ET 25: Chinatown: the Ending

The ending of Chinatown is quite simply a chaotic mess of feelings. There isn't time to breathe, to understand what is going on, to explain. Everything happens too soon and too quickly, and ends tragically for everyone.

The whole ending is shot wonderfully. First off, the cinematography. The whole scene was shot on eye-level. Such an angle decidedly makes the viewer feel involved- it makes the viewer feel like he/she is standing there, on scene. We're caught up in the hectic mess of people on all sides accusing each other and screaming, and although we know the truth and are on Gittes' side, we're still quite drawn to the charming way Noah Cross calmly demands that his daughter is not sane- and for a short moment we start to doubt whether Evelyn was lying again, as she had been doing all throughout the film. Suddenly the truth seems clouded again and Gittes himself is uncertain. The music is important too- or more specifically the lack of music. The viewer becomes fully focused on the scene, there is no room for distractions- not even in the form of the absolutely stunning soundtrack for the film. And after all the babble and confusion that happens, Evelyn drives away with the person she wants to protect, and we think that it's all going to end well for her as her car vanishes into the distance and the gunshots miss her.

But of course it's a not very noir-like to have a happy ending, is it?

The sound of the car-horn deafens everything else. At first the viewer is confused, as the gunshots and the car-horn seem to meld together to make one sound, but after a while this great sense of unwitting fear and despair grip you from the inside as you recognize the sound for what it is. Soon after the car-horn melds with Katherine's terrified, almost inhuman scream as well, and without even seeing what happens, the audience knows it. It's the noir ending we thought we would be safe from.

We see Evelyn's blown-out eye and then everything that had escalated so quickly seems to come to an instant halt. There is only Katherine's screaming in the background and everybody is quite simply shocked. Noah Cross comes and whisks Katherine away, covering her eyes and telling her to "not look", acting like the caring grandfather he presents to society. We, the viewers, however, know what is going on- what is going to happen. Katherine will experience the same fate as her mother/sister Evelyn. Gittes had unwittingly made the same mistake he made the last time in Chinatown, when he had promised to be involved "as little as possible". This mistake was repeated. The murder of Evelyn will be forgotten as another incident that happened in Chinatown. It will be a repeat of everything again. Gittes wasn't able to save Evelyn and Katherine, nor was he able to bring Noah Cross to justice for the heinous crimes he had committed, just like the last time he was in Chinatown. It's a repeat of his tragedy.

The film revolves around Chinatown, quite like its title suggests, although Chinatown only shows up in the last minutes of this film. I would say that although it isn't shown, Chinatown is prevalent throughout the movie- or more specifically the events that had happened in Chinatown and how it had affected Gittes. Gittes, from the very beginning, was greatly affected by what happened. We see that he never could let go the past, and that his present was always dogged by his past. His actions, decisions, promises were all made with some consideration towards Chinatown. Chinatown could very well be a mental state in which he can't jump out of. He is stuck in that place, and he bitterly resents it. We are brought to Chinatown at the end and I feel that it perfectly expresses the repetition of the tragic events that had forever shadowed him, and will continue to do so.

The more significant Chinese character in the film is Khan, Evelyn's butler. He says little and is rather a minor character, but he is important nonetheless. He knows of Evelyn's secret and Katherine. He takes care of them both and protects them. He's loyal and simple of his goal: to protect his master the best that he can. I think it strikes a different idea of the chinese we imagine in Gitte's Chinatown... Such a world full of deceit must be filled with hateful, resentful, lying Chinese, but Khan is far from anything like that.

Robert Towne's ending was to inject some hope into an otherwise totally dark film. Honestly I don't think it would strike quite as hard as Polanski's terribly gritty outlook if it was made possible. In Towne's version, Katherine manages to escape, although Evelyn is killed. Noah Cross expressed exaggerated sadness over his dead daughter, and Gittes starts yelling at everyone in anger. In Polanski's version, Cross takes Katherine away, Evelyn still dies, and Gittes is devastated.

If the film was shot Towne's way, Chinatown wouldn't be one of the best noir films ever made. Firstly, there is hope. Evelyn's heroic death was for the saving of her sister/daughter Katherine- the sole reason of her deceitful life- and the hope that she would be free from the evil clutches of the evil Noah Cross. Noah himself would throw himself over Evelyn's dead body and cry- and is he really a man who would do that? All throughout the movie we've seen him portrayed as a cruel, evil man who thinks the rest of humanity are nothing and are worthless to him unless they can be exploited. This man had raped his daughter and impregnated her and hadn't really cared about finding her again until Hollis' murder and only then because Gittes was on the case. In fact he wanted to put all the blame on her! Is this really the same man that would cry passionately over the loss of his daughter? Secondly, Evelyn's death would have a whole other meaning. Her death wouldn't have been in vain, as she had allowed her daughter to escape. Instead she would have died a heroic death. And that doesn't quite make such an impact as seeing all her struggles were futile. All the lies and painful steps she took to ensure Katherine's safety were in vain, since in the end she is taken by Cross again. It would definitely not have the same helplessness of the situation if Katherine manages to escape. By doing so, however, we are forced to acknowledged the grittiness and hopelessness of Chinatown. Thirdly, Gitte's reaction to her death is drastically different. In Towne's version he is yelling at everyone else: he is putting the blame on other people, instead of himself. In Polanski's version, however, he internalizes the blame. He thinks he is the sole blame for Evelyn's tragedy and we can see that he shuts down: he is silent and expressionless, he is completely crushed. He thought he could change the present, if not the past, or that maybe helping Evelyn escape would redeem himself and he could properly let go of Chinatown. That is not the case. He cannot change what had happened, he cannot even help. Chinatown is still hard and unforgiving, like how he is hard and unforgiving to himself. Chinatown is not kind. Chinatown does not forgive nor forget, even though advice is given to him to "Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown."

Sources:

http://home.roadrunner.com/~jhartzog/chinatownscriptfilm.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2010/oct/22/best-film-ever-chinatown-season

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/gittes.html