Did anyone cry?
Just wonderin...coz the end scene is pretty sad...
shareI did. I found it very sad, didn't really expect such a hopeless ending.
shareYeah, but I also found it funny when he came home and said (V.O, in his letter to Ndugu) 'Now she's married to that nincompoop and I can't do a thing about it. I failed in my mission.' It just sounded funny.
'Wendy, I'm not gonna hurt ya. I'm just gonna bash your brains in!'
-Jack Torrance, The Shining
I thought the ending was really sad but disappointing...the reason I watched the whole film was because I assumed he would sort everything out...when it ended, I thought "Is that IT!!!"
"Psst...it's me, Death...I'll see you soon...ok?"-Manny Calavera
I'm surprised everyone thought the ending was hopeless! I'm almost completely on the other side with this one.
I had an overwhelming feeling of peace when he opened the picture.. like everything "hopeless" he had been saying at the end was all true, but despite all that it was still important that he had lived.
I hope I'm not alone in that interpretation.. because I felt like warren had finally found joy in that last shot, which really had a powerful impact on me.
As I see it, Warren Schmidt (Jack Nicholson's character in ABOUT SCHMIDT) feels hopeless for a number of reasons: His wife passed away; He retired and he discovered that the gentleman who took over his job has no time for him and on top of that, he (Warren) discovers that the company is throwing away all the work that he devoted his time to doing for years; His daughter, whom he does not get along with, gets married to a young man he does not really care for and lastly, he does not know what to do with his life now that he is retired. In the whole film, Warren is venting his frustration and feels like he has nothing to show for himself despite the fact that he did all the "right things" for years. He even considers himself a "failure." Because of that, when Warren reads the letter and looks at the drawing, he breaks down and cries. I think that is because he suddenly realizes that he HAS made a difference in somebody's life even if it was in a small way.
share[deleted]
That's how I saw the ending. He never appreciated his wife until she was gone. He tried and failed to stop his daughter from marrying a loser. He was booted from his job by some hotshot. He had nothing to show for his life. In the end, it turns out that the small monthly checks that he probably gave little to no thought about made more of an impact than anything else he had done in his entire life. Up until that moment, he really had nothing - no spouse, no job, and I kind of assumed that he and Jeannie wouldn't speak anymore aside from when she needed more money from him.
http://filmluvr.tumblr.com/
Well, when he opened that letter and started to cry... I thought he had finally lost everyone who was most important to him, he felt useless (you could tell by his words) and, above all, lonesome. It was quite overwhelming, this hopeless mood. I mean, his wife died, his daughter married an idiot and left to live her own life, the new "family" is completely mad... what has he got left? Himself maybe, but that doesn't seem to be enough for him.
shareI also find the ending quite hoping; that even when we think we have done nothing in our lives we change people's lives without noticing.
I couldn't stop crying for 5 minutes. Jack's face and the drawing just... well, just...
this makes me think in something that Italo Calvino said:
"The inferno of the living is not something that will be; if there is one, it is what is already here, the inferno where we live every day, that we form by being together. There are two ways to escape suffering it. The first is easy for many: accept the inferno and become such a part of it that you can no longer see it. The second is risky and demands constant vigilance and apprehension: seek and learn to recognize who and what, in the midst of the inferno, are not inferno, then make them endure, give them space."
Your not alone at all, and I think It's how the movie was supposed to strike you, according to the music in the background (IMO) it showed us that his life wasnt all that bad.
I have this passage... F_uck it
the ending made me happy--he did have an effect on someones life. Nickolsen was better in this than he was for his Oscar in "As Good as It Gets".
shareCry WTF?!!!!!!!!!!!
I seen this movie on tv...I ve watched with my brother and we laughed thrue the whole movie......omg those faces that jack and other character in the movie made.....wahahahhaa I am still laughing.
Now abouth the ending......now here I was laughing thrue the whole movie and then jack open the letter from 6 year old kid from Afrika and than camera closes to show what kid drowe.....wahahaha....when I looked at the picture man I was laughing so hard....wahahah....Jack started to cry....I still laughed and I felt bed for him......but then I realize that he cryed becouse he was happy for the kid and that he did made something good in this word by sponsoring and helping this poor kid from africa.
(basicly his frustration and feeling of being hopeles turned into happines after he seen the picture and those wore tears of joy)
i think it was a hopeful ending too, as in he did make a difference in that little boy's life. but sad too, cos this little boy he's never met before is all he got left. and yes i cried.
I completely agree!!!
We all go a little mad sometimes...
I agree with you, Michael...the ending was not hopeless...it was in direct contrast to his own inner thoughts that his life meant nothing and had no impact on anyone. Right on the heels of that, he comes home to find that his life has had a major impact on this little boy half way around the world. He finds that he has made a difference in someone's life. He finds that the impact that we sometimes have...is unexpected and big.
The ending absolutely slays me and makes for a perfect ending to this very perfect film. It's one of my favorite movies of all time and the ending is one of the biggest reasons.
"You don't want my opinion...you just want me to agree with you."share
I'm surprised everyone thought the ending was hopeless! I'm almost completely on the other side with this one.
I had an overwhelming feeling of peace when he opened the picture.. like everything "hopeless" he had been saying at the end was all true, but despite all that it was still important that he had lived.
I hope I'm not alone in that interpretation.. because I felt like warren had finally found joy in that last shot, which really had a powerful impact on me.
You're not alone in your interpretation at all. I felt just the same way. It was exactly that which made me cry. Is one of those films that made you cry because of a emotion that is not sadness. And there aren't many of those films.
I actually also felt like "and that was it???" towards the end, before he sees the picture. Actually, the first time I saw the film, I felt quite dissapoited, despite the ending. And said to everyone that it wasn't that good. But then I watched it again, some time later, the whole thing. And again. And everytime I cried at the end.
"The Love you take is equal to the Love you make" The Beatles. share
i also felt the ending was nice. I really loved it. For Warren, knowing that someone out there thinks kindly about him and wishes him well, is exactly what he needed at the time. Also to know that someone depends on him would relieve him from feeling useless. It doesn't really matter that Ndugu won't understand everything in those letters.
I've worked with little kids now and then, and when a child draws a picture of you with themselves, it totally melts your heart. I completely relate to that scene.