Thanks, Chris. I hope you do pose some more of these intriguing questions. I love these discussions.
A bit OT maybe, but today I was just going about my business when I started thinking about Ennis' fate and BURST INTO TEARS. Keep in mind that I don't have the DVD, haven't seen the movie in a month or so. I tried reminding myself that, hey, these are fictional characters (however much their story may reflect thousands or millions of real-life ones). But that didn't help. It was just too sad. What is with me? As someone asked a long time ago back on the imdb board, when does the devastation end???
Some folks on TOB on IMDb insist that when we cry over BBM, we are really crying over ourselves, our regrets, disappointments, and fears regarding our own lives. While I recognize some truth in this, this doesn't explain the extent and duration of the strange grieving I have been experiencing for over two months now over this story.
I think the heartbreak at the core of the story is existential and archetypal in quality. Pain and sorrow are inherent in merely existing (at least existing in this one dimension of reality), and the story highlights this fact in such a poignant and real way. Ennis becomes an avatar of Loneliness, a universal exemplar of a universal human emotion--he will forever be ensconced in his story, alone, in love, and bereft of his heart's desire. No amount of working through our own processes, trying to get on with our lives, will ever change this. To paraphrase Joseph Conrad, there is an intransigent 'heart of darkness' at the center of this beautiful, troubling tale, that is tied inextricably to the human condition. Ennis transcends fiction when we are confronted by this, for we all become Ennis, insofar as we are moved and transformed by his story, and must bear the burden of learning how to comfort the loneliness and pain in our own hearts. We cannot escape our painful humanity, at least while we still draw breath, but we can try to mitigate this with joy and love. Indeed, the movie's implications challenge us to do so, and in offering this gift, it stands as perhaps the most important film yet made.
Scott