MovieChat Forums > Fear X (2003) Discussion > Shades of The Wizard of Oz - MAJOR SPOI...

Shades of The Wizard of Oz - MAJOR SPOILER!!!

posted 20 years ago by marcustee
15 replies | jump to latest

I had no idea this movie even exisited until I saw it at the video store. Looked REAL good. Wasn't.

JT is one of my favorite actors (Secret Garden, O Brother...) but after all the cold scenes and odd mind sequences all I could get out of it was that Harry was overcome with grief at his wife's death. So much so that he sat up all hours, when he wasn't at work, viewing the tapes of the mall where he worked. This finally took it's toll on him and he started manufacturing a scenerio that would explain away his wife's murder. (If you recall he was repremanded by his super for alienating the customers in the mall.)
Why do I believe that Harry conjures up all the characters and situations that we see? Because at the end the cop drives Harry to his car which is parked on the side of the road where the diner was supposed to be. There is nothing there but an open field. Harry was no doubt found walking in the field or in his car, but, as others have said, there was no gunshot wound because he was never really shot.
Another reason I believe this is because of the several times that the camera closes in on the back of Harry's head, to show it was all in his mind.

After all that happened to him he realized that he'd just (dreampt) imagined it all and tossed away the cards he'd taken with him (which no doubt were pictures of the people that he'd imagined were responsible.)

So that's my theory. Similar to The Wizard of Oz where it was all just a dream.

[–] sales-315 20 years ago

Bravo! Of all the explanations, yours is finaly the one that makes sense! Now I can go to bed.

I hate dream sequence movies. They are nothing but arrogant directorial playgrounds of nonsense 'art house' purposelessness. Vanilla Sky is another of these crappy attempt to have snooty folks feel superior over people who like Terminator or Die Hard of Bruce Almighty... Movies that tell A STORY. Unless one is insane, a dream sequence is NOT a story. It is an abstract collection of images and sounds, and does not belong on a movie screen unless it is accompanied by a disclaimer "This movie is subject to dream sequence abstraction, and will have only the meaning that you apply to it."

[–] 20 years ago

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[–] dchand10 20 years ago

Thank you so much for the explanation. I just finished watching it and, annoyed that I might not have understood the movie, you cleared it up. At first I thought Harry did indeed commit the vengeful murder and the police covered it up for him. This seems unlikely, but the police may have wanted to keep their error a secret.

Given that, I was confused about the ending (desert scene) and very lost. Thank you for clarifying. I usually nail movies like this right on the head, but I needed help for this one.

I know it's not important, but how did Harry know to go look in the house next door to him? Can you explain it by saying "it was only a dream" or did I miss something? I would watch it again, but I didn't think it was that good. :)

[–] bleffert58 19 years ago

I have a two-fold problem with the “it’s all in Harry's mind” interpretation. One, where would you draw the line between real and imagined if there is no cinematic technique separating them? It becomes arbitrary. Secondly, what about the scenes without him? Does he imagine those too? The conspiracy meeting in the mayor’s office? The home scenes between the vigilante cop and his wife (Debora K Unger)? These scenes are played completely straight, nothing points to them being imagined by him. Per convention I would reject then the claim that everything is in Harry's head. This movie combines a personal obsession of the protagonist with a conspiracy theme of vigilante cops taking out corrupt cops and one has to see it simply in that light. At the end the sheriff and his cohorts simply try to shove everything under the rug.

He investigates his neighbor’s house because he saw his wife entering it. He found a photo there that set him on the trail to Montana. Was this photo then imagined or real? It shows the café!

[–] gothor 17 years ago

The conspiracy meeting in the mayor’s office? The home scenes between the vigilante cop and his wife (Debora K Unger)? These scenes are played completely straight, nothing points to them being imagined by him.

You know... considering they're played completely straight -- unlike the rest of the movie, which is solemn, weird, and has very little dialog -- that alone could be the line between reality and fantasy.

I mean, think about it. He's at the diner, and is confronted by a cop. All of a sudden the camera pans around to the back of the wall and we're in a cop movie, packed with conspiracy, back room shennanigans, a worried cop wife, a chain of command, etc., etc.

And let's not forget that one of the first things that happens is Caine hears on the radio that a cop died, and the host says there're all sorts of wild theories, he could be DEA, "he could be anybody." That's like miracle-gro for the deranged mind!

!

[–] mver 16 years ago

Gothor,I think you hit the nail on the head,I liked your theory the best.Such a shame that a person has to try so hard to figure out what a director is trying to say.Especially when they do it on purpose. I LOVE David Lynch,but let's face it his movies would not be so enjoyable if he didn't know what the h*ll he was doing. Ever tell somebody a story,get them into it,then say "oh just make up your own ending"? Not a good way to show your talent.

[–] gothor 16 years ago

mver, glad you liked my theory. :)

And yeah, there's nothing more annoying than hearing a writer say that even *they* don't know what's going on. It can be frustrating when someone won't divulge the secrets of their work, but just knowing that they know the secrets gives the reader hope to one day figure it out.

On the other hand you have the guy behind this film, who admitted in an interview that he didn't know what was going on. How fun is that? We might as well be trying to construct plots out of random music videos, with lots of style but no cohesive storyline!

!

[–] CremersAlex 16 years ago

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] jkotynek 19 years ago

I like that theory.

I felt the ending went like this:

Harry is being questioned after killing Peter. The questioning Officer is summoned by another to speak privately. He is told that the matter is resolved, and there is no reason to detain Harry anymore (part of the coverup with killing Peter as the only "loose end" in the murder botch job). That being said, the police are instructed to let Harry go. Now that he has enacted revenge and eliminated the only other person tied to this conspiracy/murder, the Montana Police can let him go on with his life...

What do you think?

** John Kotynek

[–] jdspeer-1 16 years ago

Wonderful Interpretations - I believe Harry being a mall security guard contributed to his madness - most security guards imagine one day of being policeman - I know that sounds narrow minded, but it would explain why he would conger up a police conspiracy - he's a guard and not a cop because of a conspiracy to prevent him from being all he can be. English teachers are just frustrated bad actors - Mall security guards are just bad would be cops. Just a theory

[–] oldmotem 16 years ago

Two possibilities (I do not think it was all imagined). It was a stylized film. Harry either did or did not kill Peter. In either case, he is led to believe he did. I actually don't see it being possible, since he was wounded. But who knows...

At any rate, they let him go.

I sure was waiting for the last second explosion of that car in the last scene just before the director yelled "cut." But it didn't come. If I had some good film editing software, I could edit my recording to put that in. That itself would have made the movie better for me.....sorry Harry. Nothing nuclear, just an explosion. And screen slowly dissolving to red, of course.

:^)

[–] woodlanddog 15 years ago

I don't think it was in his head. The red swirly scenes near the end were his blood boiling with anger. The cops covered the crime up. A murdered cop would have given the whole operation of killing bad cops away when Caine killing the cop was connected with his wife's death.

The movie reminds me of The Star Chamber, except this doesn't involve judges offing criminals who got light sentences. This one is cops killing corrupt cops. Corrupt cops give all cops a bad name. That is why a group has decided to take care of the situation.

[–] aprovost-1 16 years ago

I think this is the best explanation of the movie and I also support the theory that it was all in his head. One small clue that I think was purposeful (and not just a flaw in the script) is that Harry is shot on the right side. Then when you go to the hospital he is laying on his right side away from the people behind him. If it was real he would not rest comfortably on the wound and I think it was deliberate to show the extent of his dimentia. Just a thought!

[–] vincenzococotti-1 16 years ago

Damn. I just posted the same interpretation on another thread. Should have read this one first and only say: agreed.

It was definitely a major delusion of the main character. He just wanted to know why. So he made up reasons, even more than one. I think it's ridiculous to believe that there was a conspiracy whatsoever, in the very beginning it was clear (his wall full of pictures and newspaper articles) that he's hooked on them and desperate to find one. He made one up. Come on, if the conspiracy was supposed to be real, the movie would be even worse. Who'd care about a conspiracy we know so little about? Policemen killing corrupt policemen? No way.

The OP's explanation is the best one to get, and it really makes this movie a weak one. The director should be embarassed by all the stealing he did for no valid purpose.
I'm sorry for Turturro though, I thought he could choose better what to play in.