MovieChat Forums > Salvage (2006) Discussion > part of his punishment is not knowing wh...

part of his punishment is not knowing who he is until the end

posted 9 years ago by mtouchprod
2 replies | jump to latest

Here's what I think is going on.

The entire movie takes place in Hell. We the viewer are never not in Hell. The killer's punishment is not just to experience what he did to the girl, it's to experience it AS the girl, meaning specifically to experience the fear of not knowing what's happening to him in the same way that she did.

At the end of the movie, the mother says something about how she hopes he finds out what it's like to die in terror and confusion, and that's the movie telling us why he didn't know who he was until the end.

That final moment when he realizes why this is happening to him is the real punishment. As the girl, he's been running in fear and being tortured, and he experiences all of that suffering and confusion and unfairness, only to finally see that he's doing it to himself and that this is exactly who he is and what he deserves. He realizes that this is going to keep happening to him again and again. Then he dies as her and the whole thing resets itself, and that will continue to happen to him for eternity.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

I agree with all of this except your reference to the "final" moment, as it isn't actually that. The *final* shot/moment is him/her waking up, or "becoming aware," with a look of dread on his/her face; a look that tells me, anyway, that s/he will now continue to relive everything, but now cognizant of what's really going on. (This is discussed in another thread, but I can't recall which one.) I think it was a bad choice; that they should have had the loop - the Japanese name for this film, I believe - start anew.

[–] SaliceMcD 8 years ago

As you said "the whole thing resets Itself, and the whole thing will continue to happen to him . . . " I assumed you think he "wakes up" in the final shot thinking, again, that he's Claire. (I obviously thought we were meant to read the actress's facial expression to indicate awareness of what's to follow.) But you say that *before that moment* he knows it will keep happening. How do you feel this is conveyed?