Bits better than the book

[Stangarlins]

Well, even though Eli is more than two hundred years old, she hates what she has to do, that's why she starts crying when she kills Jocke. And I don't think she cares much, she is quite old, is used to moving places a lot, and knew she would have to move sooner or later, with Hakan or not. I don't if killing is something that she would like to have skills in, even though she needs to do it, becoming better at it doesn't makes it easier for her in a way, it's not something to be proud of.

[ricc9]

Kinda off topic but Eli tracing Oskar's arm, to me, was -the- most romantic scene of any movie as far as I can remember.

Damn straight. Moreover, it gloriously dismantles the mechanical, dehumanized romantic gestures you usually see in other films.

Het tape, whats up?

[TΛPETRVE]

Hm? Is something wrong or are you just surprised to read a post o' mine that actually somawhat has to do with LTROI ?

[danielma]

The pool scene is a given

Although technically can we really say the Pool scene considering that JAL wasn't able to put it in the book (from memory I think I read somewhere that the publisher's wouldn't let him put it in)

Actually there is one I can think off. The whipping scene, the fact that the kid starts tearing up as he is whipping Oskar. I thought there was something incredibly human about it. Where as in the book at that point they're still presented as little monsters, I thought there was something really nice and human about the way that Andreas is tearing up as he is lashing into Oskar...yet the horror still comes from the fact that he continues to do it out of loyalty (or presumed loyalty) to Connie.

It added this whole layer of Horror and actually fits in really well with Oskar. I always felt Oskar kind of submits to his torture simply because he knows it will be over a lot quicker. When Andreas started crying whilst whipping Oskar I remember thinking, all he has to do is throw down the stick and say screw it. He clearly doesn't like doing this, but yet he too willfully submits to Connie's will in order to fit in with Connie. Andreas and Martin really are just as submissive as Oskar is. What they're doing is wrong and they know it (clearly by the fact that Andreas is shedding tears) but at the same time, they willfully let it happen and never once take a stance against it. They too are just like Oskar in many ways. So I liked that aspect a little more in the film. I felt because of the kid playing Andreas shedding tears, it actually made that scene play much better than it did in the novel.

So yeah I thought that was kind of a neat touch that I liked the way that scene played out in the film

[Wolfchild]

Well, even though Eli is more than two hundred years old, she hates what she has to do, that's why she starts crying when she kills Jocke. And I don't think she cares much, she is quite old, is used to moving places a lot, and knew she would have to move sooner or later, with Hakan or not. I don't if killing is something that she would like to have skills in, even though she needs to do it, becoming better at it doesn't makes it easier for her in a way, it's not something to be proud of.

Actually, my take on this is somewhat different. A long time ago - perhaps at IMDB - someone pointed out how likely it would be the Eli would cry after every nomming. Eli obviously doesn't like the killing, and while the movie doesn't make clear exactly how long it has been going on, the two hundred years stated in the novel seems reasonable. So that would make two hundred years of killing once every week or so, and she cries after every one? That just doesn't ring true to me.

I think she cries over Jocke's corpse in remorse yes, but that is only part of it. I think she is also crying out of frustration and anger at Håkan. She puts up with all the unpleasantness of being with Håkan specifically to avoid killing, and yet here she was killing again. (Tomas said in an interview that in his view, Eli despises Håkan.) This is why she goes home and sends Håkan out to deal with the mess. The way Håkan is angry and yelling at her makes it clear it is not the expected pattern between them that she kills and then Håkan cleans up after her. I think that like any petulant 12 year old would, she went home and told Håkan, "You go clean it up." She made him pay for his failure to bring home the blood.

[DMt.]

@Daniel, The kid playing Andreas was actually overcome at the brutality of the scene, I gather, and TA wisely left it in, for realism.

[danielma]

@Daniel, The kid playing Andreas was actually overcome at the brutality of the scene, I gather, and TA wisely left it in, for realism.

Yeah I remember hearing that in a commentary

It's an incredibly good wise choice...with all do love to JAL's book, that touch made that scene play out even better in the film, and keeps in line with the characters perfectly.

[Stangarlins]

I think she cries over Jocke's corpse in remorse yes, but that is only part of it. I think she is also crying out of frustration and anger at Håkan. She puts up with all the unpleasantness of being with Håkan specifically to avoid killing, and yet here she was killing again. (Tomas said in an interview that in his view, Eli despises Håkan.) This is why she goes home and sends Håkan out to deal with the mess. The way Håkan is angry and yelling at her makes it clear it is not the expected pattern between them that she kills and then Håkan cleans up after her. I think that like any petulant 12 year old would, she went home and told Håkan, "You go clean it up." She made him pay for his failure to bring home the blood.

That is true. If she is with Hakan, she isn't supposed to kill. At all. And she despises him, even more when he fails with her, because she is bearing his company only for one reason, and, when that reason doesn't exist anymore, she is quite pissed, pissed to have to nom Jocke, and to depend on such a unskilled person. He forgot the jug, for crying out loud!

[ricc9]

My self, to bring the book into the movie only detracts from what is really being said and shown in in the movie. If you watch the movie with the book in the back of your mind, the movie will be lost. The movie is a love story while the book is something else. In realty, the movie centers on two 12 year old's learning about trust, caring and love. The movie isn't about some far away castle with some beast living there that brutalizes young boy's. Yes there is something inside Eli, but that isn't Eli. She is a 12 year old girl that has something 200 years old inside of her that she wants released. Does the book deal with Eli's emotions? The movie does. Does the book show her pain and torment? The movie does. That is why I choose to separate the two.

We can sit here and nit pick every frame, every sound and say, "what was that look and what did it mean", oh, that sound, "what did it symbolize, why were her pants blue, how come she stepped that way? And on and on till instead of a movie you have some kind of a clinical dissection. Yeah, I have done the same thing, but I have come to the point that I just watch it, then sit back and enjoy the wonderful story being told. Would this story be much different if Eli had a terminal disease? If she was shunned by society because they feared they might catch it? This story is about a child that finds friendship, learns to trust and then love. We each come away with something from the film, dislike for some characters and love others. There are as many interpretations of Eli and this movie as there are as many of us. This isn't the book, this is a different view at a different time, and this is the one I like.....

[gattoparde59]

Actually there is one I can think off. The whipping scene, the fact that the kid starts tearing up as he is whipping Oskar. I thought there was something incredibly human about it. Where as in the book at that point they're still presented as little monsters, I thought there was something really nice and human about the way that Andreas is tearing up as he is lashing into Oskar...yet the horror still comes from the fact that he continues to do it out of loyalty (or presumed loyalty) to Connie.

That is a really good point. I had never considered that Andreas goes along with the bullying, even though he knows it to be wrong. We can't let him off the hook entirely. Very realistic.

Actually, my take on this is somewhat different. A long time ago - perhaps at IMDB - someone pointed out how likely it would be the Eli would cry after every nomming. Eli obviously doesn't like the killing, and while the movie doesn't make clear exactly how long it has been going on, the two hundred years stated in the novel seems reasonable. So that would make two hundred years of killing once every week or so, and she cries after every one? That just doesn't ring true to me.

Yes, it is very unlikely that Eli would cry over each and every murder. She would have grown callous just to keep her sanity. On the other hand, there seems to be agreement among the infected that Eli has not met anyone like Oskar in over 200 years. (Not unless we accept the Matt Reeves version). By the time Eli Kills Jocke, Oskar has begun to have an influence on Eli, just as Eli has begun to have an influence on Oskar. I see one of the consequences of Eli's developing relationship with Oskar is that it forces her to confront her own inhumanity. When Eli shows remorse after killing Jocke, I think we are seeing her . . . uh. . . shell beginning to break down. I see her reaction as being something like, "this is awful, how can anyone like a thing like me?"

That is what the story is all about, isn't it? We come back to this again at the end when the bloody Eli, the same bloody Eli we saw with Jocke, plants a bloody kiss on Oskar after she has killed Lacke. We come back to at the pool, when bloody Eli gets a big smile from Oskar.