Unsettling Endings

(If you don't want to know anything about the movie because it might spoil it for you, then don't read this entry).

I recently saw P.T. Anderson's recent masterpiece There Will Blood, a story about a man's quest to strike it rich in California's oil rush early in the 20th century. The end of the movie leaves many of its viewers disgruntled, because of the story's lack of resolution. Most contemporary films end with great resolution. The villian is captured, the hero exalted, the shamu finally makes it to the ocean, the homeless man makes it to Wall Street, etc. Justice prevails, wounds begin to heal, and all the characters have learned great lessons. Typically, even when movies end on a sad note (e.g. the hero dies), there is still a sense of resolution. There is typically a calm funeral scene, with beautiful music in the background, giving the viewer the confidence that though the hero has died, his/her death was not in vain, their memory lives on, and our moral universe is still intact.

Suffice it to say that There Will Be Blood does not end with the sort of resolution previously described. And thus, it is unsettling. When watching a movie or listening to a story, we need resolution because we need to know that the world is safe, manageable and understandable. By not resolving, stories like There Will Be Blood suggest that the world is not secure and predictable. Truth does not always win out. Characters do not always experience redemption. Oppressors are not always brought to justice. The world is not safe, but hostile.

Though I believe that resolution and restoration is more real and determinative than irresolution and disintegration (because of the resurrection of Jesus), I still think there is significant truth in movies like There Will Be Blood. Perhaps we are kidding ourselves when we act as if in this life there will always be the kind of resolution the typical movie portrays. Perhaps the world is not as safe and manageable as we are told over and over again in stories ranging from childhood classics like Little Red Riding Hood to modern movies like James Bond or The Gladiator. Perhaps the wrong people win. Perhaps the two twenty-somethings don't end up falling in love. Perhaps we can't be so confident that our lives will be fulfilling, secure, and happy.