What did Holman mean when he gets shot at the end of the film? He says something like, What happend, I was almost home free! Or something to that effect. Is he expressing regret for playing the hero, being that he was anti-military OR is he simply just yelling out so that the Chinese soldiers will still think there are U.S. troops in the compound? Or what are your thoughts about his last line?
shareI think Holman was expressing confusion and bewildement. All he wanted to be was an engineer. As has happened to many soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, he was caught up in events well outside his range of knowledge. So he was asking God, or the universe, nature, or nothing in particular, to explain how he went from maintaining his engines to killing and dying in some strange place.
Captain Dan
Yes, and along those lines - Holman for the first time has developed a meaningful love relationship and found himself as a "Whole Man" (Holman). He could have made his escape along with the missionaries he and the crew have "rescued" but instead he gets riddled with bullets. He was almost "home" - i.e., his life had finally come together and he only needed to stay alive long enough to rejoin the crew and missionaries. Then his life is cut short, so close to going "home".
shareHe shouted "What the hell happened!?" I think he was referring to the way everything went to hell after he reported aboard the San Pablo. When he first reported aboard, the American sailors lived like kings, having Chinese coolies do the drudge work, but then in short order the civil unrest started, the coolies deserted or were driven away meaning the real crew started having to do the real work, and Holman became unpopular among his shipmates.
shareIt's also the writer and director's comment on the US's situation in Vietnam. How we very quickly got ourselves involved in an escalating situation in Asia we couldn't figure our way out of.
pfft...this movie has NOTHING to do with Vietnam. Why is it that every movie with Asians in it is supposed to be a comment on Vietnam??? ugh
The people you idolize wouldn't like you.
"I was home. What Happened? What the hell happened?"
Holman was "home". He'd been planning to desert the San Pablo for China Light since Po-han's death and would have taken Maily with him if he could.
"I gotta place now. China Light. They got things straightened out up there. They make sense. They got a power plant that needs workin', engines to fix -- stuff that adds up. ...Nobody askin' whether you're Chinese or American or where's your father or anything'. It's just gonna be everybody -- all together!"
When Holman does get to the mission, he says, "Captain, you better get back to the ship. They're staying. So am I. ...I ain't got no more enemies. Shove off."
But, the Chinese revolution doesn't care -- Jameson is shot, Shirley has to escape to the ship or get raped and murdered, and poor damned Jake ends up getting killed while sitting against crates holding the machinery he dreamed of operating.
"I told you it was off." The Jackal
Hey folks,
I think Captain Dan (dangerousdanaz) has probably hit things pretty much on the mark. I seriously doubt any connection of his final words to anything with our Viet Nam experience. The original book was published in 1962, several years before our build up in Viet Nam. At the time of the book's publication, the vast majority of Americans had never heard of Viet Nam and had no idea where it was.
Best wishes,
Dave Wile
And filmed/released in 1966, which I believe was before the anti-war movement really picked up. If I remember correctly, the public was not really against the war yet in 1965-66.
shareThat's a very thoughtful reply, dsbjpo. You picked up on a couple of subtleties I'd missed, thank you.
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He was inches away from exiting the compound and running to safety with Shirley and the two others -- almost home [safe] -- but he gets shot at the very last minute. That's what he means.
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There's also the point that the whole situation - the unrest in China and so on - was nothing to do with him as far as he was concerned and he never wanted to get involved at all - he doesn't see the Chinese as his enemies. But, somehow, he did get involved to the extent that it's going to cost him his life and he doesn't really know how it all came about.
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