In case you’re not familiar with the concept of this series,
take a look at my
initial post. And beware of
spoilers. Because there will be
spoilers.
Before I get into the meat of the post, I’d like to point
out that Harriet pushing a flaming book cart and screaming “Get away from my
friend!” was the best scene of the movie, and one of my favorite scenes in any
movie I’ve seen this year (although it’s not as good as the elbow-thruster
scene in Pacific Rim. Because that was insanely amazing).
When we leave Harriet and Reba in this movie, Harriet has
her left arm bandaged up and in a sling, on account of the gunshot she took
while saving Reba. The only reason she
survived at all was due to the knowledge (and, therefore, power) gleaned from
books.
They step out of the library, and we’re treated to comic
book scenes of Harriet and Reba in various moments of badassery. It’s a terrific ending to a beautiful little
film. But what would really happen?
Awesome comic book scenes aside, they don’t really seem like
fighters. Sure, Harriet pushed a cart of
flaming books at a group of would-be-rapists and Reba ran over a hipster, but
who among us hasn’t done something like that?
I call those days “Wednesdays”.
It took them two attempts to take down a group of three
hipsters, when only one of them really seemed ruthless in the first place. And yet,
after running him over, she felt terrible about it. She cried and kept asking how she could do
such a thing. Hardly the mark of a
survivor in a post-apocalyptic wasteland.
And Harriet wasn’t much better. She pushed a flaming book cart at some guys,
but what would’ve happened if they didn’t scatter? She had no back-up plan. And, even if she did, she didn’t have the
skills to do anything about it.
Beyond all that, the group of rape-minded rednecks were
local law enforcement. Law enforcement
that had a mandate on checking any person on the streets for a passport (which,
as far as we know, neither Harriett or Reba is carrying). That was likely not the last band of police
officers the girls would come across, and they were highly unlikely to have a
cart of flaming books at their disposal the next time they crossed paths with
Johnny Law.
But perhaps they have a chance. After all, among the books (again, books =
knowledge = power) scattered in the library was one titled “How to Survive a
Nuclear Apocalypse”. Perhaps they picked
up some helpful hints within those pages.
And maybe their lack of a killer instinct won’t hurt them
too much. After all, it took the murder
of his wife and child to turn Max into The Road Warrior. Maybe the loss of their loved ones in the
nuclear blasts flipped an internal switch.
Would Reba have dreamed of running someone over a few days before? Absolutely not. If she’s capable of that, maybe she is
capable of doing what needs to be done to survive in the post-apocalyptic age. Ditto for Harriet.
Still, there are a lot of “maybes” in that last
paragraph. I can’t shake the feeling
that this story does not end well. What
happens when Harriet and Reba come up against a group of grizzled survivors
with weapons in their hands and malice in their hearts? They have shown that they can be crafty in
dealing with enemies when they have time to plan. What happens when they have no time for
planning?
I hope they make it.
I really do. However, I have a
feeling that the image of Harriet and Reba heading off into the world at the
end of the film – a scene that is supposed to be seen as two best friends
heading off to make it in this new world – is more than likely the start of a
very short death march.
[If, by some miracle, Brea Grant, Vera Miao or Stacey Storey
is actually reading this, I want you to know that I would absolutely throw some
money at Kickstarter for a Road Warrior-esque sequel to this, and would be more
than willing to contribute some music to the soundtrack/score.]
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