Well, the point is Jane crossed the line and escalated an already heated situation. Here's a young black man being blamed for having sexual relations with a white girl, then killing her. He's been pursued by the police, injured himself trying to escape and now is face to face with his tormentor. Jane has been chewed out by her boss for her drinking, she wakes up on a sobering morning unable to recall the night before, is finally forced to confront her drinking problem, her father has passed away, and other mistakes are made in the course of events leading up to her confrontation with Curtis who calls her a bitch.
The two of them are very much alike, it is only their labels and positions in life and the forces that work to maintain that position that prevent them from seeing and having any feelings of empathy toward each other, although we at first think Curtis is going to be a good guy and offers to give Jane a glass of water but then takes off with his friend. Jane is no different than Curtis in that she is being haunted by her past, Curtis a dead girl and the police. Had Curtis been in the interrogation room, Jane wouldn't have been able to slap Curtis, the reason Police need to be policed. Otley's death would have been avoided. Consider what could have happened had it been a man in Jane's place.
Why is Otley the one who gets shot instead of Jane, I mean this isn't the first time Jane has fowled up and she killed her own unborn child? Isn't there a transference and projective identification going on between Jane and Otley? I was reminded of all those WWI soldiers who were shipped overseas to France (my grandfather and his twin brother included) and a host of other men and women labeled dispensible human resources who are the scapegoats for society, Eric Fromm's Sane Society , "God's little chillin'", Copycat . Mistake after mistake and Jane is suicidal, drinking herself into stupors at every chance? I see upperclass chauvanism all over this film.
Had it been written any other way would it have been entertaining? Is it any different than watching the gladiators in Rome. Why do I like them? It's about eking out the truth and getting the real bad guy, despite your faults and failures. Agatha Christie might have said it better. :l
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