The ending really bothered me, not because I didn't like it, but because after he shoots Woody in head and all fades to black....there is one more shot.
Russel (Christian Bale), just sitting by himself at home...
I paused it again to look at this shot as the ending...is it just to illustrate he's not back in prison? that he is all alone? Is there a significance I am missing?
Here is wat Cooper tells about the last shot:
About that final shot: After being thwarted by law enforcement officials, Russell kills Harlan DeGroat (Woody Harrelson), the meth-addicted crime boss responsible for murdering his brother, right in front of the local sheriff (Forest Whitaker). Cooper then cuts to Russell sitting quietly in a living room, before fading to black. "It's an homage to 'The Godfather Part II,'" Cooper said, referring to the final shot of Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 Best Picture winner.
"This is a man who is battling his soul and living with the consequences of violence. When he went to kill Harlan DeGroat, he thought he could have gone to prison or be killed by the police. He never thought he would get off and that the sheriff would ultimately say, 'Let me make this right.' And he does," Cooper said of the finale of his film, which takes place at an undated point after Russell has murdered DeGroat. "This is a man who, whether he is prison or not, he's in prison for the rest of his life. Hopefully he will find peace and contentment at some point. I'm a very optimistic person, I hope that, ultimately, Russell Baze does find that."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/09/out-of-the-furnace-ending_n_4365572.html
Thank you for sharing that.
When I'm gone I would like something to be named after me. A psychiatric disorder, for example.
Interesting. Thanks for sharing!
"Seems most IMDb users believe their own opinions are fact and all others' are wrong." ~Me
Well that settles that. Thanks for the post.
shareCool! Thanks for sharing that with us.
"Don't get chumpatized!" - The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
It was indeed a bit puzzling. I'm on the fence about it myself. To my mind it looks as if he has been to prison a second time, considering that his hair is now short and he seems a tad older. It's particularly sad because Russel tried to lead a clean honest life and despite his efforts his life ended up in tatters.
Someone mentioned drug addiction and taking over the books but frankly I saw no indication of that in that shot - no calculators, no stack of papers, no serynges, anything of the sort.
I think the movie aims to convey that being an honest hardworking man in America does not warrant happiness and that America spits out man who gave their lives for the nation when they have no use for them anymore. Russel's brother had fough in Iraq and got nothing for it, The mill Russel worked for and whose hard work and poor security conditions were partially responsible for his father's illness was shutting down because the industry could get cheaper steel from China, etc.
By the end Russel is a broken man despite his efforts to be a just hardworking man.
Didn't it look like his right arm was stretched out on the desk in classic "injection pose"? I thought that there was something wrapped around his elbow, like surgical tubing? There seemed to be something on his arm.
I got the impression that the Sheriff let him get away with Harlan's murder, and now he's just sitting at home getting high, depressed by what he's done.
I believe that if the director had the intention of conveying such idead he would have done so in a more clear fashion. It would be very simple to include on the shot a serynge, a spoon, a tube visibly shown, something; in fact if he had just injected himself as suggested, the materials used for the injection would be found close to him, when a drug addict injects himself in a place he feels to be secure he wants to enjoy his high, he certainly isn't concerned with packing all the materials he needs for injection until after the high. The fact that no one seems to indicate with certainty that they saw anything resembling any of the materials he would need for comsumption of a drug leads me to believe that is not the case. Even the director, when asked about the last shot, mentioned nothing of drugs. I think the arm streched out heavily means to signify that he has been "bled out" of all his strength and virtue, that he is now a broken man, that the arms that help build America have grown weak and broken because violence, corruption and the goverment's and capitalist disregard for the humam being end up breaking fair and virtuous harworking minded man - his brother fought for his country and got nothing but trauma for it; the mill he worked at and that was a good deal responsable for his father's sickness due to poor working conditions was closing because Industrials could get cheaper steel from China, etc.
shareYou're probably right. I only put it out there as a possible explanation. It just seemed a strange posture to put the hero in for the final shot. It's an unnatural position, to sit at a table with your arm stretched out and upturned like that. It's not a comfortable way to sit, and just looked like the position you sometimes see junkies "freeze" in, right after they've injected themselves. And he COULD have been holding the now-empty syringe in his left hand under the table.
But if the director didn't mention it, you're probably right - just a defeated sort of posture.
But sometimes directors like to put in "suggestive" images at the end of a movie, to get people thinking, and asking "what is that'? Maybe he didn't specifically intend a drug-addiction ending, he just left it open to "artistic interpretation"?
Don't click the pic if you haven't seen the film!! http://i62.tinypic.com/34smloh.jpg
Not the best quality but no needles that I see. I see why you suggest it, but I don't think it was intended to seem that way. At least it didn't cross my mind when watching. You're not alone though: as I left the cinema I watched it in an older lady came over to me (she had been watching the film with, I presume her husband so I'm not why she decided to ask me?!) and asked whether I thought he'd killed himself. He was moving, thus hadn't, but at the same time, can he still keep on going against all the world throws at him like we saw him do up against all circumstances throughout the film.
I agree with hugomelo600's thoughts.
I have to say, when I watched it though, I wondered whether the piece of paper open on the table wasn't Rodney's letter. So really, I felt that he was reading that. Maybe, y'know lamenting how he came to be where he is.
I mean we don't need to speculate what the intention of the ending was as we have Scott Cooper's words:
"It's an homage to 'The Godfather Part II,'" Cooper said, referring to the final shot of Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 Best Picture winner.
"This is a man who is battling his soul and living with the consequences of violence. When he went to kill Harlan DeGroat, he thought he could have gone to prison or be killed by the police. He never thought he would get off and that the sheriff would ultimately say, 'Let me make this right.' And he does," Cooper said of the finale of his film, which takes place at an undated point after Russell has murdered DeGroat. "This is a man who, whether he is prison or not, he's in prison for the rest of his life. Hopefully he will find peace and contentment at some point. I'm a very optimistic person, I hope that, ultimately, Russell Baze does find that."
Now that I look at that pic you posted, it's probably not an "injection pose". On first viewing (at home), it looked like there was something wrapped around his elbow and extended to his wrist, the way I've seen junkies wrap a loop of surgical tubing and then up to the wrist to be pulled tight by the same arm. But I see now that's likely a shadow, a trick of the light.
Still, it could have been a suggestive trick-of-the-light, and a suggestive arm pose, just to make that "suggestion"?
On a cinema screen, to me, I didn't think of drug use, but it's quite an ambiguous shot really. You could reflect on a number of things: from wondering what happened after the last scene you saw and before now, wondering what is going on in the actual shot and wondering what (if anything) is next for Russell. It's so ambiguous that I am sure it'f fine to contemplate whatever it is you find in the scene. As I say. I was thinking about those papers on the table and wondering about them.
shareHow are people confused about what's on his arm? He had that tattoo around his arm the entire movie.
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm982242560/tt1206543?ref_=ttmd_md_nxt
and here
http://www.imdb.com/media/rm730584320/tt1206543?ref_=ttmd_md_nxt
Good catch... never noticed that before. I assumed it was tubing.
It's the odd way his arm is outstretched that also misled people methinks, but it could be that he just tossed the letters aside and his arm came to rest on the table naturally.
Russell's acquisition of the tattoo is one of the few scenes we see of his time in prison. Although--like his brother--he already had several tattoos, that was the only one he got in prison. And I guess it's notable that it's not "Dad," or "Mom," or "Lena," or something religious: it's the name of his beloved brother, who was also the only one who came to visit him while he was imprisoned.
I think the poster who suggested that Russell is surrounded by Rodney's letters as well as the letters Russell wrote but never sent to Lena was correct... Russell is sifting through the detritus of his thwarted emotional life. I found the scene in which Lena reveals her pregnancy really touching.
I confess, I couldn't actually finish this movie--I found it believable and therefore quite depressing. I've visited Braddock, which is a sad miserable place, and had family in the similar community of Cumberland, MD. My local paper has weekly reports of arrests for possession and sale of meth... I felt the movie depicted an entirely warranted level of despair that a lot of Americans feel and don't see a way out of.
I wondered whether the piece of paper open on the table wasn't Rodney's letter. So really, I felt that he was reading that. Maybe, y'know lamenting how he came to be where he is.
Glad that I'm not alone to think it! I was surprised I hadn't noticed anyone mention this letter/paper on the table as it was certainly what I was thinking about watching the scene. The idea of Russell reading Rodney's letter here to me accentuates the thoughts that may be in his mind: not only of all he personally has lost but of all those around him have too: Rodney, his Father and by extension so many others... and this adds to at last a feeling of hopelessness that you wonder, could Russell still go on against like he always managed to continue no matter what happened in the film or has even this man's limit finally been reached such that he is irreparably broken?
shareIt is quite possible. The final shot is quite puzzling, many others aside from us have found themselves questioning what it really means. The Director does seem to have deliberatly keep all of us guessing, maybe so that we project our own personal morality on the film's end. Was Russel arrested or did the cop give a false testimony in order to atone for taking the only thing that could have kept Russel afloat: his ex-girlfriend? Or did he arrest him? His Russel's hair that short in the last shot because he went to prision or just because the disregard for himself extends to a total lack of vanity in his appearence? Who knows? Maybe even the Director doesn't know and left it purpously open for the public and even himself.
shareThank god,someone else who can spell syringe
Hello,Mister sniper sir!!-Riggs
I count six shots n*****!!
I count two guns n*****
I can't understand why everyone keeps suggesting drugs.
He has that rosemary tatoo troughout the WHOLE movie.
In prison you even see him getting it.............
It looks like a tattoo of prayer beads - like the kind his friend used at their fathers grave. On the table are old letters and behind him are boxes of old papers/letters (memories).
I can either show him right after the killing (he got off clean) or after some time in prison, the point is he is an empty man with nothing but memories.
While the shot should've been a bit longer to convey that, in my humble opinion (taking into account director's comment), the last shot shows the same man we know, but a man who at this point of his life has nothing to live for.
His hand lies open on the table - he is looking for a new meaning, for something to live for after what he's lost, after what he has done.
The color scheme - light/shadow play - implies that he is "nowhere", he is in a metaphorical purgatory. Still has hope, but it's all but abandoned.
This movie, again only IMHO, is a very flawed modern "Deer Hunter" (as it itself implies) - a violent tale of inherently good men who are forced into violent and inherently bad circumstances - that also serves as a (heavy handed) metaphor for the current state of things.
And the last shot shows just that - "I'm too tired to go on as I've been through the worst - but I try, I try to have hope and look for something, though "best" it will never be".
Edit: I first wrote "the last shot shows a changed man", but quickly figured it was a poor choice of words as he is not a "changed man" as the phrase usually means, but a "changed man" as in "ruined", "lost in his beliefs and sense of self and the world around him".
I want to believe that the cop let Christian Bale go in the end, covered up the evidence and closed the case. The cop knew DeGroat deserved to die and that Christian Bale was justified in killing him.
The final shot to me is just to show that even after seeking revenge, he was still all alone, with everyday problems, and still no money. Revenge did not bring his brother back. The perfect ending is never perfect and you can't change the choices you make.
The last thing the officer said was "Let me make this right!" and then he cursed. Obviously for me, after that he had to do it wrong. No way he would condemn to life imprisonment a person so connected to him, especially for avenging his brother whom he certainly knew as a troubled but good kid. The officer was involved in this situation from the very beginning and he too did not walk out unscathed.
The final scene for me was of a man who paid for his revenge by losing what made him spare the buck in the woods, as well as causing the collateral death of the bartender and corruption of the policeman, yet got nothing in return and no solace from killing a world hating drug addict, who was a victim in his own right. Almost everyone of the major characters was a victim or even casualty of what life had served them and they did not have much choice, but had to do what had to be done. Harlan did no like killing the brother, but he had to set his dealings straight with his companion and the kid was un unfortunate witness so he shot with regret.
Basically, every single one of the people involved got it worse from where they started off, yet it was inevitable and they did not expect otherwise, especially Bale in the end. He knew beforehand that there was nothing for him in killing Harlan and he did no care. He just had to get it over with.
By the way, those boxes on the table I think were full of the envelopes with the unsent letters he was writing during his prison stay for the driving accident.
this is the greatest post of the thread
thank you. i agree with this post the most, the most insightful answer. im glad i read your post
it changed the way i saw the ending
Agreed!
The last scene tells us that Bale didn't end up going to jail after killing the man. He already went to jail for causing a road accident (reason for which was not drunk driving, but mere inattentiveness). He got accused wrongfully before and now he got cleared of a wrongdoing. But this is not the point. The point of the scene is that Bale ended up lonely, but free and with a sense of accomplishment. He is content -- as far as his surrounding allows him to be -- in a hopeless place, but possibly with some space for starting life anew.
John1017_rm
The final shot to me is just to show that even after seeking revenge, he was still all alone, with everyday problems, and still no money. Revenge did not bring his brother back. The perfect ending is never perfect and you can't change the choices you make.
1. He's getting high on the drugs he bought earlier in the film.
2. Earlier in the movie he got his Dad's name on his left arm. Now there's more names on that new tattoo on his right arm - John, Dan, Rodney.
Hurricane Lenore. Sounds like some old-maid-aunt that's coming to kick your ass.share
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Literally the worst aspect of the film. To me, it's the classic Hollywood ending. They want to reassure the audience that everything is going to be okay, that Bale isn't going back to prison. It's too bad, I thought the ending was strong outside of that shot.
www.somearebornthemovie.com
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Really who cares. This movie was so far over well before the idiotic ending. "Film"- yeah right I forgot. This movie was one of the worst I've seen. Simplistic, idiotic, unbelievable garbage. Junk food for the masses.
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