MovieChat Forums > 12 Monkeys (1996) Discussion > Poignant Point

Poignant Point

posted 3 years ago by avortac4 (3603)
7 replies | jump to latest

Bruce's character mentions something about a movie seeming different each time you watch it, because you are different, so you see it differently and notice different things.

This movie underlines this fact by the 'flashback' that we, as the audience, see differently each time it's shown, because we recognize more about it each time (Brad Pitt's character, for example).

This point is great, because this kind of thing happens in life a lot.

I watched an interesting episode of an old TV show less than a year ago - it depicts a beautiful autumn, funeral, and all kinds of stuff like that. I thought I had seen it pretty 'thoroughly' back then, but decided to watch it again just to see if I feel anything different about it after such a long time.

There was a detail I never noticed before, but because something had happened inbetween the last time I watched it, and today, I not only noticed a certain detail that I completely ignored last time, but also it jumped at me like a massive coincidence and something incredible.

How can someone be completely blind to some detail, only to be almost startled by it the next time?

What happened, was that I saw an amazingly beautiful painting that had exotic, interesting flowers and such, and couldn't stop being mesmerized by it. It's the most beautiful painting I have ever seen, although I have seen 'technically more impressive' paintings before.

There was just something about the atmosphere and colors about the painting that gave a deep, almost spiritual impact that seemed to express something about higher realms.

This painting had a certain flower depicted in the most wonderful of ways - I never found as beautiful pose/shape/position of that same flower from photos I found in the internet, or even flower shops I walked by (I saw the same flower in a few separate places). The flower in the painting was as 'optimal' 'pose' as it can get, I guess.

So now I noticed a character in the TV show was holding THAT exact flower (or bouquet of flowers with those flowers in it)! I would never have realized this had I not experienced that painting inbetween viewings.

This makes me wonder not only how poignant the point this movie makes is, but also.. what else I am missing right now that might be (or seem) 'important' later, or 'if I knew'?

How little we really notice in life because we don't deem it important or interesting enough. Last time I saw the episode, those flowers were just 'background noise' to me, and I was focusing on the story and all. But now that I know the beauty of that flower, I immediately started admiring them and wondering why I never noticed them before.

This movie is wiser than it has any right to be, it seems.

[–] Iffy762 (1331) 3 years ago

Wow, I will have to go back and watch 12 Monkeys to see if I see that, but yeah I remember it being a really interesting film. Totally agree about seeing new stuff in old movies/tv series. I've gone back to some series I watched as a teenager or young adult and there's lots of stuff I hadn't realized was in there. I think it's partly because I'm older so there are social cues I didn't know about back then (adult cues, cultural cues, that kind of thing) but also my experience of life has changed so things that didn't impact me then do impact me now.

Beautiful observation! Thanks for bringing it up.

[–] tph890 (484) 3 years ago

Great post!
That scene has always stuck with me too. The atmosphere of the dingy theater, the hopefulness and awe in Willis’ character, Stowe’s reassurances, all of the elements of that scene create such a haunting vibe. And it leaves the viewer with a nice bit of philosophy, something for the brain to chew on.

[–] Ace_Spade (9425) 3 years ago

This is the reason I come to moviechat. Thank you for your insightful post.

Fittingly, I don't think I'll ever be able to watch 12 Monkeys and not think of this. In other words, your post is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and has forever altered my experience of the film.

You're making me ponder a philosophical concept that "reality is perception", which we see more blatantly in films like The Matrix, and which is illustrated every day. This is one of the chiefest causes of suffering in our world as well. Some people see the world as X, others as Y, and the incompatibility of those competing worldviews causes strife and conflict. We *need* to remember that a lot of our differences are perspective differences, and that will mean arguing, but we need not do so with malice or violence.

I'm also reminded of a Neil Gaiman Sandman comic (a Death spinoff series, I think) where a character recounts and important memory. Her wife doesn't recall the incident at all. Their perspectives made a moment important AND unimportant at the same time, like quantum emotional resonance.

I think the key is this: to remember that the unexamined life is not worth living. In other words, we must always be meditative, conscious, aware, and questioning. We must always apply wisdom to our lives, moment by moment, and we must act accordingly. In this way, while we will "miss out" on certain experiences or perspectives, we will optimize what we do have.

The second thing is that we must be grateful for what we have and enjoy our lives as they are. Don't worry about what you're missing, love the truth that you have.

Third, we have to both be aware of, and accepting of, change in life and in ourselves. It's constant; get used to it. In fact, we should love it.

Thanks for bringing me to crazy places, philosophically speaking. I've had this thread saved for awhile now, pondering it a bit, waiting until I had time to do a proper response.

[–] rateater (9373) 3 years ago

do you think that sometimes things in life are revealed to us at the moments when we need them to be?

[–] Drooch (5333) 2 years ago

Our brains are pattern recognition machines that gravitate towards meaningful narratives, so in retrospect it might look like life is revealing important things at fortuitous times when in fact our brains simply scan reality and our memories and highlight whatever we’re looking for.

Try it now. Close your eyes, think of the colour red, then open your eyes - you’ll notice red objects everywhere. Now try it with blue. Your brain highlights aspects of reality that you’re looking for.

The trick in life is to be clear about what you want, then your brain will illuminate the things you’ll need to get it.

[–] rateater (9373) 2 years ago

very interesting. thanks.

[–] smidget28 (778) a year ago

the theater scene is usually where I start getting emotional in this film. from there to the end, it's a piece of magic and sorrow...and indescribable loss between the characters and us viewing the end of humanity as we know it.

To me this is a timeless movie, I love it more each time I see it and I've seen it so many times. Great performances all around. Bruce is at the top of his game here.