As Mitch Cullin weaves together Holmes's hidden past, his poignant struggle to retain mental acuity, and his unlikely relationship with Roger, Holmes is transformed from the machine - like,
mythic figure into an ordinary man, confronting and acquiescing to emotions he has resisted his entire life.
And in this moment, the film makes clear what it is that is so compelling about him — perhaps as a person but surely now, as a
mythic figure who went out
into the mountains and died — the very fact that Chris makes choices, informed and not, eventually irrevocable.