Excellent film. I love how, despite its premise, it's almost impossible to pick only one character perspective to relate to, even be sympathetic to. You find yourself understanding life and ideological perspectives you maybe never considered before. The characters are very human and realistic in how they interact.
A quick assessment and Eddie could be written off as a jerk and Rose as a woman without self-worth. But life, people, relationships and human attraction is so much more complicated than that --- far, more complicated than our pretty ideals would like them to be. That could be pegged as the entire point of this film. Eddie craves acceptance but he also has a conscience that pulls at him, when he least expects it. Rose is, both, emotionally wise and socially astute but also ideologically naive, regarding the hard realities of defense; she's had her troubles as an "ugly duckling" but audiences get the sense that Eddie has carried some deeper troubles of his own, with hints in his story that he might have endured an abusive childhood. He sounds like a man who remembers what it was like to have to fight back. The way these two characters are able to slowly peel back the layers of their life stories made their interaction feel so real; it's exactly like how it really is, when two people get to know each other, for the first time.
*Spoilers!*
What really reminds us that these characters are not hollow, that we didn't waste time investing in them, is how Eddie makes himself totally vulnerable before Rose at the end and Rose is authentic enough in her beliefs, to not immediately reject him. Unlike the trend conscious, unforgiving individuals that filled the area after The War, Rose is the real deal; she was not anti-war because it was socially righteous and fashionable, she was against it because she's a compassionate human being. There's no "baby killer" contempt coming from her. She sees Eddie's humanity, first and understands how complicated it's all been.
In the end, Rose has the power between them and she carries it with grace. There's a truth and beauty in her spirit, that Eddie finally understands.
This is one of my favorite films.
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