Hope

I saw this last night on DVD, and after it was over, I wasn't sure what I thought about it. When I got up today, I found myself thinking about the movie again, and I came to the realization that it's a film about hope.

I read the Slant interview with Van Sant just now, before starting to write this, to see what his take on it was, and he says he had come across a newspaper story about two guys who got lost in the desert and only one came out; he said he liked that idea and he'd been lost himself, so he knew what it felt like. He didn't mention that it was about hope, but that's what it seems like it's about to me - how the Affleck character gave up hope and wanted to die instead, but Damon's character kept walking and eventually found the road and got rescued.