The end **SPOILERS!!**



What did you think of it?


***SPOILERS!!****


Were you surprised when the glass church started to sink? Did you wonder why he didn't just take a chair and slam it through a glass wall and break out (I did)? Did it depress you, or did you appreciate it nonetheless?

I'm just curious as to what people think. I liked the ending, but it was very sad, and unexpected. I wondered afterward why he didn't just break a glass wall and get out. But I do think that the ending as it is, carries a certain intensity and power that, were the end to be different, the entire movie would have a different feel to it.




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I wasn't surprised at all by Oscar not busting himself out. If you pay close attention to his mindset throughout the film he again and again leaves his fate in the hands of God. He asked God for forgiveness. When he awoke to find the glass church sinking, he assumed it was God's judgement.

He cried out for help because he also believed that God uses other people as instruments of his will.

If someone had saved him at the last moment, he would have thought it God's own hand.

Since this did not happen it is near certain that he believed himself beyond forgiveness, and death by his worst fear (drowning) his punishment. To use the chair to break free would be compounding his list of 'sins' by defying God's judgment.

He being a soul that has faith as both strength and sustenance could only submit and sink.

It would paint a very disturbing portrait of the creator,

If Lucinda herself had not said that NEVER needed to make that journey. That she had already given him her trust. The signs of that should have been clear to him as well after the scene in which they kissed, yet he backed away. Later the narrator tells us that he never even considers the possibility that he had not wronged the woman who all but raped him.

For me this story is a cautionary tale, of how easily faith can become misguided and destructive.

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[deleted]

I don't disagree with you completely, but I don't think Oscar's death was some kind of an acceptance of his punishment. When he woke up and saw the water, his first reaction was to call for help and then to struggle towards the door that he tried quite hard to open.
As for using the chair to break the glass, that wouldn't have been much helpful since the whole church's structure was made of wrought iron (I think this is the term, I'm not sure) and the bars were very close one to another, not allowing him to pass through them. Also a significant amount of glass was already shattered (the scene where he needs to put his coat on so he won't get hurt). So, basically he was in an iron cage that had only one exit, the door that was locked or blocked.

P.S.: Please excuse my spelling or grammar errors, but my English is learned mostly from TV and movies :D .

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You have argued why he couldn't break through the walls, the openings were indeed too small, but there was a very large window which he might have escaped through had he used the chair to break it instead of just visibly giving up.

I think he expected the hand of god to reach out and save him in some way (Even through another simply hearing his cries) but when even that didn't happen he accepted what he thought was God's judgment.

The walls were supported by wrought iron, but the window was visibly not. The pieces of glass that were already shattered were from other parts of the structure, not the window.

Wendy L Swearingen

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I realize this thread is very old, but I feel the need to point out that there is no space large enough in the wrought-iron structure for Oscar to squeeze through. Watch it again: there is no "very large window." The structure of the church is like a cage. Oscar cannot open the door because the door-frame has been twisted out of plumb by the uneven sinking of the church.

He is terrified and fights to free himself, but he has no chance.

http://www.lucianaarrighi.com/wp-content/gallery/oscar/oscarlucinda2.j pg

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I'm sorry that I don't have a contribution for this thread, as I'm still in the process of trying to understand the movie completely (different things have kept me from seeing it all in one sitting) but I wanted to say to Rimni, your English is extraordinary, and that fact that you have learned most from TV and movies is pretty impressive. I just wanted to say good job!

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There's also the strong argument that he was in a total psychological panic, a psychiatric break of sorts, much like the one he experienced on the boat when Jeffries 'helped' by dumping laudanum down his throat. He wasn't thinking rationally because his worst fear was at hand and he was fragile mentally. Just another possibility...

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Regarding your statement: "...he had not wronged the woman who all but raped him." She did not ALMOST rape him, she DID rape him. Why the qualifier? As you would know if you had any knowledge of rape, a man can be raped.

I had to respond to your post. I try to educate people regarding certain subjects and I hope you don't take offense, as none was intended. Thank you.

Human Rights: Know them, demand them, defend them.

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In response to your statement "...he had not wronged the woman who all but raped him." I am disappointed but not surprised at the qualification "...who all but..." The reality of the film is that she DID rape him, as Ralph Fiennes eloquently portrayed.

A man can be raped. There are a few subjects that I try to educate people about, and rape is one of them. I do not mean to offend you, only to educate. Please check out the links below for more information. Thanks.

http://www.belowtopsecret.com/forum/thread507174/pg1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_by_gender

http://books.google.com/ - then search for the book "Recovery: how to survive sexual assault for women, men, teenagers, their ..." By Helen Benedict, and go to page 153 where the subject is first discussed.


Human Rights: Know them, demand them, defend them.

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I just watched O&L for the first time. What an exquisite story. I am in awe of authors who can conjure up such beautiful stories as this.

In that scene, his fate struck me as very odd. The church was just sitting in the calm river, tied up to the pier and all of a sudden there shows a tugging on the rope, tilting of the church and the flooding.

I was doing my almost-daily treadmill walk for my diabetes and this scene kept playing over and over in my mind, trying to make sense of this shocking change of direction of the story. Finally, it occurred to me that G-d was offering him the peace his troubled mind never would.

One could see this act as punishment, but what was apparent was that his internal torment would never allow the peace his pleas for forgiveness begged.

Inner peace comes from tolerance and acceptance of one's imperfections and it was obvious that his short-comings troubled him visibly throughout his life. So much so that, had he perceived G-d's forgiveness, he would still never forgive himself.

So G-d did the kindest thing he could do and thrust peace on him.

The above seemed very extreme thinking to me, so I started looking through reviews of the movie and FOUND one person, out of all the reviews I could find, who thought as I did. (Of course, being a professional reviewer (I think), his wording was much more eloquent than mine.)

And that allowed me to believe that I was not evil or as weird as I've thought I was, just able to see another understanding to life.

PS- I've since looked for that review again, but can not find it. So maybe I've imagined it and I'm out here all by my lonesome?

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I'm sorry I found this post so longer after it was made.

I don't know the reviewer you refer to, but I think you're overlooking something. Oscar had been raped; he was overwhelmed by that. He was a victim, and I don't believe he submitted to death. It has been 14 years since I've seen this unforgettable film, with the most heroic hero in film. It simply is too sad and violent to watch again, too close to the bone.

But no, I disagree that he wanted death. He had just been raped. He was in shock.

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I don't know how I feel about it. On an emotional level, I hate it. The character was so damn likeable. Intellectually, the only real reason I can think of for having this ending is for the sake of poignancy and unpredictability, after we've been lead to believe all through the movie that Oscar and Lucinda must end up together in order for the narration to make sense. Frankly, I feel it's a bit of a cheap trick.

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