Wonderful post Katie you did:
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Posted on: Today at 03:22:09 AMPosted by: Katie77
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I have just read thru the posts here, and Amanda, your observations are really brilliant, and reading how you explain it, makes it seem a very feasible possibility that the boys were being watched at other times than the scene we see Aguire with the binoculars. Next time I watch the film, I will look at it from that perspective, just to see if my opinion changes.
I agree with Chowhound that the distance the boys were from Aguire's trailer was probably too far for him to travel to make regular inspections. Considering that it seemed like a long enough trip for Ennis to go back to the bridge to get the food supplies.
I have always wondered why Aguire even went up to the camp to tell Jack about his uncle. In some ways, it seems very much out of character for someone like Aguire to take on such a trip for a compassionate reason. If it was Jack's father or mother maybe, but not just for his uncle. Even the fact that Jack's mother knew who to ring, with the news of the uncle in the first place is a bit of a mystery. My thought on Aguire, getting a phone call like that, would have him saying...."Well WTF do you want me to do, he could be anywhere up in those mountains, and Im not goin to find him".....
And what was the purpose anyway, did he think Jack would roll up his tent and say "I must go and sit with my sick uncle"....what would have happened to the sheep then?
The only reason I can see why AGuire did the trip up the mountain, was to maybe check on the boys, but I do think it was the first time that he did. I think the second time he went up, just to tell Jack his uncle was OK, definately was for the reason of checking out the boys, not for a sexual thrill, but just to see if they were watching the sheep properly. Maybe even with the intention, that if he saw them rolling around on the ground again, he might have fired them, or told them to bring the sheep down.
I think we as the viewer were meant to feel anxiety that someone like Aguire had spotted them, and then we would worry about the consequences.
Just the same as when Alma opened the door, the same shock and anxiety and fear of their secret getting out.
It also showed us, that as much as they tried to do everything privately, and thought that they had never been caught, they had been, and Ennis in particular would have been mortified if he had known he had been seen. Jack, on the other hand, after the "stemming the rose" conversation with Aguire did know they had been spotted, but knew not to tell Ennis about it.
I think all of these scenes were to cause the viewer the same anxieties that Ennis was feeling. How many of us thought, "OMG Ennis would have a seizure if he knew Aguire saw them, or if he knew Alma saw them"......we were shocked when it happend, but then had to hope that Ennis would not find out, or he might then have finished the relationship with Jack once and for all.
I dont think Aguire was gay, or even a voyeur. I got the feeling that he was disgusted with what he saw, and tried to make Jack feel that way when he confronted him about it.
