On sad endings and justice at the end of it all

Had a big discussion with a friend about a film script that he's written. Frankly I was quite honoured and flattered that he sought my opinion about his work. Probably he takes my film reviews quite seriously.

Anyway, coming back to the script. It is fabulous. There is a lot of pathos in the storyline and it can really make a wonderfully sensitive film. However, the one thing sorely lacking in it was a sense of justice in the end.

I feel, every story must have justice at the end of it all. This does not mean that it has to be a happy ending. Even if it is a tragedy and all the good guys have to die in the end, the audience must feel a sense of rightness when they do. Futile endings only leave you with a feeling of being cheated. Somewhere, that is the essential difference between fiction and reality. Don't we all want to escape the futility of life to some extent, when we willingly suspend disbelief and accept a false reality for a finite time?

In the course of my discussions with my scriptwriter friend, we discussed several tragic film endings. One was of Rang De Basanti. Though all the good guys die in the end, they do manage to get their message across to the entire nation before dying. That allows one to extrapolate the story and understand that ultimately justice was served. They didn't die in vain.

Another realisation that came to me, which had eluded me so far, was why I didn't like the movie, 'The Bicycle Thieves'. The Vittorio De Sica masterpiece, which actually inspired even Satyajit Ray to make films, has been a bone of contention between me and a lot of other film lovers. The reason why I instinctively disliked the film (though it is absolutely amazing in the way it portrays emotions and every other aspect of film-making) is that the ending leaves you feeling futile. It is the same way one feels when one sees children begging at signals. A feeling of helplessness at the way the world is, leading to denial and repression of those emotions. This leads to you feeling that it was pointless spending that money, and more importantly time, on that piece of work. I realise that this futility is what depresses the audience more than just a tragic ending. And no one wants to spend good money to get depressed.

Talking of endings, the best ending of a movie ever according to me is of Children of Heaven. I would rate this movie as my number one movie of all time. The end is extremely paradoxical and yet so right. It would be a pity to give away the movie and the ending in a post. But whoever reads this, must watch that movie to know what I'm trying to say.

I hope my scriptwriter friend makes a fabulous movie and it is a huge success - commercially and with the critics. And I hope that I managed to somewhere play some small part in it.