As the scene opens we see Derek s hand on the showerhead and the soundtrack is inspiring us to feel his pain and sorrow with slow whimsical strings and a distant piano. There is diagetic sound of the shower very low and in almost hidden under the score. As the water rushes over Derek s head get the sense that he is trying to wash something away, something like his horrible past. But also, I get the sense that he is able to take some comfort in the water.
Next we get a quick cut to a flashback of Derek and Danny (his brother) as children on a beach with the waves and the sound of Pelicans in the low background as the score goes on with the intense sorrow. We see Derek chasing after the younger Danny as he runs away from him. To me it symbolizes how Derek is forever looking out for Danny and how he is able to influence him by grabbing his hand and showing him the way. Danny is in the foreground and Derek is seen in the background so I can assume that Derek thinks of his brothers needs before his own.
We get another fast cut to Derek holding Danny s hand and walking him towards the water. I get the feeling that he is trying to insure some faith in his brother that the water is nothing to fear, so that we can assume the future is not to be feared either. Then the cut goes to Danny smiling into the sun, his face is bright and the camera is up close. I wonder if Danny is looking at the beauty of the earth and the wonder of what lies ahead.
Seeing that he is a child we can assume that he knows no fear of what lies ahead, and it makes Derek is running around in the background in a random fashion, and I feel that he is starting his path of none conformity just by seeing him run with his hands in the air. Derek must be remembering this past and asking himself if he could have done something better or different to aid his brothers future? And as we see Danny looking into the sun the strings in the score tell the tail of wonder, and comfort that they must have felt as children experiencing the ocean for the first time and tasting life as a child does.
The next cut is to the pelicans flying around and I feel it means that the birds know no sense of hatred or fear of what lies ahead for them. They know no discrimination. And the scene cuts back to Danny looking at them smiling at there beauty and their grace as they fly together, I assume as he sees himself and his family together. Another cut shows two pelicans of them flying together and one fly s out of view as one stays in the shot. I really liked this because I attributed it to Derek and Danny and how their paths changed course and there was no real logic to it except that, we are all influenced by different things in our lives and our path is not set. Even when we are together something can make our path change.
Another quick cutback to Derek in the shower thinking of this past that was wonderful and full of life and a wonderful future and how it all went wrong somewhere, perhaps his father s death, or something deeper. The soundtrack opens up more and we hear the shower louder now and we see he really is in pain as he runs his hands through his hair, and I sensed that he was trying to baptize himself in the water and cleanse his soul. I feel that this shot of him running his hands through his wet hair is a way of showing how the reality that has become his life is not what his thoughts as a child were of what he would become as an adult.
Then we get an interesting shot of Derek running from the waves again on the beach. I felt this was a great way to show that the water was a fear, a fear of washing away the unknown. And in the foreground there is a single bird on the beach that flies away, I felt that the bird symbolized his younger brother slipping away from him because he was afraid of what the water could do. We sense Derek s fear of being baptized by the waves, and the fear of cleansing away what is unbeknownst to him.
We cut back to the shower and see Derek drinking from the shower. I think it is symbolic of him drinking from the cup of life. Deciding that now is the time to begin over and turn that leaf over to a fresh way of looking at what lies ahead of him, like the rebuilding of his life. The shower stops and the music relapses to string in full and gives us a feeling of goodness.
Derek steps out of the shower in slow motion, and we sense that his journey has begun and he realizes that it is time to look at himself in a whole new light. But as he steps out he sees his reflection in the mirror. The swastika on his chest, the hate that he once knew gives him a look of depression and disbelief at what he has become. He looks like he wants to say, I am sorry for what I have become and I know it is time to right my wrongs. As the music continues he places his hand over the swastika (which happens to be over his heart) and pledges to do what he can to help Danny realize what is right and wrong with what he has done in his life, and to not allow him to make the same stupid mistakes.
The scene ends with a close-up of Derek looking into his own eyes. And he can see that this is what he wants, a change. It is time to get on with life and forget all that he knew of hate and look at life anew. The music comes to a close and we feel that from the score that he is reborn, a new person, and cleansed of his hatred, fully.
