MovieChat Forums > Darklands (1998) Discussion > What did we all think of the scene where...

What did we all think of the scene where...

posted 2 years ago by TheMan18 (12534)
8 replies | jump to latest

... after being drugged in that hospital, Craig Fairbrass' character gets gender reversal ***** or s******* *****lted by that white lady Rebecca, who is angry and furious and wild in that scene no doubt, as well as how quickly it all happens, almost as if it was his character's dream/nightmare/imagination?

And the fact that Rebecca herself gets away with it including legally but that cult still takes SPOILERS her newborn baby at the end and she even cries and gets emotional about it, DESPITE her wrongful deed in that scene, at the end, did we or were we meant to be feeling somewhat sorry for her or not at all?

Also, typically well known examples briefly put aside (not least because for one THIS movie dealt with and has shown ONE aspect of it), was SPOILERS him getting killed at the end by that cult in a "Wicker Man" (1973) style at that "train station", a worse experience?

I for one, and rightly so, WAS disturbed and confronted by that scene too with it being as it is. But as for other sides to it, I will let other audiences debate it, was Rebecca also FORCED to sleep with/assault his character? Or was it somehow ambiguous or left up to us to decide? Maybe it was in that journalist's imagination and the baby was from somewhere else, how did they get him from the hospital for it and back so quick?

Anyways...

P.S. An average 5/10 middle of the road film that was basically a TV special funded by lottery money it was though and not a complete failure but not particularly impressive, and yes the original "The Wicker Man" (1973), one of my all time favorites, is much better. But better than the Nicolas Cage WM abomination as well as slightly better than Hardy's own sequel mediocrity "The Wicker Tree" (2011).

[–] movieguyukuk (3) 2 years ago

To answer your question (may contain spoilers):

The helpful reverend (who seems to be the only person on his side) informs him that the cult are very powerful and have great influence over the people in the town. How they are able to influence them that well is unknown yet they seem to know everything Fairbrasses character is doing before even he knows what he's doing.

He explains that when a recession occurs they need to start making sacrifices to heal the land with animals first then a human sacrifice. However a child must be conceived first before that can happen. It happened to his father before him he is next in line for the sacrifice and then his child after him. Generation to generation.

Now for the hospital scene. The cult originally wanted him to conceive a child with the trainee reporter Rachel. She was probably getting paid by them to do the deed and as she failed to conceive they killed her.

Of course to accomplish their mission, they needed to find a replacement woman for him to conceive a child and that was Rebecca. I think it was more likely that she volunteered to do the deed in the hospital rather then being forced as I didn't see no hesitation from her in doing so.

Now I wouldn't say that was his imagination what happened because he was drugged up, he was too weak to do anything about stopping the deed hence the child was conceived and the baby was indeed his before his sacrifice. Also as she was with the cult in the crowd cheering with them (and she seemed just as happy as the others with no look of regret on her face whatsoever) after he had been sacrificed, I would say again she volunteered to do the deed.

As for the baby being taken off the woman and her getting upset over it, a mother's instinct is more powerful then anything to protect their child no matter what. It is a natural instinct to feel sad when one sees a baby so small and innocent to have anything bad happen to it. I could see the look on her face before they even came that she was reluctant for them to take it away.

So there you go that's my interpretation of it. Of course there are so many unanswered questions in this movie that are not fully explained that its impossible to really tell for sure.

[–] TheMan18 (12534) 2 years ago

Cool, thanks.

[–] TheMan18 (12534) 8 months ago

The way that scene came across - it almost seemed as if it was a dream (or rather, a nightmare, as in, a bad dream when he was asleep) when he was in that hospital, as for one, I don't think it would've all happened in such a short time.

But then SPOILERS - at the end, she has that baby and we are meant to think it was from him. So the forced sexual encounter with her as the perpetrator (but under the influence of that cult, although she wasn't protesting herself) apparently did happen and also...

At the end, they SPOILERS, take away the baby from her. And for a little while, we are almost meant to feel bad for her in that sense, and you see her cry in that scene.

But it just came across as really unbelievable, for one, that it all happened in an incredibly short time without anyone noticing or suspecting anything, and it looked and felt to be his bad dream as he was lying in that hospital room.

Maybe it really WAS a dream/nightmare and the baby was from someone else? And why did they necessarily want HIM to be the bearer and helper of the pregnancy, or was the forced sexual encounter part meant to somewhat punish or dehumanize him but for what?

And then SPOILER - they kill him at the end by slitting his throat anyways. Practically making him this film's "Sergeant Howie" from "The Wicker Man" (1973) in the process minus the burning part.

[–] TheMan18 (12534) 8 months ago

And SPOILER - that female character was even CHEERING when he got his throat slit at the end and died. As if her being guilty of "you know what" wasn't bad enough (well, it was, I'm kind of surprised he didn't threaten to shoot her with that gun at the end as well, when she was standing right in front of him next to that Keller fella, maybe he ALSO thought it was a dream, don't tell me that just because she was female and it wasn't one of those other well known about scenarios that he decided to go soft and forgiving (then again, WHO KNOWS?), although, here, it simply WASN'T SPELLED OUT, maybe it was left for audiences to decipher, and no offense to anyone INCLUDING COMMON SENSE.)

Then again, so did men, women and possibly some children at the end of "The Wicker Man" (1973) when Sergeant Howie SPOILER met his gruesome burning fate at the end. As brilliant and magnificent overall as THAT film was and this one, 23 years later, "Darklands", was rather middle of the road and mostly average, but not completely without merits, 5/10 I give it overall though.

ALSO - SPOILERS, didn't she also WORK with him at least in that "Evening Post" newspaper typing agency? Wasn't it her at the beginning of the film celebrating his birthday?

[–] movieguyukuk (3) 5 months ago

You've replied to this thread rather late 2 years after the last post!

Yes she was cheering after he had been sacrificed which adds to my theory that she felt no guilt about doing the previous deed.

He didn't threaten to shoot her well pretty much everyone around him at that point were his enemies and there must have been at least 50 cult members attacking him and he only had 6 bullets in the gun so he wouldn't be able to kill them all (although shooting her would be useless as the gun was loaded with blanks).

I don't think it was a dream at all you can truly tell when you are awake if it is a dream or not no matter how insane or drugged you are. It wasn't because she was a woman but because he couldn't think straight as they were about to sacrifice him and when your life is on the line in a situation like that it is hard to think straight and logical. Also the main bad guy threw himself in harms way and encouraged Frasier to shoot him. He was toying with him at this point and knew that the gun had blanks in them and hence Frasier wouldn't be able to kill anyone. It would be rather weird if it was all a dream! This movie is meant to be like a welsh wicker man!

Yes the woman did indeed work with him. At the beginning it was shown she was a secretary at his work place and was indeed one of the people celebrating his birthday. This is a typical plot twist in movies where your friends and/or coworkers are not what they seem or can be corrupted and this normally gets added to make it more shocking or intriguing to the audience rather then someone doing the deed being an unknown person.

[–] movieguyukuk (3) 5 months ago

It didn't seem like a dream to me. If you ever heard of Rosemary's baby, there was a sequel made where the baby has grown up and a cult wanted him to father a child with a member of the cult to. She also raped him and got pregnant and had the baby. DEja vu there.

Of course they took the baby away from her. As I mentioned the love of a mother is more powerful then anything. It is their instinct to protect a child and weep as they lose it.

Yes it did seem unbelievable and that's just the problem with this movie itself. There are too many silly things in it to really make it seem believable.

Once again I doubt it was a dream. And you ask why they wanted HIM to be the bearer and helper of the pregnancy or forced sexual encounter as i mentioned before he was just unfortunate to be be in a circle line of being sacrificed from generation to generation as the priest said. It is never stated why though but my guess is natural selection

[–] TheMan18 (12534) 5 months ago

OK yeah I mostly got it. :)

[–] TheMan18 (12534) 5 months ago

Or sexually assault him for that matter OK but still, yeah, I get it.