I think the strength of this movie was Harry's (Tim Robbins) attempt to come to grips with his father's death through non-violence. It was so interesting to see how Martin Luther King Jr. inspired him, and his journey to make meaning of his life in the turbulent 1960's era by helping others.
The ending dramatizes the limitations of non-violence, that very small percentage of people who are so clinically insane they will throw their own mother out of a window. Yet, we all know that non-violence was very helpful for the civil rights movement, so I think what this movie is really exploring is not whether non-violence is valuable, but how much complexity it makes for someone who is able to experience their full humanity and feel compassion for others.
It is, in a way, so much easier to be Linda's (Jodie Foster) boyfriend Jamie (Todd Graff), who sees things in black and white - "He isn't a rival - he's a phenomenon, hahaha!!" For Harry it isn't so easy. Harry knows he can kill Heinz (John Tuturro) but he doesn't want to. He can't feel any righteous vengeance when Heinz dies. He just feels sadness for the fragility of human life.
Also, in the reviews here I see a lot of comments about the seemingly unrelated subplot with the two glue-huffing girls. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me in the end their presence becomes clear - the two boys they spend the night with are the Indians. We see two of them in the shadows after the last arrow is shot - one taller and maybe blond, one shorter and dark. Especially considering the short brown-haired guy said, "I have the day off because my teacher died", it suggests he was the one who shot the arrow because the teacher failed him. Apparently they were also around the neighborhood that night, and shot the arrow to kill Heinz.
I will agree with other reviewers though - the fact that Linda goes to see Heinz by herself in the middle of the night is pretty stupid. I found this movie on Netflix under the the heading 'comedies featuring a strong female lead," but I don't think it was very much of a comedy, and I certainly wouldn't describe Linda as a strong female.
That said, I'm really glad I saw this movie. Definitely a worthwhile 2 hours spent on a sick day.
The ending dramatizes the limitations of non-violence, that very small percentage of people who are so clinically insane they will throw their own mother out of a window. Yet, we all know that non-violence was very helpful for the civil rights movement, so I think what this movie is really exploring is not whether non-violence is valuable, but how much complexity it makes for someone who is able to experience their full humanity and feel compassion for others.
It is, in a way, so much easier to be Linda's (Jodie Foster) boyfriend Jamie (Todd Graff), who sees things in black and white - "He isn't a rival - he's a phenomenon, hahaha!!" For Harry it isn't so easy. Harry knows he can kill Heinz (John Tuturro) but he doesn't want to. He can't feel any righteous vengeance when Heinz dies. He just feels sadness for the fragility of human life.
Also, in the reviews here I see a lot of comments about the seemingly unrelated subplot with the two glue-huffing girls. I'm not 100% sure, but it seems to me in the end their presence becomes clear - the two boys they spend the night with are the Indians. We see two of them in the shadows after the last arrow is shot - one taller and maybe blond, one shorter and dark. Especially considering the short brown-haired guy said, "I have the day off because my teacher died", it suggests he was the one who shot the arrow because the teacher failed him. Apparently they were also around the neighborhood that night, and shot the arrow to kill Heinz.
I will agree with other reviewers though - the fact that Linda goes to see Heinz by herself in the middle of the night is pretty stupid. I found this movie on Netflix under the the heading 'comedies featuring a strong female lead," but I don't think it was very much of a comedy, and I certainly wouldn't describe Linda as a strong female.
That said, I'm really glad I saw this movie. Definitely a worthwhile 2 hours spent on a sick day.