Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 movie by Adrian Lyne, who is known for works like Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal. His best known work, is Lolita. If one observes all the movies he's directed, one will see that every film has a psychological background. So does Jacob's Ladder. Tim Robbins plays Jacob Singer, an ex-soldier who served at Vietnam and was given leave on psychological grounds. Robbins may not have been a big name in 1990, but he later went on to play the most historic character in movies. Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption (1994). Another face you'll notice is Macaulay Culkin. His role as Gabe Singer, the 2nd most important role in the movie, is uncredited, surprisingly.
Jacob's Ladder starts off with Robins waking in an almost empty subway car. He was seeing flashes of his last day at Vietnam, where some unfortunate incidents happened. He thinks he has missed his station and hence, asks an Armenian-looking lady. The lady is too horrified to answer. As the station arrives, he's about to get down when he notices a snake crawling around the legs of a man who's probably asleep. As he tries to get out of the station, he sees that both the exits on his side, are locked. Taking a chance, he tries to cross the tracks to get out of the other side when he is almost run over by a train, which has these demon-beings aboard, with their head covered. He's finally able to cross but alas, the exit on the other side is also closed. The next moment, we see him entering his home, waking up his lover (also his co-worker at The US Post Office), Jezebel "Jezzie" Pipkin (Elizabeth Peña). Things start going downhill since that night for Jacob. Seeing visions everywhere, being run over by people, falling sick. Determined that the US Government did something in Vietnam, which they wanna hide, Jacob starts his journey towards the truth. During his search, he comes in contact with his fellow comrades of Vietnam, who also experience similar hallucinations.
The interaction between Jezzie and Jacob is almost unreal, as if it's taken out of an erotica, probably because Jacob has a thing for Jezzie. Very little of Jacob's interaction with his other two children and wife is shown, most probably because, like most marriages in today's world, this one had also slipped into the existential phase. The director concentrates a lot on Jacob's interaction with Gabe, the son who died before Jacob left for Vietnam. Mostly due to Jacob's longing to see Gabe, again. Jacob has a note written by Gabe, in which Gabe asks his father to return home soon. That's one of Jacob's treasured possessions along with his dog-tag and a few other memorabilia.
Danny Aiello as Louis Denardo, is in all probability, Jacob's savior. His role is along the lines of The Lord, who's the savior of Jacob, in Bible. Louis is a chiropractor who is visited by Jacob due to his back ailments. All that we see of Louis is when he's setting Jacob's bones right. Yet, his relationship with Louis is more intimate than one can fathom. Louis is also friends with Jacob's ex wife.
That's not the only biblical reference. Lyne has also used the parable of Jacob's well to show us how Jacob thinks of hell. During a dream that he gets after jumping out of a car, Jacob goes through a hospital supposedly for the mentally ill. The setting then changes to a run-down building where he sees Gabe's cycle, exactly as the last time he saw it. He's being operated by Jezzie. Another man claims that he's already dead. A direct reference to Jacob's meeting with Satan, after which Louis storms into the hospital and takes him out of there.
While Louis is treating Jacob's dislocated back, he quotes 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart:
This movie, could easily be called the fore-runner to Inception. Dreamy locales. Scenes ending abruptly. Biblical references. Jacob dreams twice, within the film, after his jump out of the car and once when he's burning with fever and is put into a tub with cold water and ice. Jezzie even mentions his dream to him when he wakes up.
Why to watch? The Genius of Adrian Lyne, coupled with the Brilliance of Tim Robbins and the wonder of Bruce Joel Rubin, who later went on to write the superhit 1991 American movie, Ghost. Another worthy mention, this movie is inspired from real-life events where the US government actually used hallucination drugs on soldiers in Vietnam, a cruel truth which was unabashedly denied by the Pentagon.
That war is a demon, we all know. But countless soldiers suffer, even after war. Not everyone is as unlucky as Jacob Singer to have been given such vicious drugs, but most soldiers after a war, are emotionally and mentally raped, after having seen such grotesque sights. Even though Jacob's ladder is fiction, it's as real as fiction gets.
Jacob's Ladder starts off with Robins waking in an almost empty subway car. He was seeing flashes of his last day at Vietnam, where some unfortunate incidents happened. He thinks he has missed his station and hence, asks an Armenian-looking lady. The lady is too horrified to answer. As the station arrives, he's about to get down when he notices a snake crawling around the legs of a man who's probably asleep. As he tries to get out of the station, he sees that both the exits on his side, are locked. Taking a chance, he tries to cross the tracks to get out of the other side when he is almost run over by a train, which has these demon-beings aboard, with their head covered. He's finally able to cross but alas, the exit on the other side is also closed. The next moment, we see him entering his home, waking up his lover (also his co-worker at The US Post Office), Jezebel "Jezzie" Pipkin (Elizabeth Peña). Things start going downhill since that night for Jacob. Seeing visions everywhere, being run over by people, falling sick. Determined that the US Government did something in Vietnam, which they wanna hide, Jacob starts his journey towards the truth. During his search, he comes in contact with his fellow comrades of Vietnam, who also experience similar hallucinations.
The interaction between Jezzie and Jacob is almost unreal, as if it's taken out of an erotica, probably because Jacob has a thing for Jezzie. Very little of Jacob's interaction with his other two children and wife is shown, most probably because, like most marriages in today's world, this one had also slipped into the existential phase. The director concentrates a lot on Jacob's interaction with Gabe, the son who died before Jacob left for Vietnam. Mostly due to Jacob's longing to see Gabe, again. Jacob has a note written by Gabe, in which Gabe asks his father to return home soon. That's one of Jacob's treasured possessions along with his dog-tag and a few other memorabilia.
Danny Aiello as Louis Denardo, is in all probability, Jacob's savior. His role is along the lines of The Lord, who's the savior of Jacob, in Bible. Louis is a chiropractor who is visited by Jacob due to his back ailments. All that we see of Louis is when he's setting Jacob's bones right. Yet, his relationship with Louis is more intimate than one can fathom. Louis is also friends with Jacob's ex wife.
That's not the only biblical reference. Lyne has also used the parable of Jacob's well to show us how Jacob thinks of hell. During a dream that he gets after jumping out of a car, Jacob goes through a hospital supposedly for the mentally ill. The setting then changes to a run-down building where he sees Gabe's cycle, exactly as the last time he saw it. He's being operated by Jezzie. Another man claims that he's already dead. A direct reference to Jacob's meeting with Satan, after which Louis storms into the hospital and takes him out of there.
While Louis is treating Jacob's dislocated back, he quotes 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart:
| "Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you", he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." |
This movie, could easily be called the fore-runner to Inception. Dreamy locales. Scenes ending abruptly. Biblical references. Jacob dreams twice, within the film, after his jump out of the car and once when he's burning with fever and is put into a tub with cold water and ice. Jezzie even mentions his dream to him when he wakes up.
Why to watch? The Genius of Adrian Lyne, coupled with the Brilliance of Tim Robbins and the wonder of Bruce Joel Rubin, who later went on to write the superhit 1991 American movie, Ghost. Another worthy mention, this movie is inspired from real-life events where the US government actually used hallucination drugs on soldiers in Vietnam, a cruel truth which was unabashedly denied by the Pentagon.
That war is a demon, we all know. But countless soldiers suffer, even after war. Not everyone is as unlucky as Jacob Singer to have been given such vicious drugs, but most soldiers after a war, are emotionally and mentally raped, after having seen such grotesque sights. Even though Jacob's ladder is fiction, it's as real as fiction gets.
No comments:
Post a Comment