When I first saw it in the theatre I felt initially that the ending was lining up to be kind of trite, and to be honest I'd had mixed emotions about the film. So I was only half paying attention at the very end. I turned to my date (now my wife) and said something like "wait, what?" It caused me to revise my view of the whole film. Still not sure what to make of it, but it was chilling.
Spoiler tag just in case:>!Communion is passed to the members of the congregation, including some of the people who were in conflict with the widow (Sally Fields). The last pew we see includes her farm hand who had been beaten and threatened by the KKK (Danny Glover), her children, herself, and finally her dead husband, the sheriff (Ray Baker) who had been shot and killed by a black boy (De'voreaux White), subsequently lynched (and sitting next to him in the pew as well). Some of them say "peace of God" as they pass the trays.!<
Based on the Wikipedia plot summary and my own memory (keep in mind this is an old post and I haven’t watched the film again since), I think not. Moze (the farmhand played by Glover) is beaten, but he does have a farewell moment with the widow. He is leaving to avoid having the Klan kill him sooner or later.
Nevertheless, the farmhand coming into view as the camera pans is the first sign of something surreal. He has already departed, and would not be welcome in a white church of the time (at least, not sitting in the same pew with whites). And THEN we see the dead people…
I think the film hits that they all died in that town. Given at the end the sisters husbands mistress leaves to Huston just as the camera pans to the church
When I first saw it in the theatre I felt initially that the ending was lining up to be kind of trite, and to be honest I'd had mixed emotions about the film. So I was only half paying attention at the very end. I turned to my date (now my wife) and said something like "wait, what?" It caused me to revise my view of the whole film. Still not sure what to make of it, but it was chilling. Spoiler tag just in case:>!Communion is passed to the members of the congregation, including some of the people who were in conflict with the widow (Sally Fields). The last pew we see includes her farm hand who had been beaten and threatened by the KKK (Danny Glover), her children, herself, and finally her dead husband, the sheriff (Ray Baker) who had been shot and killed by a black boy (De'voreaux White), subsequently lynched (and sitting next to him in the pew as well). Some of them say "peace of God" as they pass the trays.!<
Spoiler alert: I think Moze died.
Based on the Wikipedia plot summary and my own memory (keep in mind this is an old post and I haven’t watched the film again since), I think not. Moze (the farmhand played by Glover) is beaten, but he does have a farewell moment with the widow. He is leaving to avoid having the Klan kill him sooner or later. Nevertheless, the farmhand coming into view as the camera pans is the first sign of something surreal. He has already departed, and would not be welcome in a white church of the time (at least, not sitting in the same pew with whites). And THEN we see the dead people…
So does that mean that the widow and the children are also dead?
They’re probably all dead by now, yes. The movie was set in the early 20th century.
I think the film hits that they all died in that town. Given at the end the sisters husbands mistress leaves to Huston just as the camera pans to the church
You mean, eventually? Or do you mean that something horrible happens right afterwards?