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as taken from internet movie database, about the dreams.....
The meaning of the two dreams can be thought of as Bell's fear of some
final judgment. The dreams are symbolic, so by whom Bell will be judged
is up for interpretation.
Bell
explains the first dream to his wife briefly, trying not to make too
much of it. But, the meaning is quite significant. He says his father
met him in town and gave him some money, but he (Bell) lost it. This
can be seen as Bell feeling as if he were entrusted with something
valuable, but failed to protect it. See this as his responsibility as a
law enforcement officer, the lives of the people he was responsible for
protecting, his father's wisdom, and so on. It's an acknowledgment of
his feelings of failure.
The second dream is connected with the
first. In the second dream, he says he and his father were riding
through the mountains in the old times. His father rode up ahead of him
and went on into the cold and dark with some fire. Bell said that he
knew when he got to where his father was going, his father would be
there waiting for him.
His father going up ahead into the cold,
dark night with the fire representing his father passing from the
physical world into the afterlife (whatever that may be). The fire
could represent Bell's father's lifeforce, or spirit.
Bell knows
he's going to where his father went, and as the final curtain starts to
come down on his life, he's second-guessing his whole existence. What
will his father have to say about it?
In those final speeches we
see that he is really thinking about how he might be largely
responsible for his own failings (the first dream), and for him, going
on up ahead into the cold darkness and eventually meeting his father
means just what you think: He's heading toward the end and a possible
final judgment, either by his father, or God, or whomever. And Bell is
afraid that if there is a final judgment, it may be a harsh one. Did he
measure up to the old-time lawmen? Did he make his father proud? Did he
fail more than any of his predecessors in law enforcement (his father,
grandfather, etc.) did? After all, he failed to protect Llewelyn and
Carla Jean Moss.
He's contemplating what many people contemplate as they get old and the curtain starts coming down on their lives: How should I be judged for the life I've lived?
