This movie was something of an acid trip of an experiance to me. That is not to say I did not think it was interesting or that I did not think that it pulls at the heartstrings. However, it is strange to have such a non-traditional story being told in such a traditional setting. The barren plains of Montana do not seem like a place where heaven and earth temporarily intermingle.
The angels were, interesting to say the least. They were fanciful creatures that were products of Irwin’s imagination. (or were they…..ominous music playing) I am guessing they individually represented different aspects of the human condition that Irwin felt was missing in his life. The influence of the world around him being evident in the dream world he entered. One example is Flower Hercules being a loving mother figure that he never had. Cup of Tea, ridiculous as the name is, is a bit of a grandfather figure (stern yet lovable) who oddly also dresses like a grandmother. Cod and Happy appear to be aspects of bitter sadness and curious wonder respectively. I liked how in the end, they all left with the deceased Irwin, taking him far away from the pain of his real world. The leaving was also symbolic in that it made me think the last bits of innocence and the old world were departing from the area that was being flooded in order to accommodate modernity.
The group of trench coat men who were trying to evacuate the last of the North Fork residents out of the valley would be the antithesis to the boy’s angels. They are the force bringing the flood and destruction for the sake of progress. The primary motivation for all of the men is self-gain of their own cars and lake front property, unlike the angels. The only part that is “secular” or normal in the town that is “good” is ironically the priest.
The other person that does not seem to fit in the depressing and greedy version of the Men in Black was the James, Woods Character. His life experiences, including the loss of his wife, give him a greater appreciation for the life they are leaving behind. It is because of this appreciation of his own mortality through the experience of death I think that allowed him to see the symbol of the snow that represented the veil between life and death, reality and fantasy, in the house where Irwin’s angels dwelled. Maybe this comes from a realization of something else, a wholly other that is due to the experience of loss Walter has lived.
Finally, I have to say, I did not understand the symbolism of the giraffe like looking stick horse at the beginning of the film. I thought it was interesting that it can be tied to the cane of the priests; a wobbly old cane leading a wobbly old man and boy. The final symbolism of Walter and Willis leaving the valley, up towards the heavens in their car with Walter’s wife on the top like a mattress, is much sadder than the exit of the boy. It is ironic though it was the boy who died from a horrible illness while the men just had to relocate and got to live. The fact that an “angel” like Irwin could not survive in the changing world in North Fork is also a symbol of the new world clashing with the new. The site of the dark “herce” leaving for the solid high ground of the mountains is quite depressing. The people were forced to flee to the higher ground of the steady mountains, but it was not their choice. People like Walter and the Priest were only yielding to unavoidable progress of the modern world while the rest of the men were just happy to get their lake front property.
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