khreb@houxe.UUCP (K.ROSEN) (11/22/84)
Here are the comments I received giving interpretations of the ending of Brother from Another Planet. Additional replies are welcomed. ***************************************************************** From: sdcsvax!decvax!ucbvax!allynh (Allyn Hardyck) Earlier on in the film, he sees the extraterrestrial writing on the walls, is overjoyed and writes a reply in his own blood (ripping himself apart doesn't seem to trouble him much). A man he passes in the street while running later on is also an alien (the camera holds on him for a time but at that point we don't know why). Later when the Assholes have got him, a crowd of the aliens (including the man) give chase, and being outnumbered the Assholes phase themselves out of existence. The Brother points to the sky as if to say, "So, we're going now?" to which the reply is thumbs down, nope, we're stuck here for good. ***************************************************************** I think it's clear that the Brother saw street graffiti that was written by other escapees (when he got all excited earlier and wrote on the wall in blood). Later as his captors were leading him away, he saw instructions written on the sidewalk so when he broke away he knew where to run to meet his friends. What happened after the bad guys self-destructed is not clear. The Brother looks at his friend questioningly with a thumbs-up and gets a thumbs-down answer. I wasn't sure whether he was asking if the bad guys went to heaven (answer: hell), or asking if he should go uptown or downtown, or what. What do you think? - Paul Munro U. C. S. D. ARPA: munro@nprdc ***************************************************************************** I think the ending means that he found some other people from his planet. (remember when he happily read some grafitti on the wall and added some of his own by cutting his hand. I figured these were other "good guys" from his planet). When he found these guys and they ganged up on the 2 bad guys, the bad guys gave up and blew themselves up. ****************************************************************************
terryl@tekchips.UUCP () (11/30/84)
Here's my interpretation of the ending:
(A little note: I think Brother is a runaway slave from another planet).
The Two Weirdoes disintegrate themselves. Brother points his thumbs up
to people who helped him escape; I interpret this as Brother asking if they are
also runaway slaves from the same planet. One man points his thumb down; I
interpret this as saying "No, We are from the underground here; we help the
slaves escape". My reasoning for this is the scene in the middle of the movie
where he takes the little boy to the museum, sees the pictures of slave-related
things from the 1860's and tries to tell the little boy "that's what I am".
Also, I do believe the Two Weirdoes are the alien equivalent of the dogs they
used to track the runaway slaves in the 1860's; that weird sound they made was
the alien equivalent of dogs baying when they know they're close to their prey.
About the only thing I couldn't figure out was: What was the point about
the two white guys from Indiana??? I admit it was a funny scene, but it didn't
seem to fit into the overall plot. Am I missing something????
Terry Laskodi
of
Tektronixmoriarty@fluke.UUCP (Jeff Meyer) (12/03/84)
I saw the movie at The Seattle Film Festival last May, and Sayles was there
to introduce it (Seattle Snobbishness: we got to see it before *anybody*,
even Cannes -- Sayles has had good luck with the SFF). He mentioned that
the heaven/hell space/earth thumb gesture was open... there were a lot of
interpertations to it.
It is always pleasant to think of the maker of a good, human picture as a
"nice guy (or gal)"; one of the great things about Sayles SFF appearance is
that he seems to be just that. He answered an hours worth of questions with
no snide remarks, and was totally un-Joe Hollywood. Would that Joe Dante
had taken lessons from his behavior.
Sayles mentioned that the fellow who played the Brother (I believe his name
was Joe Morton -- a really remarkable performance) starred in the soap
"Another World" for a while -- and around the set, the joke-title for the
movie was "The Brother from Another World"!
"Oh, intercourse the penguin!"
Moriarty, aka Jeff Meyer
John Fluke Mfg. Co., Inc.
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