MovieChat Forums > Die Farbe des Ozeans (2012) Discussion > Questions about the ending - Warning: Sp...

Questions about the ending - Warning: Spoilers!

posted 10 years ago by yurenchu
2 replies | jump to latest

I just watched it on a German TV channel, what a compelling movie! It reminds me of Lichter (2003), another German movie about refugees looking for asylum.

However I think I missed some events or dialogue, and so I have a couple of questions about the ending:

1. What happened to the boy's dad, Zola? I know that the doctor at the hospital said to Nathalie that Zola had died 30 minutes earlier. Is he really dead? Or did he get away with the help of some people?

2. What did José (the border police guy) need Manou's help for? Manou says "Nobody can help you, you are beyond help" and José says "It's not for me, it's for someone else." But the movie didn't show how Manou helped José.

3. What happens to Mamadou (the boy) in the end? Is he going to live in an orphanage in Paris? Why did José bring him to the beach?

4. What happened to the money that Zola put in the locker with his son? I assume that the cleaning lady who found the boy took it, but maybe the money was in the boy's pocket and something else happened with it?

Any help much appreciated.

______
last listened to: Michel Fugain - Une belle histoire
http://y2u.be/qFWv3g4y2Pg

[–] dieastra 10 years ago

Hiya! I had no idea it was on German TV, we just watched it from a DVD. Lovely movie!

To your questions: I think José needed the dealer's help with killing the Dad actually. The Dad had said himself if he was dead, his son would be allowed to stay as an orphan. And I guess he wouldn't have wanted to live like that paralyzed for the rest of his life. He could not work and earn money, and who would pay his hospital bills? So he gave his life for his son.

So yeah, I think he is really dead.

We wondered about where the money was as well. They did not mention it.

I guess he only took him to the beach when the call about a new boat came. They showed us this is happening again and again every day. I guess he really went to the orphanage later. Or maybe José adopted him, but that would have been a cliché. I expected the German lady to adopt him or something, but they left it open.

[–] yurenchu 10 years ago

Thanks for your reply, dieastra. It's been a while now since I've seen the movie, so I don't remember the details that well. That's really a shocking and raw turn of events if José actually helped Zola dying so that his son could stay in Europe. I had rather hoped that the dealer was able to help with forging documents or something. But the dad being really dead is probably the most realistic interpretation indeed.

It's possible and likely that the boy simply went to the orphanage later, but I found it a rather weird ending that José took him to the beach and that the movie ended there. Maybe the main reason was indeed to show us that this story happens on a daily basis.

Anyway, thanks for your thoughts and insights in the matter.

______
Joe Satriani - "Always With Me, Always With You"
https://y2u.be/VI57QHL6ge0