The deeper message of this movie is about detachment. Having something only to lose it. Going through that process so many times until you become detached from everything. Its expression culminated with the scene on the rooftop where he becomes a detachment enjoyer only to remember he is now even detached from his own parents. I have been feeling this way in my own life but on a different way. Does this make sense to anyone?
shareThe complete loss of innocence plus growing up from stark privilege to utter nothing but the jacket on your back are the main themes I focus on, but absolutely that's part of it.
To me, that rooftop scene showed how Jim did everything he could to keep his mind distracted from what is really going on. "He certainly is a busy boy," someone said earlier. Jim constantly distracts himself to forget where he is and what he's lost. On that rooftop when the doctor screams for him to stop thinking so much and Jim does, he suddenly bursts into tears and talks about how he can't remember his family and how alone he really is.
Absolutely. For me, it's the context of it all. Right before that moment, he was showing attachment to the Japanese culture and honor by singing before the pilots took off and you can see even the Japanese are touched by it. He feels a deep connection to them but then he loses it the next moment when their planes get blown up. He is now detached from that and has to let go. Now he is attached to the American planes but the doctor pulls him back to reality and he lets it go. The Japanese kid he got attached to gets shot and he needs to let him go. He is attached to Basie in some way but it's not real because Basie is not the kind to get attached so he let's it go too.
It's a story about attachment and how it's all incredibly feeble and temporary. You are attached to the idea that you are this kind of person but then you learn you are wrong. You are wrong about who you are and who your people are. You are alone. Family prevails.
Very true... speaking of Baise, after the Japanese kid gets shot Basie pulls Jim off beating up his buddy and says, "We'll go sit by the pool and have three meals a day with your dad"... Jim pulls himself off and they stare at each other and Basie gets that look. He knows right then and there realizes Jim has finally woken up and has finally seen through it all.
shareYea that's a great point too
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