MovieChat Forums > Niwemang (2007) Discussion > The ending? SPOILERS

The ending? SPOILERS

posted 16 years ago by lovefilm375
8 replies | jump to latest

I liked a lot of things about this film but I'm confused about what the ending is suposed to mean. Does anyone have any theories?

Apart from the general meaning these things also confused me:
Where was the woman 'Halfmoon' meant to have come from? She seamed to fall from the sky but maybe this scene was not meant to be taken literally?
Why did he have to separate from the other musicians/family members when they were trying to cross the Turkish territory?
Why did the main character appear so ill towards the end when he seemed quite healthy at the start. Because he thought he would never get to the concert in Iraq?

[–] bomaoneuk 15 years ago

I have to say I didnt get the end at all either.

I think niwemung was supposed to be heshos daughter. I got that impression when she said that she didnt know her mother and that she was supposed to be a singer. Seeing as Hesho was older than her and was an exile because of her singing I thought that to be a possibililty, also as she gave Mamo a piece of paper with niwemung's name on it.

When you say she fell from the sky I think she was just on top of the bus all along and when it stopped she just climbed down.

With regards to Mamo's health, he was an old man trecking though harsh environments for long periods of time. Even the horse gave up!

Why they had to split up though I have no idea. I also wasnt sure whether Niwemung was supposed to be good or not.

[–] organicprankster 15 years ago

Did you note that during Niwemang's entrance - having suddenly arrived on the roof and then smiling benignly at the sick old man - she then appears to levitate on to the bus?

It's left fairly ambiguous as to who she is exactly, but at the very least she represents death. This is the sole reason the men are split up - that's what death does, divides us from one another.

As to whether she's good or not, we are informed earlier in the film "There is no bad luck, even in death."

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[–] bogwart-1 15 years ago

She's a metaphorical figure, not real. She could represent Hesho's daughter, she could represent an angel who has come to take Mamo's soul, she could represent the birth of Kurdistan, something which is never far from the surface in Ghobadi's films.

Mamo was healthy at the start. But we are not told his age, and his oldest son, for instance, appeared older than his father. He regarded the concert as vital because it was to have been the first time he performed outside Iran for 37 years, but it seemed to me that he also always knew that it would be his last performance.

And it did seem that fate was against him, and that he realised it, finally.

Oh, and Niwe Mang (Half Moon) was the time when he was told that he would die, so it seems that he accepted that without fuss. And the film really is about acceptance of one's destiny, in my view. Lovely, clever, haunting flm.

[–] therefore-2 15 years ago

Brilliant and spot on.

[–] emncaity 14 years ago

Mostly right, I think--especially your conclusion--and I agree Niwemang (the character) represented "his time," but then, she helped drag the coffin, which I think is a lot of physical involvement for an apparition. Maybe it was just a glitch in the conception of that character and what she represented, or maybe she really was flesh-and-blood and merely a representation, not a spirit. It seems to me we're probably not supposed to read this stuff too closely, since the village where the singer lives is obviously treated as magical realism. Real character, some actions real and some not, some scenes imagined...all part of the deal.

So what's the meaning of the village name being wrong (I think a couple of place names were mistaken), just before the funeral?

[–] bogwart-1 14 years ago

I've watched four or five hundred films since I saw this, so I hope you'll understand if I tell you that I don't recall that kind of detail any more.

But it seems to me that you've answered your own question. Some real, some imagined .. Maybe that's part of the mix that Ghobadi threw us. I don't believe the name differences would be a goof.

[–] emncaity 14 years ago

Ha...yeah, that's about how many I'll watch in nine months myself.

At any rate, this was a real experience, worth repeated viewing, I think. I gotta go think about it for awhile, first.

[–] nawroz 14 years ago

I really liked a lot of things in this movie too but I also have questions, BEFORE Mamo meets newmang, she sees her a few times in an imagination sort of way, even her face is shown in these scenes, in the begining of the movie and in the Chayxane "The place where Mamo and his sons drink tea" scene. this for me is why Newmang is more an imagination of Mamo than a real life human.

A few thoughts:

1. When they are drinking the tea in that scene, the owner says put on some old music for Mamo, the singer in the new inserted tape is Hasan Zirek, who past away in 1972 and to this day he is one of the nations greatest artists, as to the plot of the movie, assuming Mamo is a legendary kurdish musician I assume there is a connection between them, maybe he was one of Zirak's musicians, Zirak was from Bukan and he often visited Slemani in his life which is located in the Iraqi Kurdistan, it was his favorate city because of its rich history, nationalism and its art, at times close people of his like friends and musicians came with him to Slemani. The song really moved mamo, this is shown when the camera zooms in and slows the frame.

2. When the doctor arrives, he says I have registered 213 deaths, this is the 214th, there is a connection with the 13 and 14 numbers Mamo mentions about luck.

This movie reminds me of Sergio's Once Upon a time in America on how it can have multiple meanings and how the director wants the viewer to have his own interpretation.

Would love to hear your thoughts on those scenes and your interpretations.