MovieChat Forums > Being Human (1994) Discussion > No point

No point

posted 16 years ago by abraham-12
3 replies | jump to latest

A caveman whose wife and kids are kidnapped by some extremely polite boat people.

A slave who run away with his lover after his master dies. They have kids somewhere else.

A man who leaves his lover in order to return to his wife and kids.

A man who leaves his ex-lover whom he is still in love with, in order to survive.

A divorced man who spend some time with his kids, and get told this is the best time of his life.

...

I suffered through the whole movie hoping for some kind of revelation, which never came. The morale seems to be to enjoy the moments, which has been said a million times before, each and every time more compelling than this. A morale is not a point. A bit of symbolism (boats and shoes) go across the five stories, but (weak, poorly made) symbolism is not a point. The five stories also have thematic similarities, the relationship with lovers, kids, and people having power over you. But a (weak) theme is not a point.

You can claim the store is about being human, but every story that has even been told is about being human. This story (or collection of stories) is just particularly poorly told.

[–] jstaguypa 15 years ago

Reincarnation, blah.
Immortal, blah.

SPOILER:

I've seen this movie a few times.

The last story is the anchor. This is about a man who's been in jail, lost his wife, down on his luck for the most part, and trying to find his way. Each of the other stories details a PORTION of this story, through the setting of various environments.

Caveman situation - his wife and family gets taken from him. Now, obviously, the whole caveman backdrop just shows that lack of sophistication of the emotion he felt. He felt she was taken away by others. Period.

Slavery segment - the Hector in the last story (the anchor story) spent some time in jail as well. This went through the emotions he felt to get out, and find a new lover in the process (flower girl at the end).

Anyway, I'm ending this post because I doubt anyone will read it or care. However, if you look at each segment in this light, each one is about a piece of the last segment's Hector's story.

The story itself isn't particularly different or uncommon at all. That's where the "Being Human" title comes from. This is stuff a lot of us deal with throughout our lives.

That's my take on it.

[–] dash26354 15 years ago

ohhh...i just watched this yesterday and couldn't make sense of it but you do mention some interesting points i never would've thought of

[–] kgb383 14 years ago

It's not really meant to be a story that begins and ends. It's more like a snippet from one man's journey through existence. It makes sense if you can recognize that the direction and motivation of each life Hector leads on his journey is connected and rooted in the events that took place in previous lives. It's an ongoing process, whereby Hector grows and gains understanding across multiple lifetimes. This movie explores one small part of that ongoing journey in Hector's existence.

I like how the film establishes these connections in so many subtle little ways, be they with people or events or whatever. I find it quite a charming film. It's too bad more people don't appreciate it.