The reason why the reversal of this movie makes some people feel a little blunt is that its foreshadowing and clues are too flat, too "normal", and too difficult to find. In fact, it is not that there is no foreshadowing, but that when these forgings are peeled off piece by piece, they do not reveal a little bit of the truth inside, but only reveal the possibility that we can guess, and the real truth is still difficult to grasp.
Perhaps this is the reason for the structure of the story itself. Similar to "Dead Silence", the final reversal is the core of the story. Therefore, the screenwriter did everything possible to keep it from being guessed by the audience. Some, because in fact, most of the audience is engrossed in listening to your story, and they don't think much about it. A slow-paced story will make people start to think. The rhythm of this movie is very tight (in other words, I can understand it, I was nervous and frightened most of the time watching the movie, and I didn’t have the brain to reason the plot quietly hahahaha).
So the foreshadowings mentioned just now are actually very reasonable and worth scrutinizing, but it may only come to mind after watching the movie and recalling the plot, or after the second brush, "Oh, that place was actually a hint, No wonder this place is like this", this feeling.
For example, the conflict between mother and father. This conflict has been hidden from the beginning, subtle at first, then visible to the naked eye, and then intensified. The conflict reaches its first high point, in the scene where the two quarrel in the bedroom when the mother is angry at her husband for cheating. This scene is very interesting. It has some "little strange" places. At first glance, you won't pay much attention to it, but after watching it all, you will understand the good intentions of these details. Moreover, each sentence contains a subtext, which is neither a performance that is not strange, and it is necessary to feel "strange", full of "evil strings" (hahahaha, sorry ).
On the surface, the mother had a big fight with the father because of the success rate of the treatment and the unknown risks. In fact, what they didn't say, and what the audience didn't understand at this point, was how much they knew about "therapeutics," which is the truth. Especially the father, when he finally handed the knife to the nun, everyone really hammered his understanding of the truth: 100%, he was not deceived, he was one of the masterminds who intended to kill Eli. Mom is not omniscient or unknown, she is half-knowing. She is both a cheater and a cheater. She knew she was here to exorcise, but she ideally thought that after "treatment", she could suppress the devil's nature and get a healthy and normal son. As a mother, she didn't want to kill her child, so she had her own son. The process of changing cognition and changing attitudes (mother is a very important part of the plot, this movie is not only Eli's process of discovering the truth, but also the process of mother's discovery and decision-making).
Her relationship with her dad also hints at her approach to "therapy." Her perceptions and attitudes (behaviors) are constantly changing. After recognizing part of the scam, she felt broken. Her behavior was quarrel and resistance, and then she was persuaded. She cooperated with her father and compromised the possible risks of treatment, which meant that she was willing to continue the scam, in order to achieve " Purify" she can take this "risk" (the risk is that Eli will die). In the end, she realized that it was not the possibility of death, but the certain death, and then she completely resolutely resisted.
One of the most interesting foreshadowings is the mantra of a mother soothing her son: "Blow out the candle and make a wish." This phrase is repeated over and over, and its metaphor is not understood until the end. Mom was in the driver's seat panicking when Eli said to her, blow out the candles and make a wish. At this time, my whole body was jolted, and I realized that coming to blow the candle and making a wish is a metaphor for the ritual of worshipping the devil.
View more about Eli reviews
