The ending with the homevideos just seemed too manipulative and forcful. As if the director wanted to say "Look at this adorable little kid. That kid is now dead! Isn't it sad!"
Would have been a much better film without it.
"Be it a grain of sand or rock, in water they sink as the same."
I completely agree. I think that footage should have been left out. It seemed out of place and random.
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I also agree. I can see why a director/screen-writer would want to put this scene in the film, (To leave some warm, fuzzy and happy feeling in the audience) but maybe if the footage was relevant to the themes of the film it would've been much more appropriate. Instead it's just Andy as a child, being a child.
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I have to agree. It was incredibly manipulative and designed to get people to weep and leave the theatre more touched than they would have otherwise. The song plays a big part in that scene too; so incredibly sad. And my God did it work in my case. But I agree that it was unnecessary and forced.
'I've learned that life is one crushing defeat after another until you just wish Flanders was dead'
That's exactly true. It's Andy as a child, being a child. He's not a pervert or a monster. He's a child, innocent and loving.
Haven't you ever been to a memorial service that shows the honored in home movies and pictures? Unfortunately, I've seen that much too often, as I've lost too many.
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You're both idiots.
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LOLOL. Take it easy. I thought it was a very sad ending, I didn't leave the theater with any different feelings. I knew it was only a movie,but at the time (21)yrs ago...WOW. Aids was a scary subject then as it still is because there's still no cure and you can contract it even if you aren't a Homo.
shareI disagree I found the ending very normal. This was a close knit family and they were saying goodbye and remembering the childhood of a dear one.
shareit was the only part of the movie that made me cry. it made him more than just a victim... it made him human
"Oh Penny, it's as if the Cheesecake Factory is run by witches"
I think the ending is a way of showing that life continues even without Andy. Kids will play, women will get pregnant, Miguel will eventually move on and that doesn't mean that they weren't close. When you mourn someone you want to celebrate his life, not get overemotional about their deaths.
I thought it was a beautiful scene and very necessary to give the audience closure.
I disagree - when you remember a loved one, you want to think of the good times, not the bad. So why not have some people watching vidoes of Andy when he was a happy kid?
shareI understand your reaction, but remember that this film cam out almost 20 years ago.
In 1993 it was much more necessary to come right out and convince a more socially-conservative audience that indeed, Andy, and other gay men and women, are generally just like the rest of society, along with adorable and innocent childhoods. Their lives are no less valuable than anyone else.
I imagine that sentiment is more 'obvious' today. When I saw it new in 1993 it was not.
Agreed... maybe not necessary, but I get why they did it. It showed him as a child who was innocent, before the bigotry and atrocities and aids too him. It shows that he was just like us, and something tragic like this can happen to anyone. That's what I got.
shareUm...the whole point wasn't for US to see Andrew, it was what JOE saw. It was JOE who had the biggest change throughout the film.
Frankly, Denzel Washington was as deserving of the Oscar as Tom Hanks.
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I can see where the OP is coming from...
Up until that end scene it felt like a decent court room drama and I was thinking "yeah, that was good", and getting ready to turn it off. Then the home video bit at the end came on and I cried my eyes out. Took me a while to compose myself! Very, very rarely does that happen to me, but I have found myself becoming more sensitive to things like that because of my one year old son. I know his might annoy some people, but I think you feel empathy more strongly when you become a parent, imagining how you would feel if it was your child going through that.
Anyway, can see how it was manipulative though, especially teamed with that heartbreaking Neil Young song. Quite nice to be manipulated sometimes though; certainly stayed with me.
My first thought was to agree with the OP and I still do to some degree. But I've been at gatherings after the funeral where those of us who were family and close friends would sit around and look at family photo albums. Same thing. There's something cathartic about it.
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