MovieChat Forums > The River King (2005) Discussion > what??!!that has nothing to do with it! ...

what??!!that has nothing to do with it! question??

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

ok the ending when it go's back with (ed burns) as a little boy, then it shows his older brother shoot himself?! whats that got to do with the movie!??

[–] stevenvanwelden 18 years ago

Thats the whole reason why he's so focused on it not being a suicide but a murder. He's the boy that he saw a couple of times while investigating. The part i understand but that i do found a bit weird is the ghost in the picture idea.

[–] bruce-129 17 years ago

That was NOT the whole reason he was focusing on the murder ... as a policeman there was a good reason to focus on the murder ... come on ... found in the water with blood and human feces on him. The message of this movie is that that is the way the rich are, and we all just better do nothing about it. They make up for it at the end by booting the kid from school who beat up the kid who called Ed Burns in the night to confess. The deep dark secret was kind of a joke, so the only thing that made the movie was the so-called corruption in the force. And the ghosts and flash backs and brother all just added fluff, but not much substantial to the movie and its suspense.

[–] Sitcom_Sally 16 years ago

It's not just the way the rich are, it's the way groups are. The professor comments on how he teaches the boys the Spartan way. That individualism is highly overrated and acting as a group is more beneficial to society. That mentality permeates every socioeconomic level.

[–] AbsurdFreedom 17 years ago

The central theme of the movie is suicide, ergo, the death of Abel's brother has everything to do with the story because it was a suicide. I don't see the problem.

More than that, Abel feels that Frank's death was his fault, so he dials in on Gus' death - trying to prove it was a murder - because he wants to 'cleanse' himself, or justify himself from guilt.

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When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
- Mark Twain

[–] Daverat 17 years ago

There's an awful lot going on in the film and the director chooses to use images to move the sotry forward. Abel see the mysterious little boy and it is ony when he comes to accept his own brother's suicide that he recognizes that the little boy he saw, who he assumed was a witness, was in fact a witness to his own brothers death. it is also a clue to Abel, the adult, about what really happened to Gus. The clue was there all along, literally staring at him right when he sees the body for the first time.

[–] Wuchak (8100) 5 years ago

ok the ending when it go's back with (ed burns) as a little boy, then it shows his older brother shoot himself?! whats that got to do with the movie!??

Abel blamed himself for his brother's suicide since he got the gun for his brother. At the end movie, when Abel finds out that Gus' death was in fact a suicide, he doesn't give Carlin Gus' suicide note because he knows that she would suffer the same burden he suffered regarding his brother's suicide. So he makes up a story about Gus' death being an accident; and she is free to move on in peace. It was definitely a justifiable lie.