What's with the voice who calls James "Bob"?
I LOVE this film but that's one thing I'm not sure about. Is it in Jame's imagination?
Open the door for Mr. Muckle!!
That is what I am trying to figure out...
The homeless man on the street has no idea what Railly is talking about when she sees him again after a first encounter with James about the teeth. In the bathroom at the airport he is not there.
I've just finished watching the film for the first time myself.
While not clearly stated, I believe Cole is a schizophrenic. This is part of his schizophrenia.
At the very start of the film, the quote that is shown is from a schizophrenic. It also mentions only 1% of the human population go onto to survive. There are approximately 1% of schizophrenics in the world. So everyone in the future may be a schizophrenic.
At the very start of the film, the quote that is shown is from a schizophrenic.The quote was from doctors in 1990 who treated the time traveler, James Cole, who talked about the coming pandemic. In their predictable skepticism, they pegged him as schizophrenic but that doesn't mean he was one.
There are approximately 1% of schizophrenics in the world. So everyone in the future may be a schizophrenic.I won't take time to check the factoid, but it sounds reasonable, especially if you factor in un- or misdiagnosed cases.
It also mentions only 1% of the human population go onto to survive.It's what's in the movie, but this number isn't correct. I did some research a few years ago on this assertion, and the 5 billion dead left some 600 million still alive (1995 world population numbers), which was a lot more than 1 percent.
By the way, in the original script, the deaths were stated as 3 billion. They changed it to 5 billion for the shooting script, presumably to sound more dramatic. But I think they got jumbled up in their population stats and figured no one would care.
So while I don't think it lends credence to your assertion that only schizophrenics survived, the idea is interesting.
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12 Monkeys comment:
This movie is a 9.9/10 but there is a fundamental plot inconsistency that no one else has mentioned. As a boy, James Cole was taken to the airport by a woman (his mother?) as evidenced by the scene at security passing through the metal detector. The man (Father?) is not shown. Later, when he wants to view planes through the windows he’s holding hands with a man & woman (parents). OK, here’s the problem: why then, in the last scene, are the three of them getting into a car in the airport parking lot? Why was the boy at the airport if not to travel? Were their flights cancelled (no, the virus went out on a plane that day). Did they decide not to travel due to the murder they’d witnessed? Were they picking up the man returning to the airport? If so, why were they standing around waiting inside security? I cannot think of a good explanation that satisfies why they entered the gate area but went out to their car at the end.
I can shed some light on details of the final airport scene having just rewatched the film, the last moments are still on tv in fact. This is one of my favourites, both in film, from Gilliam and time travel in particular.
When James goes through security with the woman, presumably his mom, there's a man right behind them. When they're seen next, not long after the previous scene and not far away from the checkpoint, James has the woman on his left and a man - with the exact same clothes than the one that was behind them - on his right, holding hands with both. It's easy to assume they're his parents, and that they are in side the secure perimeter bc they landed at the airport, returning to their car that's been in the monitored airport parking lot. Otherwise it would be very difficult, and unnecessary, for them to get to the secured area for arrivals.
The same people enter the car where James wistfully watches the fatal flight depart, carrying the seeds of doom for 5 billion humans. This look of longing can simply be explained by the family just having arrived and the boy enjoying the flight so much he wants to do it all over again. Or that he likes looking at airplanes?
This is just my interpretation, but follows from detail that I've just seen.
You used to be able to go through airport security without a boarding pass and without accompanying a minor or some other official reason. You just got in line and then you could go wherever you wanted inside the airport. I think after 9/11 was when it changed.
What's even funnier is they didn't even used to have security checkpoints until the early 1970s. Even after a ton of hijackings, the airlines resisted it. The NYC-DC shuttle didn't even require a *ticket*, they sold them for cash on the flight.
yea, it was a totally different time. I really miss it. I wish I could go back like Cole and just experience it once again as an observer.
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