19-12-2012, 10:42 PM
Keith - thanks.
You definitely need some English subtitles. :hippy:
Even without the deleted scenes, Jacob's Ladder supports multiple interpretations.
With those scenes, I believe there is no one definitive solution to Jacob's story.
However, there is one dominant interpretation of the released film, which I will term the First Path.
Casual surfers please be aware that following is a plot SPOILER, although I would argue it is actually a narrative EXPANDER which makes this work of art richer.
According to the First Path:
Jacob's military unit was subjected to highly experimental MK-ULTRA meets Phoenix programming during the Vietnam War. The substance being tested was an aggression-heightening drug. The Chemist's bosses moved from monkey testing straight to Jacob and his unit.
In chemical terms, the drug worked. It made the soldiers hyper-aggressive and fearless. Unfortunately, there was a side effect. The aggression was uncontrollable, and each soldier indiscriminately targeted anything or anyone in his way.
Jacob was bayoneted by one of his team. He died in Vietnam, and his journey in the film is a dream/nightmare passage through his hopes, his fears, his unrequited passions.
Jacob's soul refusing to let go.....
But there are other ways of reading this.
Here's a Second Path:
The Vietnam scenes are allegory. Fundamentally, Jacob was the victim of an attempt to turn him from man to beast. To destroy his humanity, and turn him into a hyper-aggressive killing machine.
Yet Jacob has a kind and gentle soul, which fights this evil.
The film is about his soul's journey to understand what was done to him, to find answers on the material and metaphysical planes.
In the end, it is the love of a father for his son, a parent for his child, that brings him home. That restores Jacob's humanity.
So what about the deleted scenes in the OP?
Is The Chemist attempting to free Jacob's soul?
Or perfect his drug?
His last words are "Better living through Chemistry - that's my motto".....
You definitely need some English subtitles. :hippy:
Even without the deleted scenes, Jacob's Ladder supports multiple interpretations.
With those scenes, I believe there is no one definitive solution to Jacob's story.
However, there is one dominant interpretation of the released film, which I will term the First Path.
Casual surfers please be aware that following is a plot SPOILER, although I would argue it is actually a narrative EXPANDER which makes this work of art richer.
According to the First Path:
Jacob's military unit was subjected to highly experimental MK-ULTRA meets Phoenix programming during the Vietnam War. The substance being tested was an aggression-heightening drug. The Chemist's bosses moved from monkey testing straight to Jacob and his unit.
In chemical terms, the drug worked. It made the soldiers hyper-aggressive and fearless. Unfortunately, there was a side effect. The aggression was uncontrollable, and each soldier indiscriminately targeted anything or anyone in his way.
Jacob was bayoneted by one of his team. He died in Vietnam, and his journey in the film is a dream/nightmare passage through his hopes, his fears, his unrequited passions.
Jacob's soul refusing to let go.....
But there are other ways of reading this.
Here's a Second Path:
The Vietnam scenes are allegory. Fundamentally, Jacob was the victim of an attempt to turn him from man to beast. To destroy his humanity, and turn him into a hyper-aggressive killing machine.
Yet Jacob has a kind and gentle soul, which fights this evil.
The film is about his soul's journey to understand what was done to him, to find answers on the material and metaphysical planes.
In the end, it is the love of a father for his son, a parent for his child, that brings him home. That restores Jacob's humanity.
So what about the deleted scenes in the OP?
Is The Chemist attempting to free Jacob's soul?
Or perfect his drug?
His last words are "Better living through Chemistry - that's my motto".....
"It means this War was never political at all, the politics was all theatre, all just to keep the people distracted...."
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war
"Proverbs for Paranoids 4: You hide, They seek."
"They are in Love. Fuck the War."
Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon
"Ccollanan Pachacamac ricuy auccacunac yahuarniy hichascancuta."
The last words of the last Inka, Tupac Amaru, led to the gallows by men of god & dogs of war