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his instinct to run. When the pedophile in the car turns and looks at Dave, the viewer is left with a strong feeling of revulsion. Jimmy and Sean stand with bewildered stares on their faces, as they watch their friend ride away. It's one of the most distressing scenes in cinematic history. Things are never going to be the same.

Jimmy talks about the last time that he saw Katie alive; she gave him "a look that meant she wouldn't see him for a long time."When the viewer watches the scene, Katie just stares at Jimmy for a second, stands back, and then smiles. The fact that Jimmy can read his daughter's expression so well just goes to show how well a parent can know his child.

Throughout Mystic River Dave's wife Celeste appears to be teetering close to a nervous breakdown. She looks like she is need of a strong sedative. Celeste's expression at the parade is frantic. She realizes that her husband is dead and she confirms this fact through eye contact with Sean. She realizes that she has been drug into their crazy world. When she scans the facial expressions of the other characters at the parade, she seems to wonder how they can all stand around with smiles on their faces after all the tragedies. Jimmy's wife Annabeth casts Celeste a devilish look. It's the look of a wife who will stand by her husband no matter what horrible thing he does.

Annabeth, who is portrayed by Laura Linney, is one of the emotionally strongest characters in the film. She does get upset when Katie is murdered, but there is a sense that it will not take her very long to recover. She has a stare that could turn someone to stone, but if you are gonna go through life with Jimmy you need to be a little hard.

Dave looks uncomfortable in every scene that he is in. He wears a down trodden hound dog expression across his face. After the ordeal that he goes through as a child, he is left unable to deal with any sort of tragedy. He is unable to give comfort to anyone. He tries to hide his emotions, but they come through as a sort of nervousness on his face.

The links that bind the characters are both deep rooted and fragile. It is almost too painful for Dave, Jimmy , and Sean to be around each other. They live in one sad tragically linked community. They will forever be linked because of their childhood bonds. Celeste ends up being pulled into the linked community through the murder of Dave. There are times in Mystic River when death seems as if it is a blessing. However, it is incredibly sad when Dave faces his death; he wants to make things right with his life. The scene in which Dave gets into the car with the Savage brothers is eerily similar to the one in which he gets into the pedophile's car. It shows what happens when one doesn't learn from prior life experiences.

The final scenes in Mystic River do a great job at tying the whole film together. Sean sees Jimmy at a parade, and he holds his fingers up and pretends he is firing a gun at Jimmy. Jimmy gives a him a sort of half grin and shrugs his shoulders. Perhaps, Sean is using the symbol of the gun to show Jimmy that he is going to pay for what he had done to Dave. Jimmy may end up paying for Dave's death with his own life, but that would probably be too easy. Death would allow Jimmy to escape the whole vicious cycle that he is part of. The emotional wounds that are inflicted upon the characters probably will never go away. Sometimes they will be raw, other times they will scab over. When they finally believe they are healed; the wounds will split open fresh and new as ever. The performances in Mystic River will stick with the viewer almost as long.

Learn more about this author, Christopher Cook.
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