How we cite our quotes: All quotations are from 12 Monkeys.
Quote #7
SCIENTISTS [clapping]: Congratulations, Cole. Well done. Well done!
BOTANIST: During your interview, while you were under the influence, you told us that you liked music.
GEOLOGIST: This isn't a prison, James.
BOTANIST: This is a hospital.
ASTROPHYSICIST: Just until you recover your equilibrium.
That painting dangling above Cole in this scene is "Valley of the Yosemite" by Albert Bierstadt. As this is a hospital, we assume it was put there to provide Cole with a soothing, therapeutic vista. Again, notice how the film acknowledges nature's beneficial effects on human life, even if only a replication.
Quote #8
[COLE and RAILLY watch Vertigo in a movie theater.]
JAMES STEWART: There's a cross-section of one of the old trees that's been cut down.
KIM NOVAK: Here I was born. And there I died. It was only a moment for you. You took no notice.
COLE: I think I've seen this movie before. When I was a kid, I saw it on TV.
RAILLY: Don't talk.
COLE: I did see it before.
We swear, this one scene from Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo has more green in it than all of 12 Monkeys. This abundance of foliage makes us realize just how little nature is in the film. Despite all the talk of animals and viruses, natural landscapes appear seldom outside of media such as movies, paintings, or TV commercials for the Florida Keys.
Natural landscapes are always out of reach for the characters, and with them, those therapeutic qualities we've been discussing (with the notable exception we mentioned previously). Instead, the modern cityscape seems to have everyone trapped.