Rex chose most stupid way

SPOILER WARING...pretty much everything below this line...

Ok, yeah, again, I'm not really arguing that he was overcome by his obsession. Clearly that was what drove him. But that doesn't mean he didn't have other options, which I think was Javad-tk's point in the OP, and which I happened to agree with. The idea that the "better options" were long gone just doesn't make sense to me. They were there. The film made a special point to show us they were there, and that Rex was very much aware of them. This is why he threw the first cup of poison in Ray's face and walked away. He had decided to go with a different, better option, at least on the surface. His obsession brought him back, of course, but that doesn't negate the fact that he was aware of other options, and that drinking the poison was certainly a bad idea.

But even that doesn't get to the real underlying problem that I (and think the OP) was driving at.

Let me put it this way: If Rex chooses to go with Ray, he is not guaranteed to find out what happened to Saskia. He is taking a leap of faith that Ray will tell/show him the truth. Ray, remember, is a kidnapper, probably worse, and he's been messing with Rex for 8 years or whatever it's been. Rex knows this.

We know, as the audience seeing both sides, that Ray will probably show Rex what he really did (although there is some debate about that even on these message boards...we can assume Ray kept that promise but there is a possibility he did not). But all Rex knows is that Ray is a kidnapper, likely a murderer, and he's been screwing with him for years. And now he's taking a leap of faith to trust that he's being straight with him??

On the other hand...

If Rex chooses to go to the police, he is also taking a leap of faith: that they can help put Ray away and get him to confess what he did to Saskia.

Either way, Rex must a leap of faith: either with the cops who will probably initially doubt him and might find nothing, or with the killer who has a history of screwing with Rex's emotions and mind.

The critical difference is, if he's wrong about Ray telling the truth, then he doesn't find out his answer, plus he's dead. He NEVER finds out. But if he goes to the police, even if they can't find the truth or arrest Ray, Rex is STILL ALIVE to investigate on his own, much more focused search for the Answer. Rex's obsession, focused onto one man, has a pretty decent chance of turning up something. It wouldn't be too hard to find out about the 2nd house, nor would it be tough to suspect Saskia might be buried there. You know Rex would start digging, and he'd probably have ample opportunity even if Ray got a restraining order against him (it's a secluded, second home often left unattended).

So again, who to trust? What to do? Trust a killer and die? Or trust the police and have your personal mission focus onto one guy in the event that they fail?

If it's about obsession, Rex still has to consider these options for the sake of logic in terms of which option will BEST FEED that obsession. And to me, logic dictates that he has more opportunity to find out what happened to Saskia if he goes to the police and lives, than if he puts his whole world in Ray's hands and dies. Even if he has no confidence in the police, he still has himself should they fail.

One might say his obsession clouded this logic, which could be true but is a whole other issue. Certainly Rex knew he was dead when he chose to go with Ray. He was okay with that because he thought he would get his answer.

But I would argue that doesn't mean that was WHY he ultimately made that choice, for the reasons outlined above: logically, he'd have a better/safer chance of finding the answer (eventually) by going to the police and living than by trusting a madman and dying.

I think he chose to go with Ray because the Answer wasn't the only thing weighing on him. Here are a couple thoughts: He was tired/mentally exhausted and just wanted this obsession to be over. Ray provided him with the possibility to end it right there, and even if Ray was lying, Rex would never know anyway, so it was good enough. OR... He was maybe suicidal on a subconscious level, but couldn't bring himself to do anything about that until he got an answer. In this case, Ray provided the answer (maybe) and the "suicide" by murder. OR... Maybe he felt guilty enough for Saskia's death that dying by Ray's hand provided the only fitting punishment. The list of possibilities goes on and on...

But none of this takes away the fact that Rex DID have other, better choices, he WAS aware of other choices, and he still chose to doom himself. And ultimately, he could never be absolutely certain Saskia was buried alive, too. Perversely, he probably WANTED to believe that, but he also probably kept wondering about it all the way to the last breath.

And so, in the word's of Mr. Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."