DeSilva *Spoiler*

I have a theory. It's not a mind bender, and it's not all that clever either, but let's see what you think.

As the title says, if someone hasn't seen this movie, then spoilers are ahead. Turn back now.

The character of DeSilva is killed one of two ways, depending on what version you have. In one version, he's distracted by a knife dipping in the water, and Beckett fires a shot down his scope and through his eyeball.

In the other, Beckett has a bit of a wrestle with him, and then breaks his neck.

In both scenes, the character DeSilva wears a ghillie suit, and is armed with a Dragunov rifle.
In the neck breaking scene at least, DeSilva has a wide blade, double edged knife, and wears a distinctive golden signet on his left hand. (Seen when holding the SVD up quite clearly.)

Just keep those two different scenes in mind for a moment. Especially, keep in mind the knife and the ring in the neck break scene.




Later on in the movie, as Beckett and Miller prepare for the double shot at the Hacienda, another sniper is seen to be shadowing Miller and setting up for a shot, as Miller, the fool, has forgotten everything he every learned about concealment, and is sitting in broad daylight. Still, the enemy Sniper's arrival is a bit random.

This sniper also wears a ghillie, and carries the Dragunov. He’s shown to be more aware than the regular troops, as he hears Beckett approach, and manages to ambush him. There’s quite a fight going on there for a while with Mr Mystery Sniper getting the upper hand. Quite an achievement for some random, nameless Sniper.

Beckett, after a struggle, manages to stab the man in the foot with his own knife, which happens to be a wide blade, double edged weapon, then wraps the Dragunov around his head. Before that, we see that this Sniper also wears a gold signet ring on his left hand ...

Now, we know this film has gone through quite a few changes, yes? From the chopper ending to the beach ending, from the different ways DeSilva gets killed, and the way El Cirujano has a different voice, depending which version you watch. (I don’t know which is the dub-over.)

Ok, here it is, the Theory(tm).

After numerous edits, the film-makers were a bit unsure of how to kill off DeSilva. They had a couple of cracks at it, and personally, I think the Mystery Sniper at the end was originally supposed to be DeSilva, and that was his original death scene. We can overlook the Ghillie, the Dragunov and even the distinctive knife, but the gold signet ring clinches it for me.

I'm guessing they decided that the ending fist fight in a barn wasn't a good way for two Snipers to finish their duel, so they wrote a scene to take care of it a bit earlier. They couldn't remove the Sniper in the barn scene at the end by this point, as it sets up the fight between Beckett and Miller, which is the catalyst for the end of the film. By this point, it was deeply interwoven with the plot, so they just kept him as 'another' sniper, and never actually referred to him at all.

I'm guessing they went back, filmed one of the other scenes, most likely the one where he breaks his neck, then had second thoughts 'again', and decided a Sniper Vs Sniper had to be resolved using their signature weapons, and filmed the scene where DeSilva gets shot through the scope. I’m also betting they brought in an actor especially for it.

In the Neck Break version, DeSilva isn’t in the credits at all. The Mystery Sniper is listed as Raj Sidhu. In the Shot Through Scope version, DeSilva is listed in the credits as Edward Wiley, as he has a scene in that one where he lifts up his Ghillie hood and we see his face.
Why not list Edward Wiley as DeSilva in the Neck Break version? I’m betting it’s because they brought him in just for that face revealing scene.

Like I say, not a great theory, but one all the same.

Opinions? Did this occur to anyone else, or was anyone else a bit suspicious of this nameless other Sniper that just randomly turns up?

Or indeed, am I talking complete and utter *beep*