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From: craig@think.ARPA (Craig Stanfill)
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Re: "Places in the Heart" (SPOILER)
Message-ID: <3849@think.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 1-Jan-86 12:56:06 EST
Article-I.D.: think.3849
Posted: Wed Jan  1 12:56:06 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 2-Jan-86 10:29:41 EST
References: <982@ccice5.UUCP>
Reply-To: craig@think.UUCP (Craig Stanfill)
Organization: Thinking Machines, Cambridge, MA
Lines: 36

In article <982@ccice5.UUCP> rdz@ccice5.UUCP (Robert D. Zarcone) writes:
> What in the world were her husband and the black who
>shot him doing in the church?  Why was a Fellini (sp?) ending
>thrown onto this HIGHLY predictable film? 

Throughout the movie there is a strong element of symbolism.
Two examples come to mind.

    The first is the large stone church which shows up at
critical points in the film.  The church everyone goes to is
a small frame structure.  However, a large Victorian stone
church keeps showing up on distant hills, and sometimes we
get closeups of parts of it at particularly critical
junctures.  I think this use of such a large church building
symbolizes the importance of the church in the lives of the
characters, even if the building where they worship is small
and unpretentious.

	The second is the broken down automobile full of
disposessed people which sits by the roadside until it is
wrecked by the tornado.  This is symbolic of the difference
between the main characters, who confront life's woes, and
those who fight back.

	Finally, we come to the scene at the end of the
movie, where most of the characters are present in the small
church, taking communion.  This is, of course, symbolic of
reconciliation in the next world.  Sally Field's husband is
there, as is the man who accidentally shot him.  The black
drifter who helped her is there, in spite of having been run
out of town, and (I think, but may be wrong) so are the
Klansmen who ran him out.

	Anyway, the movie was never totally realistic; it
contained ``Fellini'' touches throughout.  It is only at the
end that the symbolism comes out and bites you.