MovieChat Forums > Southern Comfort (1981) Discussion > what happened in the end?

what happened in the end?

posted 18 years ago by TSPeterson128
8 replies | jump to latest

I just finished watching southern comfort and I dont get the very end. Why do the 2 remaining soldiers give each other this look like "holy *beep* are you seeing what im seeing?" Then the camera pans to reveal the number on the side of the truck and the white star. The look that the two exchange seems to say that there is something incredibly wrong. The chopper appears to be landing and the truck rolling up....but the view of the driver is obscured. I apologize in advance if the answer is very obvious i.e. the truck/chopper are being driven by cajuns and the 2 arent safe at all. Please dont flame me, im just asking.

[–] kronyan 18 years ago

Been a long time since I last saw this movie, if I remember correctly, the jeep with the white star belongs to the US Army, which means that the two men being hunted by the Cajuns were safe, since the Army had found them. The army had to be looking for them, since it was a whole platoon that just disappeared. I also believe they had pretty much killed or severely injured most of the Cajuns hunting for them.

[–] Rasbenek 18 years ago

Here's two considerations:

The village was almost right next door to the base. It didn't seem a long period of time (and wasn't indicated as such by any film techniques usually reserved for such eg. dissolves)from Hardin and Spencer running from the village to them happening upon the base. The look in this instance would be something like "I don't believe we were so close all along!"

either that or

The threat of yet further confrontation because of the ambiguity in reveal of the truck identity, kept anbiguous to maintain tension to the last frame of the film. So "Don't tell me it smore of them" and the reveal of the designation numbers and 'star' revealing that they are in fact safe.

You can make up your own interpretations of what it all means, but the final result is simply that they reached safety. No more, no less.

R

[–] AssetsonFire 18 years ago

I came on here looking for an answer to the same question and someone seems to have answered it in another thread. The reason for the dodgy atmopsphere at the end was because the soldiers weren't sure who was in the truck. For all they knew, it could've been the Cajuns who'd found the dead poachers and were coming after them. It was only in the last shot that you see that it's actually an army truck, but like I say, I didn't connect the dots until I read it on here, so perhaps it wasn't that well-executed.

As for the chopper, I suppose that has some significance too, but it's probably meant to be open to interpretation. Maybe it's supposed to represent the American government, who were always too far out of reach of the soldiers' rescue in Vietnam.

[–] lukaslukas 17 years ago

That'd be the smallest platoon ever.

My vote history
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=21237198

[–] IanTheGenius 18 years ago

It's somewhat ambiguous. It seems that the driver of the jeep is the one armed trapper (Brion James) at one point, but the final reveal of the US Army star means they could be safe... but they might not be.

[–] Shadow43 17 years ago

You can actually see the driver at one point and he is clearly wearing a National Guard uniform complete with helmet.

[–] s7777 17 years ago

The chopper can't get to them because of the trees. It can't land. The truck will reach them first and until we see the US star on the side of the truck we don't know who's in the truck.Thats why they give each other a look of what ever will be will be.
We don't know they are saved until the last moment

[–] 17 years ago

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