Your favorite movie ending.

[dascoyne]

Another of my favorite endings is Jacob's Ladder. Takes you from "What the heck am I watching?" to "Oohhh.... I need to watch this again".

YES YES YES!!!

The ending of Jacob's Ladder is one of the most moving endings ever.

In the very end of Jacob's Ladder, it shows that he actually died in Vietnam. At first I couldn't get over how the rest of the film could take place after Vietnam until someone explained the real meaning of the film which blew my mind. Maybe you already knew this, but it wasn't obvious to me.

Spoiler

There is a logic to the nightmarish events that take place in the "post-Vietnam" era. These events and characters map directly to events, characters and demons in Dante's Inferno, which is about a man's journey into subsequent circles of Hell. In other words, the entire movie takes place within Jacob's soul as he was dying in Vietnam and, literally, descending into Hell before he is redeemed by his son.

 

[Axlotl]

In the very end of Jacob's Ladder, it shows that he actually died in Vietnam. At first I couldn't get over how the rest of the film could take place after Vietnam until someone explained the real meaning of the film which blew my mind. Maybe you already knew this, but it wasn't obvious to me.

Spoiler

There is a logic to the nightmarish events that take place in the "post-Vietnam" era. These events and characters map directly to events, characters and demons in Dante's Inferno, which is about a man's journey into subsequent circles of Hell. In other words, the entire movie takes place within Jacob's soul as he was dying in Vietnam and, literally, descending into Hell before he is redeemed by his son.

"If you're frightened of dying, and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are actually angels, freeing you from the Earth."

Spoiler

It all takes place in real time. Everything we see is happening in Jacob's mind in the 2 hours it takes him to die in Vietnam.

 

[DarkHelmet]

Louie was his Guardian Angel. His girlfriend Jezebel/Jezzie was a demon, literal Spirit of Jezebel.

 

[Axlotl]

There were no angels or demons.
It was all in his mind, like a fever dream while he's dying. More accurately, hallucinations from an evil bad acid trip (while he's dying).

 

[dascoyne]

And there is a history of people (even non-religious ones) who swear that, on psychodelics, they had literal religious experiences where they saw, say, God. Maybe this film is in the spirit of seeing demons. It is in the horror genre after all. Or maybe the point was to leave the viewer with the very question.

 

[Axlotl]

I think the point of the film is Louis' line about making peace with death.

 

[DarkHelmet]

There were no angels or demons.
It was all in his mind, like a fever dream while he's dying. More accurately, hallucinations from an evil bad acid trip (while he's dying).

That is up for individual interpretation. I've discussed the movie with a lot people over the last 30+ years and of those people who love/get it, they tend to believe the angel/demon POV and that Jacob is stuck between worlds, not knowing he died. When he realizes that he is dead, his deceased son comes for him and escorts him up the Stairway to Heaven.

 

[Captain Dunsel]

The finale of Return of the Jedi is awesome.

Knowing that our heroes had finally defeated the empire with the death of Harold Q Palpatine…knowing that peace would reign over the galaxy…knowing that they would live happily ever after…

Nothing could be better, or could ruin that perfect ending...

Wait…

But…

Oh…

Nevermind.

 

[dascoyne]

It was all in his mind, like a fever dream while he's dying. More accurately, hallucinations from an evil bad acid trip (while he's dying).

That is up for individual interpretation. I've discussed the movie with a lot people over the last 30+ years and of those people who love/get it, they tend to believe the angel/demon POV and that Jacob is stuck between worlds, not knowing he died. When he realizes that he is dead, his deceased son comes for him and escorts him up the Stairway to Heaven.

It's still a film that manages to be both terrifying and moving no matter how you interpret it. Jacob's Ladder is a really good film.

 

[Axlotl]

That is up for individual interpretation. I've discussed the movie with a lot people over the last 30+ years and of those people who love/get it, they tend to believe the angel/demon POV and that Jacob is stuck between worlds, not knowing he died. When he realizes that he is dead, his deceased son comes for him and escorts him up the Stairway to Heaven.

But what Louis tells him makes it pretty clear:
The demons could have been angels all along.
He only saw them as demons because he was scared.
So we, as viewers, are not seeing the truth of things. We're seeing Jacob's scared, bad acid trip interpretation.
He's still alive through the events of the film. But he's going to die, he cant stop it, and it's when he accepts it that his son appears.
And that's when the MASH surgeon pronounces him dead.

 

[sbaxter]

The Shawshank Redemption has a great ending. Red's voiceover in the final scene is taken verbatim from Stephen King's novella -- which is fascinating, because the book has a more ambiguous ending -- if a hopeful one -- indeed, the … supertitle ( just guessing that that is what you'd call something like a subtitle which appears over the title) is "Hope Springs Eternal." In the written work. the story ends as Red is on the bus and crossing the border into Mexico; he still doesn't know for certain that Andy will be there at the end of his journey.

But for my money, the most perfect ending I've seen for a film is the final minute or so of Monsters Inc.

SSB

 

[ScourgiousJinx]

I also like the ending of Memento. I just watched this again recently. Great film.

 

[OzReturner]

I also like the ending of Memento. I just watched this again recently. Great film.

Or do you mean you watched the beginning?

 

[ssdesigner]

The Shawshank Redemption has a great ending. Red's voiceover in the final scene is taken verbatim from Stephen King's novella -- which is fascinating, because the book has a more ambiguous ending -- if a hopeful one -- indeed, the … supertitle ( just guessing that that is what you'd call something like a subtitle which appears over the title) is "Hope Springs Eternal." In the written work. the story ends as Red is on the bus and crossing the border into Mexico; he still doesn't know for certain that Andy will be there at the end of his journey.

But for my money, the most perfect ending I've seen for a film is the final minute or so of Monsters Inc.

SSB

I hope I can make it across the border.

I hope to see my friend, and shake his hand.

I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams.

I hope.


I've seen this movie a hundred times and the ending still chokes me up. What a beautiful piece of narration to setup the final zoom out where they reunite. Not in a "shake his hand" moment, but a long hug. Absolutely perfect.

 

[JPH]

Or do you mean you watched the beginning?