fake Husband and the Fake Wife are manipulated and blackmailed by both the protectors and the pragmatists to vote off certain members. When both groups realize they are lying about being married, they become targets instead of swing voters.]]

* VillainsBlendInBetter: [[spoiler: Eric avoids antagonizing people or calling attention to himself by not making sarcastic comments, rants or arguments about morals. He sometimes intervenes by steering people into targeting others but otherwise doesn't stand out. His soft voice, shirt that blends into the background, generally polite mannerisms and his position in the back row also help with this. Tellingly, Black refers to the Soldier as the leader of the protector camp when it was Eric who organized the faction in the first place before fading back into the background.]]

* VillainsBlendInBetter: [[spoiler: Eric avoids antagonizing people or calling attention to himself by not making sarcastic comments, rants or arguments about morals. He sometimes intervenes by steering people into targeting others but otherwise doesn't stand out. His soft voice, shirt that blends into the background, generally polite mannerisms and his position in the back row also help with this. ]]

* HeroicSuicide: A few characters volunteer to be killed to buy the others more time.

** The black guy in the grey suit sacrifices himself so Shaun doesn't have to, and Shaun himself does the same so he won't have to vote anymore.

** When the Black Man angrily claims the process of elimination has gotten racist, multiple people including a few other black characters say he's being overdramatic. Then the Racist Cop goes on a completely unprompted rant at him making several racist comments. [[spoilersHe's eliminated moments later.]]

* NiceGuy: Soldier, Cancer Survivor Lady, One-Armed Man, and Spanish Translator. [[spoiler: These four take a strong stance against killing the Little Girl and the Young Pregnant Woman and never waver.]]

** When the Black Man angrily claims the process of elimination has gotten racist, multiple people including a few other black characters say he's being overdramatic. Then the Racist Cop goes on a completely unprompted rant at him making several racist comments. [[spoilers:He's eliminated moments later.]]