MovieChat Forums > The Broken (2008) Discussion > Why didn't Gina's brother get killed by ...

Why didn't Gina's brother get killed by his evil mirror image?


The movie was OK in my opinion, made me think a lot before I got all of it..

But I paid attention to this... Gina's father was killed by his evil twin, her brother's girlfriend also and Gina herself as well. There was a part of the movie showing the brother's doppelganger, but he stayed alive? Do you think this was just by chance?

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Pure chance. I think he came home and when he saw his girlfriend's evil twin cleaning up blood, he figured that something was wrong and took off. Maybe he even had an encounter with his twin. Seems like he was the lucky one to escape though, as all the others died quite fast. Just chance.

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i don't recall gina's brother looking into any mirror throughout the movie. hence there was no doppelganger created for himself.

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the one thing i didnt get.. why were the dopplegangars taking over? didnt explain it at all.. i kinda figured gina was the evil one pretty early, i just wanna know why they took over..

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Weep, and the world laughs AT you.

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"the one thing i didnt get.. why were the dopplegangars taking over? didnt explain it at all.. i kinda figured gina was the evil one pretty early, i just wanna know why they took over.."


because they were evil. Evil means you do bad things. It's a horror movie.

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the one thing i didnt get.. why were the dopplegangars taking over? didnt explain it at all.. i kinda figured gina was the evil one pretty early, i just wanna know why they took over..





from wiki
In some traditions, a doppelgänger seen by a person's friends or relatives portends illness or danger, while seeing one's own doppelgänger is an omen of death.


who wants to live in that dark dimesnion behind mirrors?thats why they come here..

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the one thing i didnt get.. why were the dopplegangars taking over? didnt explain it at all.


The movie plays on the myth of how a mirror breaking gives you bad luck.

If you forgot, in the beginning of the movie a mirror broke while the whole family and the boyfriend of the women were all in the same room. Since they were all in the same room when it happened, it is why ONLY those people in the room is being attacked thru out the film.









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If you forgot, in the beginning of the movie a mirror broke while the whole family and the boyfriend of the women were all in the same room. Since they were all in the same room when it happened, it is why ONLY those people in the room is being attacked thru out the film.

Except for the dog at the junkyard.

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And the people on the train the old homeless lady identified. The implication is that this was happening on a larger scale. But again, the explanation of why now, and by who was not specifically provided, leaving us to theorize. Which may be the point of leaving the movie that way.

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Naaah, what about the scared chinese guy who says "my wife....", and then she's up there in the apartment? It sounds like she's a doppleganger too.

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Nah, I think he was just going to say "my wife ... really likes oranges."

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And if you remember, another mirror was broken before that at Stefan's apartment by the workmen.

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Except not really...her brother's neighbor starting to say something about his wife, after something has obviously startled/upset him, and the "crazy" lady on the Underground staring at a passenger and telling him "You're one," both indicate (in this movie's never-subtle fashion) that this is pretty much going on everywhere.

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Because the regular people were living life in the warm light and they were stuck on the other side in the dark with nothing to do but be reflections...they hate the outside people and want to get out and have fun and live a life, but they only reflect back surface expressions and do not feel real emotions they can only fake them, so they have no heart.

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the one thing i didnt get.. why were the dopplegangars taking over? didnt explain it at all.. i kinda figured gina was the evil one pretty early, i just wanna know why they took over..



Some great answers already floating around but here is an exposition that I think also sums it up nicely:

The Real Star Trek: The Alternative Factor (episode)

"This leaping from universe to universe. This wild talk about a murdering creature who destroys civilizations. What's the purpose?"
"Jim... madness has no purpose. Or reason. But, it may have a goal."

- Kirk and Spock

...But he's mad. You've heard him; he's lost his mind. When our people found a way to slip through the warp and prove that another universe, an identical one, existed, it was too much for him. He could not live knowing that I lived. He became obsessed with the idea of destroying me. And the fact that it meant his own destruction, and everything else, meant nothing to him."

- Kirk and Anti-Lazarus

Also, Have a look at Solaris under subplots: how to freak-out when you meet yourself.

Cheers,

Baartock

NO upside down is ON.

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There was a doppelganger created for him. Go back to the scene when his girlfriend Kate comes home and tries to call him at his studio. There is his doppelganger standing in front of his painting staring at it blankly and not answering the phone.
I do agree with the previous poster's comments that he was just lucky to have avoided an encounter with his nemesis. Maybe he figured out that there was something wrong with his whole family at the point he ran from Gina at the hospital.

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what about the women in the subway saying "no,no, he is one of them" to a guy.
maybe is not just this family that is been overtaken.
but it doesn't matter. all this movies about things coming out of mirrors will make you never look into mirror again. maybe we should shave without looking in a mirror.

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Actually, the woman in the subway said "He is one.", according to the subtitle. This may mean:
"He is one of the them (the dopplegangers)."
"There is only one of him (so without a doppleganger)."
Note that the woman was a bit shocked or surprised when she saw Gina (or more precisely her doppleganger), possibly because she showed emotions and therefore was different from all other dopplegangers.

Someone mentioned that a doppleganger cannot see its reflection in a mirror. That is obviously not true in the movie. Gina's doppleganger looked at her reflection in the mirror to study her scar and remove the small white tapes.

Why did Gina's doppleganger act like a normal human prior to realising and remembering that she was the doppleganger?

Let's recall the quote at the beginning of the film:

"You have conquered, and I yield. Yet, henceforward art thou also dead - dead to the World, to Heaven, and to Hope! In me didst thou exist - and, in my death, see by this image, which is thine own, how utterly thou hast murdered thyself." - Edgar Allan Poe

The dopplegangers are emotionless because, by killing their original human selves, they have also killed themselves. More accurately, it is the knowledge that you have killed your original self that makes you "dead" and hence emotionless. Gina's doppleganger was fully capable of emotions before her realisation/recollection.

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This could be the back door link left in the movie intetionally for The Broken II. I think a sequel could be entertaining.

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"what about the women in the subway saying "no,no, he is one of them" to a guy. "

In addition to that, there was the brother's neighbor's wife. The neighbor tried to explain it to the brother, but the wife was watching, so he couldn't.

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At the start, Lena's character is commenting on a xray scan she has and the guy says the image is mirrored, but she corrects him saying its a rare disorder, happens to about 1-1000 people (i think those were the numbers). So thats the amount of dopplegangers.

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I think more likely is that the x-ray was of a doppleganger and that's why everything was the other way around. Just like in a mirror.

Also as for more dopplegangers I think that nurse in the hospital was one as well. When Gina's father was walking down the hall to see her when she was first in the accident and he looked in a room and a nurse looked up at him sharply. There were definitely other dopplegangers. Not just in their family. But maybe all those people had broken mirrors as well and that's how they got their dopplegangers.

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The movie states there have been 100 confirmed cases of this syndrome since 1923, 80 in the last 10 years.

That suggests that it's happening on a larger scale than just this family. Take into consideration a case has to be reported before it can be confirmed.

And the idea of Situs Inversus is the point to this film, but it's one in every 10,000 births (not 1,000 as the film suggests).

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OOO! I LIKED THIS OBSERVATION A LOT!

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Perhaps, but I don't think, in my opinion, that there will be a sequel. From an economic point of view, this one probably didn't make enough money to warrant a sequel. From another point of view, it seems to me that a big part of the ending is to purposefully not tell you what is going on (other than what we see) or why. The last scene of her driving (and she does appear to be smirking, too), is a little odd. Not sure of the point of that other than she is getting away with killing her original. Of course, since her car was wrecked, what is she driving and how much later is that scene happening? A day, a week?

On some level, the Star Trek (of which I'm a long time fan) explanations above may make the most sense.

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He didn't get killed because the Asian neighbour ("It's my wife. She's...") gave him a clue.

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yeah the main thing is that the movie never explains what is going on. What is causing these duplicates to come thru the mirrors? Why do they exist? What is their purpose? I don't think her brother gets away. I think she is chasing him down in her car at the end when she is driving.

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In my opinion, there are several flaws in the movie.
The Gina duplicate, showed emotions, was shocked by her dead boyfriend, and before that she feared her boyfriend duplicate who was without emotions.
All other duplicates in the movie was without emotions.

In the end the Gina duplicate was also suddenly without emotions and the real brother of Gina feared her.

Besides from these flaws I found the movie ok.

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That's because she was no longer "broken".

Her memories, her mind, essentially her being was restored when she pieced everything together. She returned to what she always was.

The psychologist said that the accident/ loss of memory can cause not only the person themselves but their interpretations of other people to be out of sync and that only when she comes to terms and remembers everything will everything be normal, namely her becoming pure doppelgänger evil. Hope this helps.

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That's because she was no longer "broken".

Her memories, her mind, essentially her being was restored when she pieced everything together. She returned to what she always was.

The psychologist said that the accident/ loss of memory can cause not only the person themselves but their interpretations of other people to be out of sync and that only when she comes to terms and remembers everything will everything be normal, namely her becoming pure doppelgänger evil. Hope this helps.

Seconded.

A great movie. Excellent acting. Intriguing and most unpredictable screenplay. & brilliant direction. Yet it remains most underrated by the... "ever so smart" majority... (whistles)

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That was one of the cleverest parts of the movie. I wish the movie had played more with the idea that everything might be explained by her brain injury...instead all you have is a rehash of the ideas in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

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[deleted]

This movie was so confusing and flawed that it feels like the beginning 15 minutes of a full movie where everything's fragmented and makes zero sense.

Except it was drawn out to almost 2 hours long.

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Ok, so I am obviously a weird freak, because I randomly assumed something else completely differently in this film about the brother and his doppelganger!!! lol.

Anyway, about the brother, I just wondered if anyone noticed earlier when the original girlf called him and the doppel Daniel was in his studio? All the canvases in the studio were self portraits. They are not realistic, sort of grotesque and dark. So basically Daniel has spent quite a large amount of time, possibly years, painting his doppelganger without realising it. Thats what the doppel was looking at- pictures of himself.

So at the end, Im not sure why, when I saw the original Daniel at the hospital I thought the reason why he wasn't dead yet is because his doppel is still in the studio- like he's (the copy, I mean) went a bit mad, or had a breakdown, or realised he can't pass himself off as Daniel???

In order to create art you have to have a creative personality-a unique talent. A copy without emotions wouldnt be able to achieve that.

I have no idea why I thought that, it was just a feeling, that Daniels doppel was freaked out by seeing himself painted as he probably looked when he was in the scary dark mirror place. Because traditionally in mythology doppels have no reflection, so they never actually see themselves- they can only see the originals, and mimic their movements. So maybe he went insane. Or maybe I had too much coffee :)







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I considered this as well - it probably explains the brothers' survival. It might not actually have been his doppelgänger and quite simply just ignored the phone whilst in the zone, but his art is mentioned a couple of times and without this explanation it has no other relevance.

Personally I don't think the movie is actually dealing with doppelgängers because of the suggestion about mirrors, and the fact they are always breaking. You say that doppelgängers don't have a reflection, but that's a misconception - it is when you see yourself in a form that cannot be a reflection. That's not to deny what everyone is saying on these boards, but just to say I think they're using the wrong word to describe these things.

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Hey guys! I just realized... I'm a doppelganger! ...can you help me get back to my mirror world?

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I am surprised nobody noticed that the 2 doctors were definitely doppelgangers. That scene where they both go to the window and watch her get into her car and leave. The showed absolutely no emotion and just looked at each other. They were definitely doppelgangers.

Obviously the film doesn't really explain what is going on in regards to why the doppelgangers are now coming out of their dimension behind the mirrors but I think its safe to say by what we see in a few misc scenes that its happening everywhere and by the end of the film the brother is probably one of the only humans left in the city.

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Ah, the old Invasion of the Body Snatchers ending.

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I agree with gotmyorangecrush that the doppleganger phenomenon was pretty widespread throughout the movie, including the doctors. I just wish they'd cleared up the reason for it all, especially since the main protagonist was very much a human until the end. That sort of spoiled it for me. None of the other dopplegangers seemed capable of acting human, like it wasn't in them, or even in Gina at the end, to act human.

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the main protagonist was very much a human until the end.


I assumed the reason for this was the amnesia she suffered in the car accident. She only had fragments of memory prior to the accident, and it was only when Daniel pointed out that the apartment she followed the double to was her own that she decided to go back there and then find her human self dead which brought her memory back.



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So, most of the people in London had their mirrors broken at the same time? Or did the whole evil begin from one family's mirror being broken?

-Goodnight, mother of six!
-Goodnight, father of two!

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So, most of the people in London had their mirrors broken at the same time? Or did the whole evil begin from one family's mirror being broken?

Hard to say, but when they said that the cases of Situs Inversus had been increasing faster over the last decade, it seems that the mirrors are breaking more frequently than before.

Maybe the mirror people are figuring out how to break them more quickly?

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