Why Alice jumped - The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Discussion

[–] chelle523 16 years ago

I think that you're both probably right - I think it's a little of both. Alice had already lived through such horror - watching many people, including her own father, be brutally murdered. She had almost certainly heard horror stories of what the Native Americans would do to captured women. And yes, she was infatuated with Uncas as well. I'm sure she could foresee nothing but pain and degradation if she stayed alive.

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[–] juneluv12 16 years ago

Sorry, but several of you posters have it wrong.

Actually, it is CORA and UNCAS in the book, and they both get killed. Hawkeye doesn't have a love interest. ALICE marries DUNCAN HEYWARD in the book. Alice and Cora are half sisters, and there's a whole thing about Cora's mother being 1/2 white and 1/2 black.

In the movie, Alice and Uncas did care for each. The director sets that up for us at the beginning when they're in the cabin with their friends. The woman says Uncas should have been married with children by now, and then later, Hawkeye says their going to Can-tuckee..Kentucky, and there they will find a wife for Uncas "who will say he's the one and bear him many children."

We also know that Alice is somewhat of a sickly/weak emotionally and physically girl, and Uncas is a man. It's harder for her to come to terms with her emotions until the end.

"No man is a failure who has friends"
It's A Wonderful Life
...

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[–] geordiebianconeri 16 years ago

"Native Americans often raped white women and scalped them (white men did this to them after all)."

I'm not saying you're wrong, but what's your evidence for this? Apart from every other Western ever made?

"Wait till they get a load of me!"

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[–] bjerwin75 16 years ago

Primary source records from the past tell of rape and torture of people by some Native American tribes. Not sll, but some. Despite what many Indian friendly historians teach today, many tribes could be very ruthless and sadistic in treatment of enemies and prisoners, both white and Indian. On the other hand many tribes treated their captives well. Tecumseh, the Shawnee warrior and leader of a Pan-Native confederacy, on more than one occasion had to intervene on the side of mercy to stop bloodthirsty Indians from committing savage acts on the innocent and wounded(I have much of respect for Tecumseh). Again, not all Indians were of this nature, but many were. Many Loyalist in New England turned against John Burgoyne in the American Revolution because his Indain allies set upon and brutally murdered a woman named Mcree (who was also a Loyalist). At the same time, many of the whites were equally ruthless. It is true that the Indians learned scalping from the Europeans. The Spaniards were also ruthless, as was many European powers. The more I study the time period, the more I see that there were no truly innocent peoples at that time. All groups had good and bad. We just tend to remember the bad. This distinction was well handled in this movie. Some Indians were noble, some were just wicked.

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[–] larconis 16 years ago

hey, think is probably one of the main debates to be got from this film, and obviously such things can only ever be guessed at as it is afterall a film. Personally i think she jumped because she'd just seen the man she had increasing feelings for killed and her life there after would have been as the wife of a vile, cruel man.
but if you actually watch that scene he puts out his hand to her and gestures her back from the edge, while actually lowering his shiney knife. whether this was because he softened and didnt want her to die, or because he didnt want to lose his prize is up to you to decide

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[–] baseballgirl 16 years ago

I think that the primary reason she took her life was because death was a better alternative to whatever Magua had in store for her. Based on the fact that Uncas was the only one who came out of the woodwork to save her at that moment, she probably thought that no one else was coming. Jumping was the only advantage she had over Magua.

I do think that, subtle that it is, there is undoubtedly growing affection between Uncas and Alice. However, since it was so new, I don't know that she was committing suicide to be with her lover. It may have been a small part of it, but I can't see it being as important as her just trying to get away from Magua.

By the way, though, Uncas was so bad ass when he tried to save her. If a guy did that for me, my breath would be taken away. I could fall in love in that instant. Who needs a deeper connection? =P

Pirates 3 lessons: Crabs are the climax of a love story and we just can't get rid of Orlando Bloom

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[–] welborgm 16 years ago

You have to consider events that have taken place throughout the entire movie to get the whole picture here. Lets condsider Alice's character first. Ok heres this young girl probably in her late teens who comes from a respectable family and raised in London. She's been brought up proper and away from war. Now she comes to this new land hoping to find a little adventure to tell her friends back home about when she arrives. But the adventure is much more then she had hoped. She is thrust into this frontier wilderness amidst a brutal war and all around her she's seeing people massacred. You can tell several times during the two ambush scenes in the movie that this bothers her. More so in the second scened after the surrender when she just stares around awestruck. Next considedr everything after the second ambush scene. Now everyone else but Alice seems to know that Colonel Munroe died. Maybe she figured it out though still. Maybe she knows that there were no survivors besides her, and the others that made it to the cave. So the factors so far are obviously screwing with her head. Now she is taken to the Sachem of the Huron and given to Magua for the wife he lost. She doesn't know what is to happen to her when they reach Magua's destination and she doesn't know that her sister will survive for that matter. Ok now we've covered all that now in order ot answer the question of her being in love with Uncus we must consider there relationship. Throughout the movie there relationship isn't as obvious as Cora and Nathaniel's but that makes it all the more intriguing. We see Uncus twice save her from giving away her position; once at the burial ground after they come across Cameron's cabin and again under the falls. We also know that Uncus has been attracted to her from the start. Next Under the falls when he grabs her Uncus and her obviously have a moment not shown because when she returns her hair has a braid in it i assume is from Uncus. Also there was supposedly a whole love scene between them down there that was in the script (i read it) but due to no parental consent on Jodhi May's part the scene was not filmed. From wheat i understand in the scene she would have confessed her love for him but it was more of a love that comes from relying on someone. Now Uncus risks his life and eventually loses it trying to save her and if you look at her face the entire time that Uncus and Magua fight you can tell that she has feelings for him. Ok so considering all that , it's obivous that she jumped for numerous reasons her love for Uncus being one of them.

P.S. if you find any mistakes in grammer or spelling well guess what.....I dont care.

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[–] noirgirl 16 years ago

Plus, since Alice doesn't speak Huron or Mohican, she doesn't know why she's been given to Magua. To be a wife, or a sacrifice, she has no idea. All she knows is that she's been separated from everyone she loves and her rescuer has just been killed. WIth no idea what she's facing, she just gave up.

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[–] solstice2000 16 years ago

its quite simple, she thought that dying from the fall would be better then dying by the indians, and she was probably right

and also her own romantic little loveboat just sailed over before her

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jason-1415 16 years ago

There is no doubt that the director intended Alice to jump off the cliff after her "lover", but because there was no interaction between the two during the movie it was scrapped. I think it's better without the "lover" sub-plot, the last sequence is stronger as a result, whoever talked the director out of this silly sub-plot between Alice and Uncas saved the whole movie in my opinion.

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[–] solstice2000 16 years ago

i dont know, i can see why you think its better without the 'lover sub plot', but i think that the guy was jealous of daniel day lewis' character all the way through the movie because of HIS love connection and therefore wanted to show that he could do it too, or he just wanted to mimic day lewis because he idolised him, or something

sure he probably actually thought he liked the girl but i think moreso he was trying to subconsciously impress daniel day lewis' character and therefore felt obliged to try and save his own love connection, even though they barely look at eachother throughout the entire movie

also, i think it adds a touch of unintentional comedy to the movie

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[–] 16 years ago

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[–] solstice2000 16 years ago

dam, you are probably the most idiotic person on this whole site

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[–] solstice2000 16 years ago

but you know that, which is why i guess you deleted your comment :)

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[–] MydnightRose 16 years ago

Never once during the movie did I get any sense that Uncas was jealous or had anything but love for his brother.
As for why Alice jumped, I agree with those who say there were many reasons she did it and one of those reasons was Uncas.

*****Adam Lambert in '09*****

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[–] netstuff80 15 years ago

I was always of the opinion that she jumped because she was in love with Uncas and after all she had been through, death with him was preferable to whatever awaited her with the people she was with.

Darn Jodhi May's mother not giving consent to 'love scenes' between them. heck, ONE conversation wouldn't have killed her! I always loved these two characters more than Cora and Hawkeye. *sigh*

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[–] silversurfer19507 15 years ago

Tonight's episode of Harper's Island just stole this scene.

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[–] Slippin24 15 years ago

Actually, in the novel, Alice and Unca were written as lovers, but Mann chose to concentrate on just one couple, Hawkeye and Cora. And, there was a love scene filmed of Alice and Unca while they were under the waterfall ...a very 'innocent' love scene, because Jodhi May's mother refused permission for a heavier-type love scene. Unfortunately, even the innocent scene was left on the cutting room floor because they needed to shorten the movie.

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[–] pol-edra 15 years ago

Mann made more adjustments than that actually: in the novel Hawkeye is more of an age with Chingachgook, an old friend and not an adopted son. Nothing of the romantic, passionate Daniel Day-Lewis in this movie. Uncas and Cora are the ones who die, while Heyward is in love with Alice (and has no rival in Hawkeye). Cora and Alice are half-sisters; Cora's mother was half-black, half-white.

"Sometimes I'm callous and strange."

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[–] cherryberry1119 15 years ago

I think the reason is a little deeper than "she wanted to be with the man she loved" and "she didn't want to be raped."

In the movie, the character Alice is very young, naive, very innocent. She sees the best in the world, which is why I think Uncas was so fascinated by her. So when he is killed, she sees how hateful the world can be (plus she loved him). A good man was killed.

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[–] 15 years ago

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[–] mspibb 15 years ago

Alice was a high class English girl not used to the difficulties of life on the frontier. Remember at the beginning of the movie she tells Duncan when he arrives that she is excited about the adventure and can't wait to see the red man. She is riding a horse later in the film and they have to stop and let her rest which gives Magua the opportunity to voice his scorn of white men. She says later in the movie at the fort that she can't be a "sick School girl." I think she jumps because her father is dead, she thinks Cora is dead and she has just watched the last person she knows carved up and dumped off the cliff. She is too scared to live. Perhaps we can read romance into her relationship with Uncas but she isn't designed to live the life of a frontier woman-much less Indian captive!

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[–] ninacosta87 15 years ago

Well, I do agree with "welborgm" on page six. I think Uncas has feelings for Alice, that's why he was eager to save her and didn't wait for the others, had he waited, he wouldn't have died. I think Alice likes him too, because he showed her his concern about her. I really do think it would've been interesting if there were some more scenes about them. A kiss wasn't needed, but at least a conversation, a hand shake, more glances. I think both characters deserved more attention. Alice and Uncas rarely talk throughout the movie. I was five years old when the movie was first released but now, I get the chance to see it and I liked it.
I still think Uncas is gorgeous and Alice is so pretty. And I read too that there weren't love scenes because her mother didn't want it to, because Jodhi (Alice) was 16/17 at the time. So, I blame her mother! How could she do that?
Anyway, I didn't watch the dvd, so I don't know about a "waterfall love scene".
And, I do think that she jumped because once she saw only Uncas there to save her, and he was killed, she got very angry to Magua, because I believe she didn't know she was to be Magua's wife or whatever, as she didn't speak their language. So, she was like, numb. Then, when she saw what Magua did to Uncas, she was heartbroken because he died because of her and she had feelings for him (whether was friendship, love, passion, etc). So, Alice started haiting Magua after that. She was left alone, no one else came to rescue her and Magua was offering his blooded hand? Come on, I would've jumped too. So, I think it was beautiful. And beeing a woman, I tend to romanticize it, so I think she jumped mainly (not entirely) because of Uncas.

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[–] CountSuckula 14 years ago

Magua even turns to her with a lascivious stare; then there's a shot of his knife shining in his hand, poised and ready to slice her open.

I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to fervently disagree with your interpretation.

Firstly, Magua never once looked at Alice with “a lascivious stare” rather he maintained the same emotionless expression he had always proffered. And his knife was most certainly *not* “shining in his hand, poised and ready to slice her open” because there was a very deliberate shot of him lowering his blade and motioning for Alice to come back from the cliff’s edge.

Was this a momentary offering of peace; was Magua’s bloodlust now sated with the death of the “Grey Hair”? We may never know, but I seriously doubt he had any interest in raping her at that point.

"Stick with me baby, and you'll be fartin' thru silk!"

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[–] WolfWindDreamer 10 years ago

Actually if you payed attention.

Magua was at the edge of the cliff not Alice. He just kill Uncas and turned and looked at Alice who was standing on the path with her back towards the wall. Magua lowers the knife yes. But it blade is pointed out. Remember Magua is at the edge of the cliff motioning Alice to come to him. Blade pointing at her. The only thing she can interpret his actions now is he is going to kill me and dump me over the cliff. So she jumps and doesn't give him the satisfaction.

My own interpretation is he now feels he is now out of the Sachem territory he can do with her what he will. He is now an outcast and everyone thats following him is now an outcast. He has no tribal loyalty or protection. So killing her and maybe have someone stumble over the body would be equivalent to saying F-you.

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