MovieChat Forums > Dear Wendy (2005) Discussion > the (indepth) reason for it all? (spoile...

the (indepth) reason for it all? (spoilers)

posted 18 years ago by aedro
6 replies | jump to latest

this is going to be a really long post full of questions, many of which are rhetorical or unanswerable... don't say i didn't warn you.

i'm putting my questions and the bits i don't get in bold...

let me start by saying that i thought this was a really well made movie that started off with an excellent concept. i really want to like it but the events and apparent leap in logic that leads to the climax kinda has me scratching my head... i'm just writing this post to try and reason it all out.

the dandies wanted to escort clarabelle across the square to give some coffee to her neice (?) for her birthday. and dick wanted to do this to prove that their guns could serve a good purpose (give them and clarabelle confidence) without having to bear them as weapons. he wanted to do this because sebastian was talking about how the guns want to see action and how they're really just lying to themselves. sebastain mentioned that he carried a gun because he was afraid, and he also mentions that clarabelle was afraid... this leads me to believe that he was hinting that clarabelle had a gun, which means the shotgun in her handbag was probably her own and the dandies didn't know she had it.

when clarabelle panicked she took out her gun and shot the cop (krugsby's partner?) this caused the dandies to panic as they were all carrying weapons themselves and to be seen at the scene of a cop shooting with posession of a gun would not be a good thing. so they ran. they took clarabelle and hid her with them in the mine. this meant that they were basically harbouring a cop killer, which is a serious offence.

freddie went to negotiate with krugsby to get them out of this mess. he managed to organize it so that they could keep their guns if they turned in clarabelle. how the cops knew they had guns i'm not sure but we were told they could keep them...

now, when they went to turn over clarabelle sebastian noticed that krugsby was carrying a dishonest gun or something so the dandies retreated, taking clarabelle with them. it is then revealed that the whole thing was a trap as officers come running out of the buildings. were they just there to make sure nothing went wrong? or did they want to kill clarabelle? or did they want to kill clarabelle and the dandies?

dick was obviously annoyed and overwhelmed by what has happened as we can see from his reaction when they are hiding once more. but why does a self proclaimed pacifist decide to go one a last stand against the entire towns police force (plus reenforcements) just to return a sachet of coffee?

was it because he thought they had no choice now that they were outlaws?

was it because he felt it was their right to carry guns and he'd be dammned if he went down without a fight? (odd for a pacifist)

did he just really want to give clarabelle's neice her coffee?

was it his intention to fight? or would have he just been happy to give the coffee to clarabelle's neice and walk away without a fight?

i suppose he didn't want a fight as this is what huey says, but he must have expected that this was going to happen. he was writing the note afterall. but i don't understand what he hoped to achieve by returning the coffee... what did he have planned afterwards? what was he trying to prove? if it was just about returning the coffee it was a whole lot of trouble to go to...

and, for a bunch of pacifists, they seem to show next to no remorse for killing other people (the first death is met with a joke 'o-o-officer down i'm a-a-afraid') and not even the death of their friends/family. this could be a nod to the warriors that freddie kept talking about and how their pain numbed all other feelings. but it all seemed really out of character...

was the moral of the story that guns can never do any good? that their true purpose will alway rear its ugly head?

or was it showing the extremes that teenagers (or perhaps people in general) will go to prove themselves or hold onto something they love?

or was it showing an extreme case of what everyday paranoia can cause?

bah... i don't know.

i thought not enought was made of each of the dandies individual skills and i thought they were killed off to quickly in the battle. also some bits were either painfully cliched or predictable... badsteel's misfire or huey walking anyone?

i think a better climax would have been sebastian (or another new member of the dandies) going against their oath and using their gun to kill someone, then the police would bear down on the dandies and they would be forced to use their guns because one of the others broke their oath. more plausable at least... at least then the conflict wouldn't have been initiated by the pacifist as such.

i also find it funny how some ameicans get defensive and say they hate it because they think it is a commentary about their situation, when it is never explicitly stated. the place doesn't exist and the time is almost impossible to place... it's more of a general commentary. and everyone who goes on about it being 'too extreme' - it was, and that was the point of it. it wouldn't have had the same impact if it wasn't.

i don't blame you if you didn't even attempt to read all this, but if you did thankyou for hearing me out. even just writing all this down helped me reason it out a bit. i want to hear what other people think about these questions... and if you hate the movie - i don't care. and if you're just going to say that i don't 'get it' then don't bother unless you want to help me understand it...

thanks.

[–] birdie15 18 years ago

"i think a better climax would have been sebastian (or another new member of the dandies) going against their oath and using their gun to kill someone, then the police would bear down on the dandies and they would be forced to use their guns because one of the others broke their oath"

Eh...that's exactly what did happen. Huey initiated the fire fight by gunning down the senior guy. He also volunteered to go first, and made the 'officer down' crack, which seemed to me totally out of character. I found that to be the most 'off' moment in the movie. I guess Huey was seen to be the most obvious 'buzz' from his gun, with the overconfidence with the girls and such.

As for why they did it...I think they had been carried to the point where they had the choice of surrender or completion of the 'noble act'. I think that they knew that they would die, but that dieing a Dandy was the most important thing. They could not return to what they were (losers)

We got to see all of the special talent's - Steve's sharp-shooting, Susan's richoteting, Freddie's 'testicle thing' I think to see any more would have been overkill. Of course, we didn't see Dick's hipshot or blind-shot, 'cos he didn't have Wendy.

I think the message of the film was simple - power corrupts. A pacifist with a gun is an oxymoron.This is foreshadowed by the stuff about never letting the guns see action and referring to them as their partners. The guns would always become the dominant ones in the relationship.

[–] Slimakastan 18 years ago

I've seen this movie with my girlfriend and we both had the same questions. O_o In the end, we think the ending doesn't make any sense at all and we think we know why Lars von Trier didn't do the movie by himself. Would've been a waste of time. o_O

The only good point in the movie is, that it shows the fear that everyone has (for example the shop-owner) and what people do when they're afraid. But the end just ruined it. The movie had no logical storyline.

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] teamilkhoney 13 years ago

I had all the same questions. I still have no answers. Nor does anyone I watch the film with.

And it's a shame really. I am a HUGE Jamie Bell fan and this is the single movie of his entire filmography that I can't LOVE.

It's a well-made movie. It LOOKS great and SOUNDS great. It has some shining comedic moments by incredibly talented actors and kicked off with a great concept. But, like you, I found myself completely baffled by the nonsensical ending.

Unless you look at it like the Dandies had lost all touch with reality, and that by the ending had sunk completely into their disillusioned little western fantasy world, then it just doesn't work logically.

It's something I'd really love to dig into von Trier's brain about.

[–] bwtarmey3 13 years ago

I bought this movie a few years ago and only finally got around to watching last night. I feel the same way the creator of this post and some of its responders feel... it started out good/decent and then just got weird. FruitJuice, I think you might have the best take on how to perceive the ending if you don't want to dislike the movie... that "the Dandies had lost all touch with reality, and that by the ending had sunk completely into their disillusioned little western fantasy world." Otherwise, yes, "it just doesn't work logically."

I think there was some foreshadowing toward the odd, emotionless ending during a few parts earlier in the film, but I'm not sure if it was done on purpose by the writers/directors/producers or if it was natural due to poor writing/directing/producing. You see it when Dick is talking about getting a gift for Sebastian. Any part during that earlier section of the movie when he talks about Sebastian, how he doesn't like him and how he'll get him a gift he thinks he won't like, and how Sebastian doesn't even open the book he eventually gets him... all of that sounds so childish. The triteness of much of the dialogue and voice over is poetic enough for me to enjoy or not mind, but some parts, including this one, is like hearing someone read from a children's book. Another part involves Sebastian, when Krugsby asks Dick to mentor him. Krugsby begins to explain what Sebastian has done to be in such trouble and you think it's because he stole something or committed some other petty crime, but Sebastian goes on to clarify that he "blew a guy away." Now at this point, I don't think it becomes clear if he killed the person, but even later in the story, Dick talks about Sebastian being a murderer. Why is this fact handled so lightly?!? I know he explains that it wasn't his fault, suggestion it was in self defense, but it still seems too watered down. I think that's why I was not surprised but still disappointed by the ending. As soon as Claribelle shoots that officer and nobody acts the way they should have, it was all confusing and downhill from there for me. The only way I can accept the way the deaths were so minimally reacted to is to accept FruitJuice's proposal about how it was a combination of a real showdown but from the perspective of a bunch of kids playing guns in their backyard. I half expected someone to get shot but not fall and have the shooter say "I got you!" to which the other would respond "Nu-uh. I have a force-field."

I must say though, as I wrote this and thought more about the other posts about the message about guns, it's the only thing that really helps it all make sense. The fact that everyone seems to be so desensitized about guns and the death they so easily cause is certainly something to be said. It's true. Fighting, battle and death doesn't mean anything anymore. You hear on the news about people being gunned-down and the response is usually, at most, "Tisk, tisk. What a shame." Whether that's the message this movie tends to send or not, it's the only thing that makes sense. Besides, it all starts with Dick thinking Wendy is just a toy, until he learns that it is, in fact, a powerful gun... and can be, if brandished, a deadly weapon.

I wanted to like this movie. I started liking it. I ended up not liking it... at least the ending. I'd like to like this movie. Maybe I'll watch it again with this new perspective. Hopefully that will help.

[–] Violet_Loves_Iliona 13 years ago

Hello,

Taking the coffee to Clarabelle's neice wasn't really about the coffee, it was about something greater - freedom and honour.

The Dandies weren't looking for a fight, and my impression is that, from their point of view, what they were doing was defending freedom and honour itself, and they were willing to give their lives for such a noble fight... I think there might have even been a quote at some point about not using their guns for attack, but for defence.

In any case, they knew they would likely die, but as far as they were concerned, they would die with honour for higher principles, upholding the dandy code, so I saw it all as being true to the characters.

Also, at the end Dick effectively becomes one with Wendy, "consumating" hia love for her in a way he would not have in any other circumstance, so it was a happy ending, in my opinion - definitely a dark and very bittersweet kind of happy ending, but a happy ending nonetheless.

I hope me giving my 2c worth helps :)

Violet

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