Last Scene ("I swear" scene)

[Ministering angel]

Newfan, I watched it roughly once a month for the first year, and each time was a painful and wrenching experience which left traces for days afterwards. It became too much after a while. I almost dread seeing it again.

[Adrift]

Newfan, I watched it roughly once a month for the first year, and each time was a painful and wrenching experience which left traces for days afterwards. It became too much after a while. I almost dread seeing it again.

That happens to me. The soul is a strange creature: some things leave it unfazed while others just shake it to the ground. I read the novel only once, and have only seen the movie four times. Nevertheless, just a glimpse of the cover of the DVD, just a glimpse, is enough to bring back memories of the film that are just too much. The "I swear" scene, plus Jack's remembrance of that long lost embrace on BBM, are enough to send my mood to dark places I rather not visit often. And yet... there is something about BBM that haunts me and attracts me from the day I first saw it. The story, the internal and external  landscapes, the music, the knowledge of a love that cannot be fully expressed or fulfilled. All these are elements that make it a great story, but are also like a strong wind that shakes the core of whatever it is that constitutes our heart's foundations.

[newfan]

Adrift
Don't see your posts too often..thanks for sharing. Your last post was perfectly worded and expressed exactly how the movie affected me as well.

[CANSTANDIT]

How true, Adrift..How are you?

[suelyblu]

That film . That marvellous, heartbreaking, gut wrenching, life changing, awe inspiring f---ing film.   Newfan, this is how we all still feel after 4 years, the  "pull " is still there. I think I can say on behalf of all us Brokies we want,  NO ,need to watch the film on a weekly or monthly basis.  As someone said who's name is familiar to us " I wish I knew how to quit you" ...........but it is such exquisite pain !!

[Ministering angel]

You can't say it on my behalf, Suely  . I haven't seen it in ten months and before that there was a gap of over a year. I'll watch bits if I need to check on something but watch the whole thing again? Not in the near future. And that's not because I'm bored with it or don't like it as much as I used to. It's self-preservation.

[suelyblu]

Sorry Angel,  I wouldn't want you to be upset and sad . Just don't forget  OUR film  !

[Ministering angel]

No worries. I never forget it. In fact, I sometimes play whole sequences in my head and try to remember how it was to see it for the first time.

[AZ.bbm]

... I never realized it, but "we hearded sheep that summer"...what an unbelievable understatement. That summer defined both of their lives for the next 20 years.

- Yep, for sure.

Also, during the night of Reunion, by the river, after Jack suggests a life together, Ennis interrupts with, "No...I told you...it AIN'T gonna BE that way..."

Pretty much summed up their relationship.


Regards,
Az.

[Adrift]

... I never realized it, but "we hearded sheep that summer"...what an unbelievable understatement. That summer defined both of their lives for the next 20 years.

- Yep, for sure.

Also, during the night of Reunion, by the river, after Jack suggests a life together, Ennis interrupts with, "No...I told you...it AIN'T gonna BE that way..."
Pretty much summed up their relationship.


Regards,
Az.

Jack is quite conscious of the terrible uncertainty and reluctance in Ennis's mind. It is no coincidence that, when Jack goes to Mexico in search of a prostitute, the song playing on the background says what Jack was always thinking:

"I am always asking you
When, how and where
You always tell me
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

The days pass this way
And I am despairing
And you, you always answer
Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps

You are wasting time
Thinking, thinking.
By that which you love the most, please tell me,
Until when? Until when? "

Jack would never get his answer, and Ennis's "I swear" would be that answer, only to be uttered to those without ears: the stale air, the hanged shirts and -hopefully- to a spirit that could perceive it somehow...

[Dal]

~Jack would never get his answer, and Ennis's "I swear" would be that answer, only to be uttered to those without ears: the stale air, the hanged shirts and -hopefully- to a spirit that could perceive it somehow...

!! Now, that is so close to Spanish in every way, that it might as well be Spanish!! 

[AZ.bbm]

Hi, Adrift,

That was a beautiful song, wasn't it..?!   Thanks for the lyrics. I understand that "Maybe, Maybe, Maybe" is an old Mexican 'standard'...

With so many skillfully-placed songs in the film I'm fairly convinced that Ang Lee & Co. left very little to chance, music-wise, anyway.  A few of the songs were quite haunting, like the Allman Bros. song "Sweet Melissa"  that Ennis selects on the jukebox during the Alma Jr/Cassie scene.

		By the time we become privy to Jack's foray(s) into Mexico, where the song ''Maybe, Maybe, Maybe'' is playing in the background, the boys are much older, and through his pain Jack is maybe a little wiser, consciously aware that it's not very likely he'll ever be able to take Ennis' hand and enjoy the sweet life with him. I think the only time Ennis even remotely considered the 'cohabitation issue' was during the Motel Scene, where he wonders aloud what other people do in a situation like theirs..  Later that night by the riverside,  Ennis made it clear that that he would not risk the same fate as Old Earl, and moreover, he had no intention of ever becoming 'one of them old guys you see around sometimes.'
Apparently, Ennis didn't come to fully realize and affirm the value of Jack's love until after his death, too late (once again) by a long while.

Regards,
Az.

[inwooder]

Question: Do you think Ennis felt quilt at having "caused" Jack's death? Not overtly, of course. And, do you think his cry to Jack "Them things I don't know could come to get you killed" came back to haunt him. was that part of the "I swear"? did he mean to swear he DIDNT mean it?

[kathy]

   Hello --

Ennis will always be plagued by extreme guilt, missed opportunities, regrets, mistakes, love and longing for Jack. 
The "Jack, I swear..." is a very sad statement of "if I could only go back...it'd all be different for us; we'd never leave each other, never", etc., etc.
I've always thought he will never be able to "stand it" and will go on to self-destruction; maybe I'll give him a couple of years, but ...the self-destruction will come.  So so sad.   

kathy

[daliah]

i think "i swear" has a connection to Alma Jr's wedding vow.
Ennis sentence is just like a wedding vow like Alma Jrs ,means "for always i will love you , to the end of my life.."
swear to love him to the end of his life,i think this a one way spiritual wedding , means the bond of their love..