why was ben foster attracted to that woman?

Well said. His character was obviously a bit sad and lonely himself. He wasn't in need of a hot babe on his arm, but something deeper and he found that with Olivia.

read my first line, im more interested in the answer to that statement. And yeah i guess my 2nd line was a bit shallow. Im not saying she isn't ugly or anything, its just that her and foster didn't really look or act like they could have been a couple.

Word. One of my favorite postings on another board was, "Sometimes I can feel myself getting stupider reading these comments." It's like a step above YouTube on here. Sometimes you can find decent threads. That's what keeps me coming back. This one is a pretty standard imdb head slapper.

I don't know about in the movies, but in real life Ben Foster is only two years younger than Morton.

And in anyway their attraction wasn't physical, at least at first.

When you kill a man to defend an idea, you're not defending an idea. You're killing a man.

I think one of the key points in Will's attraction to Olivia is that, in Will's previous relationship, he left because he didn't want his girlfriend (and eventual wife, as she apparently wanted to be) to deal with the grief of losing him, the grief that he eventually had to bestow on people. The way Olivia reacted to the news of her husband's death shocked him at first (he just stood there after she went inside, visibly taken aback) and I think he became enamored with the thought of being with someone who wouldn't be falling over with grief after losing someone.

Remember, Will's family life wasn't great. His dad died when he was young and I believe he said his mother was a little nuts and he hadn't seen her in a very long time. With a history of loss and distance in his family, this offered him the chance to be close with someone without being afraid that they would be hurt if he were gone.

In contrast, I believe Tony was upset at the realization that, if he were to die, there would be no one to grieve over him and his life of being cold towards others and chasing women amounted to no real connection with another person. As he said earlier in the film, the Army was the best family he had and he knows first hand how cold the Army is towards the dead.

Tony wanted to have someone to grieve over him and Will didn't (at first, at least).

Olivia explained how she hadn't loved her husband in a long while and that only in his death did she love him again. This alters Will's perspective on her original lack of grief and he doesn't know how to react at first (standing in the kitchen after she leaves, taking it all in). But he still comes back after he sees Tony crying. In the end, he realizes that it's better to have someone to grieve over you when you die than to live a cold distant life such as Tony did.


Sorry that got long-winded, but that's my take on the reasoning behind a lot of the character's actions in the film as well as the meaning of the ending for each character.

I agree, generosity is a very attractive quality.

Also, he was curious and intrigued by her reaction to the news, it really set her apart from the rest of the relatives. And they both seemed to be 'grieve on the inside' kind of people (with the occasional burst, like how she blasted those guys at the mall for trying to recruit). So little by little he got to know and like her. At that point in his life I don't think he valued 'hotness' over empathy and sensibility.

Damn I thought ben foster was super hot he was the only reason I watched the movie

The man is tappable.