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The great bleakness of the vast Northern plains

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Jeff Wrangler:

--- Quote from: southendmd on June 10, 2009, 02:23:06 pm ---I recall that Ang had said he wanted there to be something "redemptive" about the ending. 

--- End quote ---

Redemptive is a good word for it.

optom3:

--- Quote from: Clyde-B on June 10, 2009, 02:29:59 pm ---That's a really interesting question!  I can only tell you how it affected me.  I checked the Striped Wall pic just to be sure.

The bleakness came for me because we are looking at a flat plain.  Flat as far as the eye can see, not a tree, not a house, not a mountain, not a barn.  To me an empty plane is like solitary confinement that stretches for miles and miles with only the wind for walls.  The only visible sign of life is the wind blowing through the tall grass.  The wind was used throughout the movie as a symbol for Jack, and the wind through the grass just reminded me that Jack is gone.

In the country, the grass is always greener on the other side of the road and we can see that what beauty the plain has is on the opposite side of the road from where Ennis is.  The road stands there, cold and desolate, like a wall.  Symbolically, unless life sends Ennis another miracle like Jack, I don't think he'll ever cross that road.  A visual representation of so near, yet so far away.

It worked as a physical metaphor for me, because it seemed to be saying to Ennis, the one thing that made your life bearable, you had, but you didn't appreciate it and now it's gone, forever beyond your reach.

--- End quote ---

I am pretty much with you on this.That scene reduces me to a blubbering wreck every time. Virtually everything we see is a reminder of everything Ennis has lost. The trailer where he lives is bleak, the vast flatness that surrounds him is bleak, in contrast with the vast heights of BBM where everything soared, his emotions, freedom, and a love that may not have been admitted but was nonetheless all too real.
We see Alma junior grab her love with both hands and hold on to it, as opposed to her father who could no more grab his love than he can the wind that rattles round the trailer.
Alma has everything in front of her, Ennis has it all behind. I see hope for Alma but not Ennis. All I can focus on is how vast the plains are so like the vast grief felt by Ennis.
I also like the tie in with the S.S on another level, Ennis is driving away from the Twists house and he  "didn't want to know Jack was going in there,to be buried on the grieving plain"
To me any association with the flat landscape represents pain and loss, the peaks of the mountains are symbolic of love and joy. So at the very end we see what could have been as opposed to what is.

ifyoucantfixit:

      Just an idea, I had at the time.   The open closet door, with the mountains and the two shirts, represent what he
hid away, and is still hiding "in the closet."   What he is left with, is the wide open all seen and everyone can see, plain
fields.  Nothing interesting or colorful to make it beautiful or joyous.  It is not hidden away, but also not valuable.

     In short it tells him that hiding the good stuff, leaves you with nothing.

Front-Ranger:
For me, the scene out the window, made of bands of color, is symbolic of Jack and Ennis. Ennis is the yellow band and Jack is the blue band of sky. The green grain (which I believe is actually barley) represents the two of them in unity, which is what green is, a mixture of yellow and blue. That it is growing plants adds to the symbolism, and represents the resurgence of hope, new life which springs from death, and the renaissance of the world every year in the spring.

milomorris:
Here's what I see in the composition of that frame...

Ennis has been taught some profound life lessons over the previous 20 years of his life. Alma, his girls, and of course Jack were his teachers. His conversation with Junior indicates that he has indeed assimilated those lessons on some level.

The way I interpret it, the closet with the shirts and the postcard represent Ennis' past failures and deep sadness. The colorful, wide open field represents a world full of possibilities and potential happiness. I think the shot asks, "which will Ennis choose?"

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