Everything I've read seems to suggest that the aborigine boy hanged himself and died. He clearly didn't hang himself- he is hanging by his arms, which are on the branches of the tree, not by a rope around his neck. Also, as the camera is on his face, just before the next scene, his mouth seems to twitch. So is he really dead?
The impression I got is that he was dead, but I suppose it's possible that he was alive. I didn't see him breathing.
shareMany of the tribes of Central Australia have a tradition of self-imposed death by unexplained means, probably something like fear- or depression-induced shock. They can "see death" in the eyes of someone who dislikes or rejects them. They die rather suddenly when they are "boned" by a sorcerer. It doesn't seem to be a myth. It's been attested to by Western doctors who have been unable to find a medical cause. I included some quotes from eye witnesses in an article called "Doomed Status" in the journal Psychiatric Quarterly from, I think, 1979, if you want to bother finding out more about it.
shareThe act of as you called it boning is really called pointing the bone.
a leg bone of a emu or so I have been told is sharpen to a point at one end and certain herbs are placed in the hollow central channel.
This can be pointed directly at the subject or can also be pointed at quite a distance in a few cases many many miles.
So long as the tribal medicine man or witch doctor or sorcerer chants the name of the subject as it is being carried out.
The subject does not need to hold any believe in the ceremony at all for this to work.
Many white settlers who have had major falling out with local native Australian tribes have died soon after the bone pointing has been carried out.
When in a couple of cases the post mortems were carried out nothing to explain the deaths that took place and the tribes claimed responsibility.
He was definitely still alive when they last showed him.
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I think he was meant to be dead. The blow flies hanging around is a good indication of that. However if he was hanging by the arms, and twitched, that is just because they didn't want to actually kill the actor!
shareHe had flies on him throughout the movie. But based on the commentary track, I think it may be right that they intended for him to be dead. If so, they really screwed up and should have done another take or edited it better. The camera zooms in close to his face, he appears still and lifeless, but then at the end of the shot his eye very clearly moves, and not just slightly either. The effect it creates in film language is something we have all seen many times before: "Ha, you thought he was dead, but nope--we tricked you!"
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See a list of my favourite films here: http://www.flickchart.com/slackerinc
Yes. In the film he died because she rejected him. In the book he died because he saw his death in her expression of disgust when she rejected him. He simply spread himself on a tree, as in the earlier scene when the aborigines placed the father in a tree, and willed himself to die. I've read examples of this in some societies though I don't think it's usually achieved that quickly.
shareYes. In the film he died because she rejected him.
Based on the position of his neck (I backed up dvd and slowed it down to look closely) it sure looked like he'd asphyxiated himself. He neck was in an odd position and the rest of him was lifeless.
I liked how someone else pointed out the suicides at each end of film bookends the movie.
Man's despair
(FILM)
The Black kid didnt die you can check it again he's still breathing or its acting flaws. someone said there were flies on the body but theyre ants from the mango tree. from what i see the aborigine didnt die but let himself suffer like the modern emos today.
Les Noir
He is 100% meant to be dead. If you think otherwise, you are wrong. If it in any way appears that he isn't dead it is because of an acting flub. The books discusses his reason for dying at length and is very fascinating. I recommend checking it out. It's a very short book, I once finished it in one sitting while waiting in an airport. Granted the film is "loosely" based on the book (in the book there is no father-suicide aspect and the kids are stranded by a plane-crash), however in the book the girl expresses fright over what she thinks are sexual advances from the boy. The only explanation the boy can come up with for why she would look at him with fear is that he has developed some sort of death-curse. In his culture, if the shaman told someone they were going to die then it would be willed into reality by the subject despite them having perfect health. There is also the less-interesting but more grounded theory that the boy had never had any contact with the germs of civilization and dies from catching an influenza or a cold from the others.
shareHe is 100% meant to be dead. If you think otherwise, you are wrong.
He's also in a Christ/crucifix pose, echoing your man's despair/sacrifice theme. Probably much like the fathers life of working hard to attract a woman, buy a nice home, have children and woo his wife. He sacrifices himself so that they may live and reproduce. The Aboriginal boy did all the hunting and care for the girl/boy, only to lead them to a highway back to home where his (self-felt) purpose ended. He was no longer needed.
I also see Adam/Eve symbolism when they first find the tree/oasis and eat the cherries.
There's almost a sense that anything beyond primal urges is empty or meaningless....at a minimum the movie does strip down life to the primal needs/urges and how every action is ultimately about surviving to procreate, which I believe is ultimately true no matter how we might try to convince ourselves otherwise.
We see peacocking images of reptiles, animals and even the scientists in the desert all vying for the woman's attention (she knowingly or not) uses her sex appeal to get what she needs and is well taken care of by all the men who are aching for her attention. Likewise, we see the strange mating dance, which seemed more like warding off evil spirts or some kind of death dance to someone from the outside world.
I still find flaws with the movie (the whole father thing and why he tries to kill the kids, which I realize is also not in the novel), but overall it's pretty good and works.
[deleted]
He's dead. At the beginning of the movie you see an Aboriginal band hang the body of the kids' dad up in a tree, under the arms, just like the boy does to himself in the end. That's how they bury the dead.
shareI had no idea he was meant to be dead, I thought he was merely torturing himself for failing to "seal the deal" with the girl. I admit I was a little distracted towards the end. Oh well, now I have an excuse to watch it again.
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