Bad Title

Well, don't know if you're still around, mkaskel-1. I'm just revisiting some old threads I contributed to. But I suppose others also might enjoy a continuation of this discussion.

If you view the ending (and indeed the entire film) as a space-age parallel parable on slavery, it will clarify things, I think. I believe the "down-pointers" are of the same extraterrestrial race as "The Brother." This is why he can read their graffiti and communicate nonverbally with them. It is their decision not to accompany him back to their home planet.

At the end of the U.S. Civil War when slaves received their freedom, some did elect to go back to Africa and found their own nation, Liberia. But the great majority of former slaves chose to stay in the U.S., recognizing that after many generations, for better or for worse, their families had become part of the fabric of America. Africa was now culturally foreign to them: to "return" there would be to venture into the great unknown.

I've always imagined that the "down-pointers" were probably not escaped slaves themselves but the grandchildren or great-grandchildren of escapees. They may have passed-down knowledge of the home planet but no direct experience of it. They have become part of the fabric of Earth. The home planet is now culturally foreign to them: to "return" there would be to venture into the great unknown for them as well.


"Tell you what . . . the truth is . . . sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it." --Jack Twist