Miller's Crossing (5)

<continued>

At last we are ready to delve into the analysis of Miller's Crossing's message. At the center of that message is Tom Reagan's ethical journey. And the key questions our analysis has to answer deal with that journey:

- Why is Tom throughout the movie brutally (as in "brutally beaten up") honest in placing his sporting bets and even refuses Leo's offer to "square" his betting debt, while at the end he places a bet on a fixed fight, while paying off the debt with the money he obtains by tricking and (effectively) murdering Caspar?

- Why does not Tom kill Bernie when he has all the reasons in the world for it, and does kill him in the end when "there is no angle" in it?

- What is the symbolism of a hat (the hat - Tom's hat that is) blown away by the wind?

The plot is rather dense and it is hard to handle it with short straightforward sentences. So please bear with me.

To make our task more manageable let's break up the main characters into love-hate triangles and treat each group separately. Seven main characters make for thirty five trios, fortunately only some of them make sense. ( Let's consider them one by one )

We will deal with the remaining three love-hate triangles in the conclusion.

<to be concluded>