compassion vs. public safety theme

Someone must chose between risking danger to many other on one hand, or helping someone in need on the other.

Examples

In the movie "Alien (1979)", Ripley tries to follow standard quarantine procedures and denies the distressed landing party access to the ship after Kane has come in contact with alien life.

3 total · 3 minor

StoryLevelMotivation
movie: Alien (1979) minor Should Ripley open the hatch to let a parasitized crewman back in the ship when doing so might endanger the lives of the rest of the crew?
movie: Alien 3 (1992) minor Ripley thought it was too dangerous to let the rescue team land on the penal colony, but Clements wanted to let them come so that he could escape.
movie: Prometheus (2012) minor Vickers was prepared to use her flame thrower rather than let the Alien infected crew members board the ship.