The Meaning Of The Movie Bird Box (2018). The film, written by Eric Heisserer (Arrival), was shot by European director Suzanne Beer based on the book of the same name by Josh Malerman (for a moment, a “follower of Stephen King,” as journalists dubbed him). The streaming video service Netflix took up the promotion of the thriller … And he did not lose.
Meaning of the Bird Box movie
The plot can be summarized as follows: Malory (played by Sandra Bullock) must save two children (Boy and Girl) from invisible aliens who make people kill themselves if they look at them. At the same time, the change in the iris of the eyes is the main indicator of transformation. Events do not develop linearly: first, the viewer sees the consequences, and then the events develop retrospectively: the pregnant heroine gradually becomes a witness to the collapse of the world.
Mass suicides of people, panic, search for shelter. And now the shelter is found, as is the explanation for what is happening: some entities, the appearance of which can be determined by sudden gusts of wind and the reaction of birds, are able to start the mechanism of human self-destruction with just a glance at them. So Mallory is locked up with a group of survivors in a safe house. As a way to hide from evil spirits, people use curtains, bedspreads, blindfolds.
However, things gradually get out of control. One of the survivors, Olympia, lets a certain Gary into the house out of pity. Thanks to the intrusion of a stranger, the forced captives learn that not all victims of the entities lay hands on themselves: some become “adepts”, servants of demons. They convince people to look at the “beautiful” creatures, which leads the unfortunate to commit suicide. So, Malory with her newborn baby, baby Olympia and Tom (Trevante Rhodes) remain alive.
The plot is interrupted: after 5 years, Malory and Tom live in the forest, they have minimal food resources: a vegetable garden and “trophies” from abandoned dwellings. In one, a certain Rick gets in touch on the radio: he reports that there is a “sanctuary” where the survivors are waiting for them. You can get there only by rafting down the river. After Tom dies in a firefight with looters fighting for resources, Malory is left with no other choice: she takes the children, the bird cage and goes in search of shelter.
Throughout the journey, children are strictly ordered not to remove their bandages. In the end, after a long blind rafting, the boat capsizes, and Malory finds herself in an unfamiliar forest, where she can only navigate by sounds. The ghosts try to confuse the children so they can remove their bandages, but the heroine and the kids manage to slip away. They are let into the shelter: this is a school for the blind – a Garden of Eden, where birds fly freely, people laugh. Here Malory meets Dr. Lapham, her gynecologist, and names the children Olympia and Tom, in honor of their dead mother and father. On the symbolic note of the release of the birds from the box, the film ends.
The meaning of the ending of the movie Bird Box
It is no coincidence that the sanctuary turns out to be a school for the blind. The motive of spiritual blindness is not new (starting with the Bible, ending with “Blindness” by J. Saramago, books by Stephen King with his interest in exploring the depths of the subconscious). Sometimes hoping means more than trusting what you see, and allowing yourself to love openly is more important than trying to protect loved ones from harm by suppressing feelings. This is also indicated by the title of the film (book): “Bird Box”.
Birds here are a symbol of freedom, the connection of Heaven and Earth, the antipode of Evil, the guardian angels of Malory (humanity). Both the feelings of the heroine and the bird are released into the “sanctuary”, a kind of catharsis sets in. Throughout the film, Malory has opposed herself to others (she is chosen, smart, knows how to survive, does not trust anyone). As a result, she finds herself safe, among equals – where you can not be afraid for the children. The final does not give an unequivocal answer to the question about the future of civilization: after all, the monsters are behind the wall, and the “infected” are not so easy to recognize. But the feeling of hope does not leave the viewer.
