Any ideas what the ending might mean? (spoilers herein) - La hora fría (2007) Discussion

[–] pz_mann 16 years ago

I thought they were on the moon and not on a piece of earth. Just don't ask me why.

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[–] mbrowe 16 years ago

Someone else already said the ending is 'ambiguous' and to me that's the perfect word for it.

My presumptions, because that's all they are -
* They are all on a moonbase established before a nuclear world war wiped out a large part of the Earth - it may or may not have been built in a time of peace as an experimental biodome
* Comments Judas make suggest the world war was between Christian nations and Muslim nations
* The 'infection' took hold so quickly that I assume (based on my imagination) it was some kind of man made weaponised virus possibly incorporating nanites, tiny robots that can transform people into some kind of flesh/robot hybrid - first stage infected will help to infect as many others as possible, second stage infected (when the first stage body is 'killed') leads to a mutation to become creatures that can use cold as a weapon to kill. Quite why these second stage mutants can only wander around during the 'cold hour' I don't know, perhaps it is programmed into them?
* Either the nanorobot virus was being developed on the moonbase and leaked out to infect the scientists working there or it had been developed on Earth and amongst a number of people escaping global destruction it was carried to the moonbase
* The final establishing shot shows a great gash was smashed into the Earth, presumably by the war and debris from it was launched out into space and this explains the constant explosions as the debris is continually hitting the surface of the base's protective dome

My biggest problem from a scientific point of view is why the people on the base aren't floating around experiencing very low gravity although we can maybe assume as it is set in the future that that issue was solved...

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[–] LooyCyphr 15 years ago

" Either the nanorobot virus was being developed on the moonbase and leaked out to infect the scientists working there or it had been developed on Earth "

I feel like they were the earth-apocalypse's survivors, they used the moon as a survival vault, but after some years the people THERE started to war against each other. When the old man says that two fraction were worshipping different gods, my take is that those were MOON FRACTIONS. Like they *beep* it up again. First, humanity on earth killed itself, or was victim to some alien invasion, whatever, but the left-overs at the moon got in war (again). MY take is that the whole virus thread was a NEW weapon they made on the moon. During the film, when they say "the enemy", you think like "russians Vs. USA" or something, "Spain Vs. Switzerland" (har har)... but the final conclusion to me says "it was those survivors Vs. THOSE survivors".

It would be a new take on the old subject. Think DAY OF THE DEAD, the last survivors in the underground facility, but they *beep* it up, because they can't get along. There, somebody does revenge by opening the gates to let the zombies in. In COLD HOUR they made a new Bio weapon.

I'm off course not sure. Would they be SO dumb to create a viral weapon on an unescapable moon base??

"D-E-S-T-R-O-Y : E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G"

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[–] mbrowe 15 years ago

Yeah I guess it's all equally possible.
That's what's great about slightly ambiguous endings and films which don't hand-hold you through the entire history of how they got to that point. It leaves everyone free to make up their own minds, even after two or three viewings years down the line our minds might spark up yet another interpretation.
I'd happily recommend this film to anyone as being above the average 'people in danger from zombies' flicks Hollywood churns out like Resident Evil, despite having a tiny percentage of that movie's special effects budget this one actually makes you think. The lasting image the end of the movie to me was not horror at the cold hour zombie creatures, it was the thought of seeing that fractured Earth hanging in the sky.

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[–] Zombieaddicted 15 years ago

I would recommend this over most hollywood sci-fi as well! Foreign cinema just knows how to do stories better! Just wish I knew all languages so I could appreciate and enjoy the films even more with the way they are suppose to be! Sucks that subtitles will always loose some meaning to them.

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[–] rbruckner 16 years ago

>They obviously had no idea they were no on earth anymore,
I think they have, at the end in one of the flashback it's said: "They may never no what we have done" (or something like that, watched the german version). To me it means, that they feel guilty for destroying the earth and the we relates to the parents generation.
About the other questions i mostly agree with the others. They're not on the earth, but on the moon. The virus that made em zombies obviously was developed by one of the participating nations. How it got on moon doesn't matter, and there aren't any hints about it. Also i don't think it has to be explained, there are many possibilities to get some kind of virus to a moon base.
The green creatures somehow emerge from the dead zombies (it's said in the movie). The why and how doesn't matter and isn't explained in the movie.

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[–] Clemofski 16 years ago

I agree with all the points others have said, the especially bleak thing about the ending, I thought, was that Jesus seems to be immune ( he had fever and such after being touched, but no spontaneous infection ), so there he is expecting to die with his friends when in reality he'll be the only one left - which should result in insanity before long.

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[–] Daverat 16 years ago

They are definitely on the moon. If you slow down the DVD you can see that it is a fully round planetoid and not a blown off piece of the earth (Which is what it looks like the further the camera pulls away).

Also they are fully aware of where they are. They just don't want the children to know.

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[–] 16 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Daverat 16 years ago

"by - drosz22 on Sat Apr 19 2008 23:01:07
so are you saying "The Village" in space? "

That is a pretty piss-poor comparison, but yeah "The Village" in space, except La Hora Fria is a thousand times better.

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[–] Zombieaddicted 16 years ago

Does anyone know when we will be able to buy the dvd in the US with english subtitles please? If never will we ever get english subtitles for this film ? I understanded most of it sense my friends are spanish but not all of it.

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] Feyd-2-Black 16 years ago

Just watched this (with English subtitles from Lovefilm if anyones interested)

Very good, interesting plot from the start, well acted, and some very tense moments.

I think the adults certainly knew they were on the moon and were vainly trying to keep the kids safe. And educated, to re-populate the Earth.
Dont buy how the virus got to the moon as a virus that infected its host that quickly would have been impossible to hide or miss on a shuttle.
No idea about the Invisibles though. The came from the strangers, you saw the green mist rising from the bodies after the big gun scene. But why did they look alien? Four legged, tentacles coming out their heads? Saying that, did they look like human/dog hybrids, as mentioned in the progaganda broadcast?

The fate of Judas would have been interesting as well, was he really immune or was it just beacause he didnt receive skin to skin contact?

Good film though, and good twist, explained a few scenes very nicely.

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[–] Zombieaddicted 16 years ago

The problem with love films is I can't rent from them in the US. So how am I suppose to watch it with english subtitles then ? I was about to even sign up one day to rent it but notice I couldn't sense I am from the US. Sucks.

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[–] wind_highlander 10 years ago

Look for The Dark Hour in any torrent site. There's a good chance that it comes with subtitles.

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[–] knleeds 14 years ago

To me, the idea that technology has gone too far. I don't think it was an explosion but rather a mining operation gone way too far. If robots and machines take over the Earth then they don't have a use for life as we know it, only for energy (heat) and iron in the core of the Earth. And the boy represents the human quality of wonder. They show him a film of the color blue from the sky and the sea to give him the idea that the world is a wonderful, beautiful, marvelous place.

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[–] the_urban_prince 13 years ago

i actually think the the green mist ghosts serves no purpose, and undermines the rest of the film. not to mention it makes no logical sense. and clearly they're on the moon.

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[–] garyleewebb-1 12 years ago

Considering that the title of the movie is Cold Hour in Spanish, you would think that they would explain the creatures (the invisibles). Since the Earth cannot be blown to bits by a virus, we have to assume that there was a nuclear war. Irradiated lifeforms probably mutated into the invisibles, but it does not explain their ability to freeze things.

Has anyone seen A Boy and his Dog? They have a scene where survivors of the radiation (called screamers, I believe) walk around glowing, and everyone is scared of them , with death coming if you touch them. That is what I was thinking about when I saw this movie.

Another theory would be that the invisibles are aliens or angels.

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[–] icechimp 11 years ago

Just finished watching this and I agree with most posters - we don't know for sure what really happened because we're not given enough information. And that kinda makes sense - we see the story through the eyes of Jesus and Ana, who, as children, have information withheld from them.

In the spirit of speculation I'd say the earth was destroyed in war between two factions and the survivors journeyed to the moon as it was the only place they could try to live. I think the Strangers were man-made but the Invisibles are aliens - possibly scavengers attracted by the destruction of the earth (at the end, it looks like the Invisibles are going INTO the dead Strangers -feeding?- rather than emerging FROM them).

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