that's the angle YOU want, AND THAT'S FINE.

the tension of the angle you describe is exactly what i felt knowing its a damn real storm at the end... aint nuthin tepid about when the shit hits the fan you're going to have to drastically change your life

and oil in the rain is not a marker of the supernatural. it's exactly what's happening to areas affected by the BP oil spill. we deal with the reality of chemicals in our air every day, it's called pollution.

and that doesn't undermine the mental illness angle either. mental illness is a industrial era medical classification. it does not mean it is the correct assessment of what if happening in people's minds because we find it to be deviating from the norm. Shannon's character can be the "crazy" bum yelling on the corner of sunset and cahuenga about the return of jesus, or the indigenous Shamans who predicted the end of their world before the Europeans arrived.

and this is why the film is great, it works on so many different levels, allowing us to discuss our various interpretations