One of the greatest endings in Cinema history
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degree7 — 10 years ago(September 19, 2015 01:44 AM)
A lot of movies end with main characters moving away from the camera, not just 70s ones.
The point was that he's able to walk on water, which I don't recall any other movie doing.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here. -
BobbyDupea — 10 years ago(September 25, 2015 10:57 AM)
No, the point was not that he was able to walk on water - he wasn't shown walking on water at the end of the movie. He was shown being very lucky in walking out on the only shallow part of the pond, which was surrounded by deep water on three sides. He put his cane in the water to test the depth of the water, thereby showing the viewer how lucky he was (again). His name was "Chance" for a reason.
My real name is Jeff -
degree7 — 10 years ago(September 25, 2015 01:27 PM)
Well now, I'm going to have to point you towards Roger Ebert's explanation:
"The movie presents us with an image, and while you may discuss the meaning of the image, it is not permitted to devise explanations for it. Since Ashby does not show the pier, there is no pier a movie is exactly what it shows us, and nothing more."
Now I want you to hold that between your knees.
~ I'm a 21st century man and I don't wanna be here. -
BobbyDupea — 10 years ago(September 28, 2015 06:40 AM)
I am doing exactly as Ebert recommended. I am simply looking at what the movie shows. There is no image in the movie of Chance walking on water. The lack of supernatural happenstance is underlined by Chance testing the depth of the water. He would have no need to do that if he was able to walk on water.
My real name is Jeff -
BobbyDupea — 9 years ago(July 18, 2016 10:30 AM)
No, he was very lucky and walked out into a shallow part of the lake - which is very consistent with the rest of the movie. Chance being a supernatural being who can walk on water is not at all consistent with the rest of the movie and makes no sense at all.
My real name is Jeff -
maxim_3001 — 10 years ago(February 21, 2016 04:04 AM)
I somehow feel that all the interpretations in this thread have a certain gravitas to them. With the "he is much like Jesus" being the weakest one, I have to say.
To me personally, it is a rather positive ending. Together with the last line of the movie "Life is a state of mind." it seems like Chance simply does not know any better. He has never seen anyone on TV walking on water in the same way he has never seen anyone NOT being able to do so. So he simply assumes: Why shouldn't he be able to walk on water. It has not been proven to him before that he can not.
So to sum it up: Life is what you think it is. Your life, your rules, you boundaries. Or: Life is a state of mind.
This theme is for example also echoed in the "love scene" between Chance and Eve. Only here Eve is the one who "makes things what she thinks they are": Sexually charged and passionate. Chance however could not give less of a s*#t. So all the tension she feels between herself and Chance is really nothing but a state of mind. -
vendor-14 — 9 years ago(April 20, 2016 04:28 PM)
I agree in great part with your interpretation of the ending but would simplify it even more.
Chance doesn't assume he can walk on water and then do so. He walks on water, notices he is doing so, and then continues to do so.
Chance is just walking from here to there in a straight line. He doesn't register the lake in his path as an obstacle. When he notices he is walking on water he doesn't register walking on water as an impossibility.
There is no real thought process. It really is a state of mind. -
ebersole — 9 years ago(November 15, 2016 12:19 PM)
The theme of the movie, as I see it, is projection. People project themselves onto Chance, and see in him what they wish to see.
I interpret the ending as ambiguous, and that it involves the audience to do what the characters in the movie have been doing throughout: search for meaning, interpret, and project.
It's as if we're invited by the filmmakers to ask, "what does the ending mean", only for the filmmaker to turn around and ask us, "what do YOU think it means?"
Dave -
aclhemist5004 — 9 years ago(November 21, 2016 11:31 AM)
I agree with you ^.
People in the movie just project their own ideas on the reactions of chance. Why they do so ? In my view answer lies in that we interpret the situation in a way that pleases us. It is human psychology to approach an ambiguous situation in a way that makes sense. So, every time chance behaves in the peculiar way , the person on the other side projects his ideas on to him. The only person to be able to see clearly was the Doctor.