Dogma ending questions (SPOILERS)

Cafe Society
1

Well, I finally received the Dogma DVD for Christmas, so I watched it again last night (I hadn’t seen it since it came out). Two questions came to mind though:

  1. Where did Bartleby go? Heaven or hell? On one hand, he defied God, and killed all those people in His (or Her) name, so he would go to hell. On the other, he asked for forgiveness, and God embraced him before She killed him. This suggests to me that he is in heaven, and that the scene is intended to illustrate God’s infinite mercy. Also, at this point Bartleby is a human, and in the Dogma universe, God is more forgiving with humans than She is with Angels.

  2. Also, what happened to all of the people that Bartleby killed? Are they all safe back at home like the day never happened? Or are they still dead, and God just cleaned up the mess?

Both of these questions were raised on the DVD commentary, but Kevin dodged 'em both, saying it was up to the individual viewer to decide. So what’s the verdict? I personally assume that Bartleby was forgiven, and allowed to return to heaven (as a dead human, not an angel). I’m not certain about the second question though.

2

  1. Yep, I think it’s obvious that Bartleby goes to Heaven, especially since he was embraced and forgiven by God.

  2. Hmmmm. I dunno.

3

What about Bartleby partner, who was killed be Bartleby?

Did he go to heavin?

4

i thought Bartleby is still in hell, he says before all he really wanted was a hug, or aknowledgement(don’t have it here in illinois, so i am guessing what the actual quote was), and that was what God did, right before she started singing Ironic and blew him away.

And all the people are happy in their homes, including Dante’s cousin.

5

In a minor blooper, you can see Loki’s leg moving after he’s been killed. It’s one of the long sweeping shots that ends hovering over “God”.

6

IMHO:

  1. Loki went to hell. He was human but he didn’t go thru the door to have his sins removed. But God destroyed Bartelby completely. I.e., no more soul to go anywhere. Perhaps better than going to hell. (Cf. Azrael’s take on non-existence vs. hell.)

  2. Everybody is hunky-dory “as before”. Even with memory wiped so that doubts about the afterlife remain (except for the major players).

7

Hmm, that raises another question: What happened to Azrael? I assume he’s gone completely, but then again, that’s just what he wanted. Maybe he didn’t know he could be killed, otherwise he would have just done that long ago.

8

Why doesn’t God shave that hairy bush?

Just kidding. Maybe.

9

Maybe God likes It that way.

10

And what about the Stygian Triplets? Did they just get sent back, or are their souls destroyd since they were dunked in holy water?

[Hijack]One of the Triplets went to my high school. He’s got black curly hair, says he got the part for raising his eyebrow in a really evil way. His name was Kitao, don’t remember how to spell the last name, but that was kinda neat, knowing someone who was in a major motion picture.[/hijack]