Question about the end
Did Cynthia die? On one hand, the shot looks fatal, but on the other hand, it looks like she opens her eyes in the hospital.
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I think they messed up on this when they made the movie.
Here is the original script
http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Gang-Related.html
1. The death scene:
In the script, it is described in ambiguous terms, leaving it open as to whether she died.
But in the film, the death scene itself is much more explicit: Davinci pretty much fires the pistol right into her head/face point blank. And then you have feathers everywhere, in a way that symbolizes finality.
2. Before the operation:
The original screenplay describes the scene:
"Cynthia is conscious on the gurney. Looking up at the ceiling."
And in the film, you have such a scene. But in the film, it doesn't really make sense, since how did she survive that point blank shot in the head/face?
3. Joe appearing on the scene:
Joe appears next. However, in the screenplay, it is clear that Joe has just finished a successful surgery, absolutely nothing to do with Cynthia, and his appearance at this moment is purely coincidental:
"Pulling off masks and rubber gloves bloody from surgery. One of them is Joe. The other surgeon pats him on the back."
OTHER SURGEON: Just like riding a bike.
"Joe finally breathes a sigh of relief and manages a smile."
However, in the film, it is not clear. It always looked to me like he was preparing for surgery, and specifically, for surgery for Cynthia. So my interpretation was that we have fate, that the very person who was almost blamed is going to end up saving her life.
In fact, the wikipedia plot summary has the following:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_Related
He [Davinci] takes her money, then shoots and mortally wounds her. Cynthia is rushed to an emergency room at the local hospital, where Doctor William Dane McCall prepares to salvage her organs for needy recipients...despite Frank's previous statement that "they'll never use your best parts".
So, like my interpretation above, wikipedia too feels that Joe is about to start surgery on Cythia -- but not to save her, rather, to harvest her organs to be used for transplants for others. This interpretation understands that Cynthia has died.
So we have 3 possible interpretations regarding Joe's presence here:
1. Just a coincidence -- he's just come off surgery (the screenplay).
2. He's about to operate on Cynthia and save her (the film, according to me).
3. He's about to operate on a dead Cynthia -- for her organs (the film, according to wikipedia).
There is one point in favor of wikipedia's interpretation: the article about Joe states that he had been in Africa, doing organ transplants for the poor.
The biggest problem in the movie for me is the contradiction between a clearly fatal shot, and then her eyes open in the very next scene.
My guess is that when they shot the movie, they weren't sure whether they were going to play it like the screenplay or not, and never quite made up their minds, and got lazy and sloppy and ended up with something that is not quite coherent.
It should be against the law to use 'LOL'; unless you really did LOL!
You can't always trust what is on wikipedia.
The shooting of Cynthia happpened off-screen, so you can't tell at that point exactly what happened. You see the feathers fly and Divinci staggers out of the room, so it seems like he fatally shot her, but on the gurney it seems like she was shot in the shoulder so maybe he couldn't bring himself to murder her. My guess is the shot was not fatal.
As to Dr. McCall, he just happens to be there after a previous operation. There is nothing to indicate he was going to continue on to another patient right away, Cynthia or anyone else.
So it looks to me like the screenplay had it pretty much how it turned out.
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