The Edge, Antibonding: More Quotable Lines

I've not really moved this plot forward much for you readers, have I? It's because, in my memory, the plot is not my focus. "There's a plane crash, and then there's a series of bear chases. And then there's a moment of bonding, followed by a moment of confrontation--then home." For me, that's the plot. The things I carry with me, from state to state to state, about this movie, are the lines: moments of humor or connection between the men (they start out as three); barbed comments; sudden discovery; triumph--it's all there. As with No Country, I am wont to insert these bits in places in my own life, when it's appropriate. I have tried to limit this practice to my journals, however; people tend to eye me with suspicion, otherwise.

Here are a few quotes that I remember:
 
Exhorting:
1. After a big disappointment, a mistake in navigation that puts them back at Square One, the men begin lashing out at one another. Morse reminds them not to give up:

"Shall we lay down and die, Bob? [shouting] Shall we lay down and die?"

Bonding:
2. Bob and Charles are scanning the horizon after making camp for their wounded comrade, Steven (a non-character in his own right). "Puts things in perspective, doesn’t is?," says Bob, smoking.
“What’s that?” says Morse.
"Out here. Little different from the fashion world. Little different from snorting coke off the girls’ hip bones.”
“In what way?” says Charles, smiling at his little joke.

Humor:
3. Bob and Charles are relaxing on a log, roasting bear meat after the great triumph.  "You see, Charles, that’s why they call it personal growth. A month ago, old Smokey here woulda reared up, you probably woulda called your lawyer!"

                                    

"No, " says Morse, slowly, "I wouldn't do that to an animal."

This camaraderie is short-lived. Once it seems they'll in fact make it back to civilization, Bob's old envy returns like a drug habit, like the snake in the fable: “because it’s in my nature!” The moment is recorded in a facial gesture. Bob begins to plot. He plots, and fails. He connives, and loses. Morse uses Bob's own weaknesses--his weight, as it were--to kill him. On the principle of the deadfall. And then, he scoops him up and rushes him back to the modern world, tries to save his life. Sort of like, "You had to mess with me! You know I have to defeat you, when you mess with me! But, I didn't want to have to defeat you! You made me!!"

I am thinking Mamet's original tale is much more smug and nasty, on both men's parts. Hopkins’ Morse is older, gentler, and, yet, some people really are that foolish. I'm coming to grips with the fact that maybe this movie is just about some stupid people. It almost doesn't matter whether or not their author is stupid right along with them.