MovieChat Forums > Communion (1989) Discussion > question about the end

question about the end

posted 19 years ago by jambrose124
15 replies | jump to latest

It has been forever since I have seen this film and I was young when I originally saw it. There was a scene near the end that I had always wondered about and would like to ask people's opinion of it. It's one of the scenes where Walken is with the aliens. He seemed happy to be there with them. One of the aliens (a Grey) allows him to touch its face. In so doing Walken sees that it is a mask. He removes it to see an even stranger, more wicked face. What do all of you out there in IMDB world think of this?

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Kismet-13 19 years ago

I think the implication is that the aliens don't want to appear in their true form. The greys, the blue men and the wicked face are all just a facade. Notice that Strieber refuses to believe what he is seeing when the revelation comes.

"Isn't killing people in the name of god a pretty good definition of insanity?"
-Arthur C. Clarke

[–] enochknight123 19 years ago

or it could be that the grey's true form was a reptilian.

[–] pinkcookies2678 19 years ago

i dont remember that part. How did the face look under the mask?? How scary was it? It couldn't possibly be any scarier than the big black eyes!!

[–] jambrose124 19 years ago

The best way I could describe it is that it looked like a dark green, almost black, small elephant's trunk. Of course, it has been over ten years since I have seen this movie.

[–] dfeatthedarkness 19 years ago

it was an alligator trap minus the sharp teeth - and it made squeaking noises like the baby dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

Walken laughs at it and is like - that's it? i was expecting more - i don't believe that one!

[–] jambrose124 18 years ago

I was hoping that someone who was familiar with UFO mythology would bring this up. Thank you for doing so. It's an interesting concept.

[–] like_tears_in_rain 18 years ago

If I remember correctly it is his wife who says that she believes what he saw is another face of God. In greek mythology any mortal who would see zeus in his true form would be blinded and I think this has the same implications.
The chinese box is there because walkens mind is probably not capable of that kind of input (most likely that seeing thier true form would give away certain truths of the universe that would break down his conceived reality in such a way that he would go insane). He says that they asked him to go with them so they obviously like him, not likely that they just dont want him to know.
The reason that it is a wicked face is probably 2 fold:

1:a warning that removing the layers of the box would lead to something scarey (which for walken to see the truth it would be , not because they are evil but because it is too challanging for him)

2: its a chinese box.. an eternal puzzle that walken can never solve so obviously to put what he wouldn`t want to see each time he removes a mask makes sense, he might become obsessed in seeing them truly and as they say he will never be allowed to see the truth so he shouldn`t even both.

[–] bmw3365-1 18 years ago

i love at the end when he's making out with his wife in the museum. i loved how his character was such a "normal" family man who had all this weird intrution brought into his life.

[–] jambrose124 18 years ago

When Whitley Strieber wrote this screenplay and the book on which it is based, he was writing about events which he claims really happened to him. He has written other books on the subject. Recently he was interviewed on the radio show CoasttoCoastAM. He spoke very openly about his experiences with UFOs and aliens. I'm not saying that I completely believe. I am just mentioning his beliefs. Concerning the ending in question, I was half tempted to call him on the radio show and ask him if that was the ending that he included or something that the director added. However, open lines for the show start at 4 AM and by that time I really needed to sleep.

[–] largo2032 17 years ago

That's the only thing that sucks about C2C is the time that it comes on. But still it is a great program!

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] veo 15 years ago

Now that was a very, very good explanation and interpretation, like_tears_in_rain. Congratulations - even after 3 and a half years ;)

Gognitti bailed. I made like Chow Yun-Fat.

[–] captkirk_4 15 years ago

It is an hallucination, dream sequence. Strieber probably does have temporal lobe epilepsy, unlike the film in real life he refused to discuss the results of the test. He is having these seizures, seeing bright lights and terrifying hallucinations. It probably led to his career as a Horror Novelist, in the 80's cultural influences caused him to interpret his seizures as alien abduction. The mask scene is sort of a mind trip as he was wondering what was going on, he toys with the idea that they are a scary, horror movie-esque, reptilian monsters and rejects it as too simplistic.

[–] jabberttp 14 years ago

I actually liked that scene a LOT (and your recollection is very good considering how long ago you saw the movie - as well as how long ago your post was).

That's another reason I "upped" my original rating of the movie (to now the vaunted status of '10').

When I originally saw the "grays" I thought they were too "undetailed" looking. Yeah, scary and creepy, but why such smooth faces and features? When other alien accounts look more like living beings?

Then to me that scene revealed that the smoothness was sort of a "spacesuit", not their actual appearance.

A slightly "different" view I know than others, but to me it sort of makes sense. Much like a view of a turtles' shell and you see a smooth living being. Underneath you see this detailed wrinkly "thing". lol

Cheers,