the elevator scene is my favorite rebelcaptain for two main reasons:
it is romantic as fuck
her, desperately memorizing his face
him, entranced by her presence
her arm over his shoulders
considering he’s the one who needs to be physically propped up, there is literally no fucking reason for that arm to be on top of his shoulders unless there was kissing/face-touching involved
THE MUSIC
mainly, however, it’s because this is really the only moment of stillness, of timelessness that either experiences the entire movie
at the start of the film, both jyn and cassian are awaiting. they’re waiting for their death (jyn); they’re waiting for news (cassian).
and then – after wobani, after kafrene – they’re just CONSTANTLY ON.
every single aspect of them as human beings is being challenged and pushed and broken and rebuilt. their:
physical capabilities
emotional stability
mental fortitude
philosophies & ideologies
expectations and needs and desires
etc. etc. etc.
and this is happening for – what? a week straight?
a constant, never-ending barrage of DO THIS, DO THAT, SUFFER THIS, SUFFER THAT, FEEL THIS, FEEL THAT, PLAN THIS, PLAN THAT, GO, GO, GO, CLIMB, CLIMB, CLIMB
they are both giving 200% of their all for a week. there is no time to breathe between being recruited/blackmailed, entering a firefight in jedha, getting a concussion, getting captured, finding saw, escaping jedha, jyn’s grief, finding galen, cassian’s guilt, getting another concussion, escaping eadu, jyn’s AND cassian’s grief and consequent argument, arguing fruitlessly against the council, creating a strike team, planning to go rogue, going rogue, infiltrating scarif, coordinating troops, kay dying, jumping the data tower, climbing, getting shot and breaking some part of your back, climbing, nearly falling to your death, nearly getting killed by krennic, and then
the plans are sent. the rebellion can be (is) saved.
the man in white is dying. the monster in the fields made human.
the mission’s complete. whatever happens after – what’s needed to be done has been done.
Leave it, that’s it, let it go.
and so they enter the elevator. they choose the ground floor.
the adrenaline crashes.
there is no mission left to complete. there is nothing they can do between the top of the tower and the bottom. no plans they could make, no guns to ready. maybe they’ll be shot when the doors open. maybe bodhi will have a ship ready. the future is there, waiting, but for that single minute – for those two minutes –
it is just them, and it is finally time for them to take a moment. it is finally time for them to breathe. it is finally time for themto just be.
so they take this fleeting respite and – connect. understand. recognize. acknowledge.
when the doors open, they will face the outside world. they will see the dead and the dying. they will see whether there’s a last-minute rescue or inescapable death.
when they collapse on the beach, when they collapse into each other’s arms, they are thinking of absolution, of contentment, of meaning, of victory, of facing death, of wanting more.
but in that elevator, it’s just jyn and cassian. them, the space between their bodies, the flashing sunlight, and the weightlessness of descent.
say you love me 