It may be a tougher nut without knowing Dylan, but the Gere story isn't totally unique within the film, where several of the Bobs are besieged and attempt to retreat from the world. The Gere story is really just the middle section of Bale's story, where the protest singer goes into hiding only to come back out many years later transformed into a committed Christian. There's also a link between Gere and Ledger: when Gere stares of into the mountains and hears flashes of Eddie Vedder's All Along The Watchtower, the song which also accompanies Charlotte Gainsbourg watching TV coverage of Vietnam. It's as if Gere's remembering his past life with her.