Jacob's Ladder - In the power of the afterlife
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Jacob's Ladder - In the power of the afterlife |
| Original title | Jacob's Ladder |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1990 |
| length | 108 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Adrian Lyne |
| script | Bruce Joel Rubin |
| production |
Mario Kassar , Alan Marshall , Andrew G. Vajna |
| music | Maurice Jarre |
| camera | Jeffrey L. Kimball |
| cut | Tom Rolf |
| occupation | |
| |
Jacob's Ladder - In the violence of the afterlife (AKA Jacob's Ladder is) an American thriller by Adrian Lyne in 1990, of a new one with disturbing images and selectively with extreme time-lapse sequences of human movements ( "body horror") Introduced a kind of visual horror into the cinema and influenced younger directors (including the Spaniard Jaume Balagueró in The Nameless and Fragile ) as well as being the inspiration for the creators of the critically acclaimed Silent Hill video game series .
action
The postman and the Vietnam War - Veteran Jacob Singer lives in New York City . He is divorced. Singer is plagued by visions in which he is killed in the jungle. In everyday life, too, he increasingly encounters frightening strangers who do not seem to be entirely human, and the environment and rooms are becoming increasingly foreign to him. His relationship with Jezebel is suffering as a result, and sometimes Jacob is not sure that it too is changing unnaturally. At times he seems to be living in the past again, together with his (ex) wife and children, from whom Gabriel (Gabe) actually had a fatal accident (and which is why Jacob feels very guilty).
At risk of death and with the help of a former army chemist, he tries to uncover a conspiracy surrounding an experiment in which the aggressiveness potential of soldiers deployed in Vietnam has been increased immeasurably with a drug called "the ladder" (compare the biblical Jacob's ladder , Jacob dreamed of angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth). In all the threat, fear and insecurity, Louis, his chiropractor and “fat cherub ”, is the only person he can trust , unconditionally and loyally like a guardian angel.
In the end it turns out, surprisingly, that Singer was fatally wounded during the Vietnam War and that the events of the film are merely a hallucination of the dying person. Other interpretations see the "hallucinations" as manifest limbo or as purgatory of the dying, who by clinging to his earthly existence, by his worldly doubts, feelings of guilt and fears (or by the drug experiments of the army) the messengers of the afterlife as terrible demonic Perceives entities. Louis tells of a medieval mystic , Meister Eckhart , who was of the opinion that those who can let go do not perceive the transition as nightmarish, but as redeeming. However, at the sight of the smiling dead man, the doctors found that he now looked remarkably peaceful.
The structure of the narrative is based on the short story An Incident at the Owl Creek Bridge by Ambrose Bierce (1890), in which a soldier in the American Civil War initially seems to have escaped execution, which in the end turns out to be a hallucination during his Agony turns out. The novel Between nine and nine by Leo Perutz (1919) and the film Dance of Dead Souls (USA, 1962) follow a similar pattern .
At the end of the film, a text appears briefly claiming that the psychological agent BZ (3-quinuclidinyl benzilate) was tested on soldiers in the Vietnam War. This suggests that the protagonist's hallucinations are due to poisoning with this warfare agent.
synchronization
| roll | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob Singer | Tim Robbins | Charles Rettinghaus |
| Jezebel | Elizabeth Peña | Daniela Hoffmann |
| Louis | Danny Aiello | Klaus Sunshine |
| Michael | Matt Craven | Claus-Peter Damitz |
| Paul | Pruitt Taylor Vince | Bernd Eichner |
| Geary | Jason Alexander | Uwe Paulsen |
| Sarah | Patricia Kalember | Ute Brankatsch |
| Frank | Eriq La Salle | Ingo Albrecht |
| Sam | Evan O'Meara | Dieter Kursawe |
criticism
Desson Howe wrote in the Washington Post on November 2, 1990 that director Adrian Lyne ( Flashdance , 9½ weeks ) was a poor choice for this film. The screenwriter tries unsuccessfully to address religious topics such as that of good and evil.
“Director Adrian Lyne (' Lolita ', '9 1/2 weeks') deals with the trauma of Vietnam in a disturbing way . And Robbins' portrayal of the mentally damaged veteran is so believable to the bitter end that it robs you of sleep. Conclusion: Brutal trip with astonishing resolution. "
background
Filming took place in New York City and Puerto Rico . Production costs were estimated at 25 million US dollars . The film grossed $ 26.1 million in US cinemas.
Remake
Directed by David M. Rosenthal, a remake of the film was made, starring Michael Ealy and Jesse Williams . The release in the US is scheduled for August 23, 2019.
Web links
- Jacob's Ladder - In the violence of the afterlife in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Jacob's Ladder - In the violence of the afterlife at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ [1] Silent Hill: New Interview with Christophe Gans settles some things once and for all, LiveJournal (English)
- ^ Critique by Desson Howe
- ↑ Criticism on Cinema.de
- ^ Business Data for Jacob's Ladder
- ↑ No Hallucinations, the 'Jacob's Ladder' Remake is Coming in 2019 - Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved November 6, 2018 (American English).
- ↑ Martin Ramm: "Jacob's Ladder": The atmospheric trailer for the remake of the cult horror film that shaped "Silent Hill". In: Filmstarts.de. July 3, 2019, accessed July 5, 2019 .