MovieChat Forums > Lola rennt (1999) Discussion > the old woman's religious conversion(spo...

the old woman's religious conversion(spoilers)

posted 15 years ago by BitterAsHell
12 replies | jump to latest

It seemed to me, judging by the quick flash of pictures, that she was supposed to have become a Catholic(or maybe already been a Catholic), and then some time later become a Jehovah's Witness. Judging by the magazines she was holding up.

Or was it that she just converted to Catholicism, and selling religious magazines is something that the screenwriter thinks Catholics do? Maybe some of them do, but that practice is very closely associated with the Jehovah's Witnesses.

Also, was it implied in one sequence that the bike thief would rape a woman in a park, go to jail, and then meet a violent end in prison? It was hard to tell exactly what was going on there.

[–] Stratego 15 years ago

Yes, it is weird. First you see her receive communion, which is mostly a Roman-Catholic practice. And later you actually see her sell The Watchtower (Der Wachtturm), the religious magazine of the Jehova's witnesses. Maybe the writer wants to imply that she will become someone who will look for spiritual fulfilment for the the rest of her life?

I actually think the second sequence of the bike thief implies he will become a hobo and drug addict who stalks women in the park and dies of an overdose in a public restroom.

[–] BitterAsHell 15 years ago

Well, if it actually is The Watchtower she's holding up, then it probably is meant to suggest that she'll convert to Catholicism and then later to Jehovah's Witnesses. Which I personally would take to be a bit of an insult to the old lady, since, while Catholicism is still sort of viewed as semi-respectable by the kind of people who write movies, Jehovah's Witnesses, rightly or wrongly, are seen as kind of wackjobs.(Don't mean to offend any JWs here, but that seems to be the general perception.)

Thanks for the interpretation of the "stalking" scene as well, Stratego. Quite plausible, from what I can recall.

[–] andu-00 13 years ago

It's not The Watchtower that she's holding, but a mag called "Erwachet!". German Wiki seems to say this is related to JW. The other woman is holding a "Wachtturm" ("Watchtower") though, which settles it.

[–] B-J-C 13 years ago

The English title of the magazine she's holding is Awake!, the magazine produced and often distributed with the Watchtower. It has a similar format to the Watchtower, but is aimed more at people who don't necessarily have knowledge of the bible or belief in God. I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses and recognised the cover instantly.

Personally I took this part of the film to mean that the life course of the woman in question changed as an extremely indirect result of her brief interaction with Lola. Which religion she chose is irrelevant, and maybe the director deliberately confused the issue (by juxtaposing the mutually exclusive practices of Catholicism and Jehovah's Witnesses) so as not to pinpoint any one religion. The character has too small a role for her choice of religion to matter to the film, only that in one version she steals a baby, in another she wins the lottery, and in another she turns to God. Three very different outcomes from three brief but slightly different encounters with Lola.

[–] lordrosemount 15 years ago

Yeah, I'm going to go with the hobo/drug addict spin on that one, too. Since he didn't have his accident in the third ending, and there wasn't any further update to his circumstances, I guess that must mean he never did meet that cute nurse and go on to raise his family. Boo! Also, the elderly woman mightn't necessarily have converted to Catholicism - she was probably a nominal Catholic to begin with, but maybe she just started going to church. As for the magazine in the last photo, I'm not sure it was necessarily the Watchtower (though it might well have been - I mean I don't think we could tell), but I don't see any reason why a Roman Catholic shouldn't be selling some sort of faith-related magazine as part of a church outreach effort. Anyway, I thought that was the least plausible of the alternative scenarios, since whilst I might just be able to believe she was inspired by the first incident to pick a different set of lottery numbers and go on to win, I'm really not certain as to what happened between the second and third runs that made her into a woman of faith instead of a baby-stealing old hag.

[–] sillyhat (15) 7 years ago

"Yes, it is weird. First you see her receive communion, which is mostly a Roman-Catholic practice."

No - Protestants also have communion. The largest religious group in Berlin are Lutherans, so it's just as likely (if not moreso) that she is converting to that faith.

[–] Stratego (30595) 7 years ago

Right, I said MOSTLY. Point is that the communion did not look anything like what the Jehova's Witnesses do, so it suggests that she explored different religions. Most likely it *is* supposed to be Roman Catholicism, because you wouldn't use the largest religious group to make that point.

[–] puschit-1 15 years ago

Well, isn't that obvious? Yes, the woman converts to different religeons/beliefs in each version. It's not important if it is catholicism or Jehova's Witnesses. It's just important that she chose something different every time. The main theme of the movie is that every decision and every small coincidence can have a huge impact on your life. Much like the one woman that wins in the lottery in one version but ends up horribly in another. Like, every single character in the movie has very different fates awaiting for him.

If you want you can also see it as a statement on religion: That for some people the religion doesn't matter, it's only important for them that they have something to believe in and that they choose their "faith" rather randomly. I am not sure if this is what Tykwer had in mind, though, because this would be in contrast to the third version, the so-called "happy ending" where Lola prays to god and promptly gets saved from getting hit by the truck and then proceeds to win sufficient cash in the casino.

[–] yfguitarist 15 years ago

She doesn't convert in each version, only one.

[–] omoxus 14 years ago

She became a Catholic and eventuallu a JW. What's interesting is her first interaction with Lola she called her ll kinds of names. Then the last one. She reflected a different attitude.

Im the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega

[–] knightwind88 14 years ago

Why does everyone keep saying she's "selling" The Watchtower? The Watchtower isn't sold, its given away. I had a JW woman try to hand me one the other day in a supermarket parking lot. She didn't ask for any money.

And is it The Watchtower? Its been a while since I saw the film, but I got the impression that since she was a newly converted Catholic she was handing out pro-life literature. That makes more sense than a Catholic suddenly converting to JW. JW's hate Catholics (or they fear them, I don't know which... probably both). JWs think Catholics are pagan idolaters. I used to date a woman who's ex-husband became a JW. She stayed Catholic, but she still went to some JW services with him every so often. She said the other members of the congregation rarely spoke to her and seemed very uncomfortable around her. No, I really don't the the woman in the film became a JW, just a devout pro-life Catholic.

[–] the1st 12 years ago

I was raised as a JW but left in my late teens - it wasn't for me in the slightest, ie I am not religious in the slightest...

I have known a lot of JWs over the years, and they don't hate or fear Catholics. A couple of my father's good friends from work are hardcore Catholics and they get on really well - they just don't ruin things by discussing religion :)

You will get a few that are crazy, but you get them in any denomination of any religion....

As to the 'selling' aspect, back in the '90s (and before that) all JW literature was sold - each item had a specific price etc... But in the late '90s the entire organisation changed how it did things and any literature could be accepted free of charge, and if anyone wanted to make a voluntary donation they could...

So the 'selling' isn't technically wrong, but it's not how things have been done for over a decade (admittedly this was filmed in 97/98)...