MovieChat Forums > Take Shelter (2011) Discussion > Ending... Explained

Ending... Explained

posted 10 years ago by ryansythe
8 replies | jump to latest

Just a quick prenote. I was thinking that when he opened the shelter doors after the storm passed everything was gonna be knocked down by Katrina lol and he would be relieved that he was not as crazy as he thought.

Anyways, you have to look at the scenes of events. They all lead up to the ending, and it wouldn't make sense if the storm was real, defeats the whole purpose of the movie actually. It's a slow progression of a man becoming schizophrenic, and no matter how hard he wants to be normal or be fixed, its inevitable, the illness wins.

I'll start with the scene where he yells at everyone at the Lions Club potluck saying that the storm is coming, is the scene where the audience can conclude that this man has gone crazy.

The next scene we wake up to the storm and how they rush in there. He makes them put the gas masks on regardless of whats going on outside (which he didn't understand himself what he bought them for, just schizophrenia). Next they woke him up and tried convincing him to open the door. Half of him knew the storm was over but the schizophrenia made him so scared to open it. The wife knew that this was a big step in helping his illness. If she opened the door the schizophrenia won and he would still be scared. However, if he opened the door he knows that the side that knew there wasn't a storm anymore was right all along and he would feel more normal.

The next scene was in the psychiatrists office. The scene ended with him feeling gloom about spending time apart with his family, but the wife reached in and grabbed his hand.

It cuts scenes and goes to the beach. Instead of only him seeing the storm, the whole family does. The whole family is hear to help battle his schizophrenia, which is why the wife grabbed his hand.

Lastly, If the attentions were to have the storm be real they would of done that when he opened the shelter doors and they wouldnt of wasted time and filmed the psychiatrists office scene. Plus this is why the scene where he opens the doors was so intense. Besides the tear between his own will power and the schizophrenia, there was a small thought in the back of the audiences mind saying "What if that storm was real."

[–] MoviemanCin 8 years ago

Nope, I disagree, ryan. The storm at the end was real. All three of them see the storm coming. It was a great ironic twist of an ending. Everyone thought he was crazy. It turned out he was not. He was having premonitions of the future, which takes this brilliant film into the realm of sci-fi.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar and doesn't.

[–] FullyOperationalSamaritan 8 years ago

Yes, it was quite obvious to me that he was having premonitions of the apocalypse and the storm in the end was real.

He stats having premonitions that he thinks are nightmares.
He takes prescription drugs to stop the nightmares.
The premonitions now hurt him in the real world because he has to pay attention to them, which he does.

I can't believe people still think it's a dream or whatever. There are many theories on this board alone.

[–] jim_ruuth 8 years ago

An alternative idea to the ending.
In the end she sees everything and he seems to be worried that she is ok, I interpreted it to be she who had the mental illness all along and he was the stable husband that held the child.
Maybe I'm totally wrong and missed something but that was my first reaction.

[–] cflaviust 8 years ago

Yes, that is exactly what I was thinking. The storm at the end was real indeed, but there are many storms at the seaside, this is just another one of them. It's the same situation with the storm sirens again: the storm and the sirens are real, but it's not the apocalypse except in Curtis' mind.

[–] fcmjr55 8 years ago

My take is that the storm was real. But unlike the "many storms" this one was accompanied by a tsunami. It has been a while since I saw the movie, but I seem to remember that water line quickly receded, prior to the oncoming tsunami. When they held hands, I think it was simply a gesture of accepting their fate.

[–] RoscoeSD 8 years ago

Well of course it's not "just another storm", when there's freaking yellow rain and one shot emphasized that alone.

[–] theOnlyOutsider 7 years ago

No. You're completely wrong. His mother who was around his age when she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Says I thought people were watching me and listening to me. Curtis shows no sign of that. If he were schizophrenic he would've already been diagnosed. What he was experiencing was real. In the end the world is saved because he believed.

Divine intervention is a term for a miracle caused by a deity's active involvement in the human world. The miracle being exactly that. Clearly a modern telling of Noah's Ark.

you have to look at the scenes of events. They all lead up to the ending, and it wouldn't make sense if the storm was real, defeats the whole purpose of the movie actually. It's a slow progression of a man becoming schizophrenic, and no matter how hard he wants to be normal or be fixed, its inevitable, the illness wins.

Of course the storm was *beep* real. The point being that he had a premonition and he felt something within himself that no one else around him could understand. The storm at the end of the film is only significant because of Curtis' behavior.

You're trying to explain the film using metaphors. But, schizophrenia isn't a metaphor. If the film was about schizophrenia it would be about schizophrenia and not a storm.

Besides the tear between his own will power and the schizophrenia, there was a small thought in the back of the audiences mind saying "What if that storm was real."

No. They were thinking I hope this idiot isn't paid to write reviews.

Curtis is a religious man living in a world determined by science.

“God created war so that Americans would learn geography.”
― Mark Twain

[–] TheGutterMonkey (292) 3 years ago

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