12 Monkeys

[Stiff_Cookie]

I just got finished watching this film, which I think is a great movie, but I have a question.

In the end, when James calls the number and leaves the message to forget the Army of the 12 Monkeys, does this mean that he has effectivly allowed the future to find a cure?

I hope that makes sense.

 

[Simian]

Dunno if it was a Directors Cut (I don't remember it being in the Cinema Version) but on my Video (yes one of those Tape thinngys!!)

One of the Panel of doctors (a Woman) from the Future is sitting on the plane in the next seat to the Professor with the Virus!... So I think she stops him releasing it, or she gets an un-mutated sample to make a vaccine!!...

At least thats what I surmise from the ending!..

Sim

 

[penski]

Yup - "My name is Jones, I'm in insurance..." or something similar.

*n

 

[Stiff_Cookie]

Ok, so is she actually the person from the future and she sent herself to the past to get on the plane to stop the man/get a sample?

 

[daz]

When I watched it (which was a little while ago now) I thought that the ending suggested that the events that had unfolded were just going to happen again (a loop).

 

[Cybermyk]

Yes, I seem to remember there being five or six subtle ways he changed the timeline which made things work out to the conclusion or will help in making the same things happen. I'd have to watch it again to describe them though.

One would be when as as a boy he witnesses a death and will remember when his and the womans eyes met. Now he will recognise her in the future.

 

[penski]

Ok, so is she actually the person from the future and she sent herself to the past to get on the plane to stop the man/get a sample?

Yup.

I always saw the film with Cole as an allegorical representation of Christ.

Cole removes his teeth (so he can't be 'tracked'), hears voices and has sudden changes of mood. All points pertaining to schizophrenia; I saw them as representing non-belief and non-acceptance.

When the woman (can't remember her name) tells Cole of the message she left (blaming the army of the twelve monkeys) he recites it in full, finishing her sentence and confirming that the 'paranoid delusions' are in fact...real.

Cole's death at the airport is identified by 'the scientists' as the point where they can obtain a sample of the original, non-mutated virus.

Cole (as a being) exists only to see his own death and pinpoint the source of the Virus; providing salvation to all.

I really want to watch this now; not seen it in a couple of years.

*n

 

[GordyR]

When I watched it (which was a little while ago now) I thought that the ending suggested that the events that had unfolded were just going to happen again (a loop).

It's been a while since I last saw it but thats exactly how I remember it also mate.

The scene with the scientist woman on the plane was just in order to portray how ironic it was that she had been searching for this guy in the future when all along she had met him in her youth, and been instrumental in the virus' release.

Of course... I could be completely wrong.

 

[Pumpkinstew]

My understanding was that they were effectively back to square one as Cole had eliminated their prime suspect, the Army of The Twelve Monkeys, as the agents responsible for releasing the virus.

 

[Simian]

It's been a while since I last saw it but thats exactly how I remember it also mate.

The scene with the scientist woman on the plane was just in order to portray how ironic it was that she had been searching for this guy in the future when all along she had met him in her youth, and been instrumental in the virus' release.

Of course... I could be completely wrong.

No I took it as the Woman on the plane was the ACTUAL woman from the future come back for a 'Clean' sample of the virus to make the antidote, as (Penski said) Cole was just there to pin-point the time and place the virus would be!... They still let it get released (Paradox's and stuff!!) but they can now cure it!!

Typical Gilliam Film if you ask me though!... The Ending is what ever you think it might be!... Not what the Writer/Studio want you to think it is!!... (Brazil, Jabberwocky etc...)

Must watch this again now!!.