Jacob's Ladder - What it all Meant
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- Опубликовано: 15 сен 2024
- A thematic analysis of Jacob's Ladder. Basically what the visuals, dialogue, motifs, and general subtext all lead to, summed up in a simple, to-the-point and concise visual essay.
If you believe I'm wrong please discuss in the comments below. This is (hopefully) some sort of learning experience. I don't claim to know everything and would hate to lead someone else to a wrong conclusion. So if you can prove a film is saying something else based on evidence, please share.
Thank you.
I watched this in the theater in eighth grade. The movie ended and nobody in the theater moved, we all just looked around at each other seeking an explanation to what we had just seen. This was the first WTF moment of my life, and it was awesome..mind blown moment. I'm glad there is still a buzz about this movie 27yrs later. Absolutely a cult classic that you have to see to understand.
I love this movie too, that's a great story
arcie1776 agreed mate. Its popular in England too.
I saw it as a 19 year-old with 5 friends and loved it. We all went to a nearby pub afterwards and spent a couple of hours discussing the meaning. We all had different interpretations and it was fantastic.
So lacking in the current Star driven, CGI crazy, blockbuster Hollywood system.
If you want great stories that respect the intelligence of audience members, watch lower budget, independent films.
@@markporter702 I couldn't had said it better.
Actually I saw it in college rent in my freshman year I kind of understood it pretty easily but I didn't get into the deeper meaning of it until I started watching it over again
One detail in the movie that I really liked was near the end when Jacob is riding in the taxi cab at night to his residence. There is a close-up shot of a small, metal crucifix hanging from the driver’s keychain that is in the taxi’s ignition. It’s almost as if that taxi driver and his cab were angels taking Jacob to his residence so he could ascend into heaven. Another awesome detail occurs when he enters his residence at the end of the movie.
The streetlight shining in the window resembles an angel shape on the ceiling. Very cool!
Great catch, there are so many details in this movie. I cannot recall a movie that relied so much on nuance and executed it's manifestation so effectively.
awesome movie but boy was it depressing. A TRUE psychological horror.
+Toby Royson Depressing right until the very last scene, which was painfully beautiful and completely redemptive.
Only film I consistently and repeatedly cry actual tears at.
Yes the kind horror that messes with you deep down, rather just spook and moves on.
How was it depressing? He did tons of murder and still got to go to heaven and be with his beloved son. I mean, I guess that in itself is pretty depressing, that there's no consequence for murder. But he got the happiest ending anyone could ever get, eternal paradise.
@@ChaosRocket he didn't have a son!
"Some push their guilt so far down that when they come back up, they don't even know who they are". Such a true statement.
I made the mistake of watching Jacob's Ladder before bed recently for the first time. It's such an emotional movie, but it's so jarring, especially on a visual scale, that you feel Jacob's pain and anguish, but you feel joy for him when he finally makes peace and is guided to heaven. It's a truly bittersweet ending.
yes
Was he guided to heaven though, or it was just the final moment of his delirium before death.
I had to watch this film several times before I think it began to make sense. My final take away was that Jacob and his fellow troops were unknowingly given a very powerful experimental hallucinogen which caused them all to start shooting eachother. The entire body of the film takes place in the last moments of Jacob's life as he is struggling with good and evil- which culminates with him finding his way back home, being greeted by and taking the hand of his son. A VERY deep film to say the least.
+lopuchjo An interpretation I read that I loved said that the gov't conspiracy experiment stuff was just a red herring. That was Jacob's way, in his dying moments, to make sense of the fact that one of his fellow soldiers (accidentally) stabbed him. Because his brain couldn't accept something so unfathomable.
this. all of the 'post-war' scenes involve his 'demons' more than his 'pre-war' memories. he is also obviously distraught over the death of his child.
all of these guilts are represented by demons.
whether he was killed by friendly or enemy fire is partially irrelevant - the story to me just represents the profound 'life flashing before your eyes' moment that folks report from near-death/death experiences.
weve all experienced 'the slowdown effect' during accidents, and your brain is alive for several seconds after decapitation. - what kind of stories does it tell itself during its final thoughts? how long does it take to experience a 'lifetime' of memories?
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.”
I had to watch it a few times (and have a friend explain it to me) to finally get what was going on. Yes, they're all killed in the beginning. The remainder of the film, is Jacob trying to make sense of what happened. It's a Buddhist interpretation of the afterlife immediately following death, whereby there still exists memories and attachments to one's own life for a temporary period.
If you watch it from that perspective, it all makes sense. Including the chiropractor, his guardian angel, so to speak.
lopuchjo I understood it the first time!
It took me a few viewings to sort it out. BUT, in a nutshell:
Jacob Singer is a soldier in Vietnam. He becomes mortally wounded, but under very morally ambiguous circumstances (not to mention the influence of hallucinogenic drugs). As a result, his soul becomes "unstuck" in time (kind of like Billy Pilgrim in "Slaughterhouse Five"), while Heaven and Hell engage in a tug-of-war for his soul. He is beset by demons, yet watched over by his guardian angel (a chiropractor played by Danny Aiello). By the time he dies, having never left Vietnam, he has achieved a measure of spiritual redemption.
What I like about your comment and analysis is that you tie it into other literary works and characters. Sometimes I feel like I am the only person that remembers what I read in a book when I try to make comparisons to other books and the events they portray.
Thanks. Were all the life events occurring in New York just memories? I'm so confused. He didn't actually ever leave the Medic Tent in Vietnam, was always there slowly passing away?
@@theoriginalmars : He never left the medic tent. All the other life events were possibilities, alternate timelines, premonitions, whatever. His soul had become unmoored.
Slightly. However the tug of war was not on behalf of heaven and hell but rather himself. It is a psychological horror showing the traumas that come with attachment, especially attachment to the material world upon death.
Danny Aiello, his chiropractor in his dream state, is also the medic working on him to try and save his life in the real world, and you see him and the scientist leave the tent just after they pronounce him dead.
@@mokkaveli : It was just my interpretation.
One of the greatest movies of the last several decades...
was danny aiello supposed to be an angel? or at least "good" in this limbo world? every time i saw him it felt like he was radiating some good light onto jacob
+seth dxn For sure. He saves him form the hospital/hell and he's the one that really delves into the view of angels in this film.
+What it all Meant I think I've been so damaged by other thriller/horror movies I didn't trust my instinct on him, I always thought he would turn into a demon
Haha I get that. I've been damaged too. Now, every movie I've seen is kind of predictable to say the least. That is why I'm looking for a masterpiece or at least a decent movie to make you think twice. This movie is one of them although it's an old movie but today's movie is a reference to the old one's anyway. Just the quality is different.
I believe he was an angel character that was guiding Jacob out of Hell. Kind of like the Virgil character in Dantes Inferno.
Exactly. It's odd living the thought in your own life, getting a bit older and realizing the old quality looks almost crappy, and once it was state-of-the-art or something flawless. Then your kids laugh in your face and from under the pillow case you notice you're blurting out the comic book mumble...'But..it's a
great Movie..'. :)
But, in the end, It's depressing to watch a Hollywood film to get some concept of your soul and mortality. You do have the Bible and it's simple poetic gospel is on which this fairytale is almost not at all based on. Your dead son won't come and get his crying father to the luminescent path through the attic. It's not an adventure with little devils and a thriller, it's more simple. But, you know, I read Matthew to grow something inside me...
Tim Robbins got snubbed that year of an Academy Award... He was terrific in this and should got a nomination.
Best movie ever
Unexplained
Hollywood 🇺🇲
Someone wrapped up the meaning of the end in a simple manner: When you truly surrender suffering ends
Yeah. And what happened to Jacob at the end was exactly what Danny Ialo's character said about making your peace with dying and then the demons become angels. This was one of Danny's best roles ever as Jacob's chiropractor/guardian angel
@@friscokid66 I wonder if Danny's character Louie was part of Jacob's real world before he went to Vietnam (since remember, Jacob never returned from Vietnam since he was ultimately fatally stabbed there and this entire movie were what was going through Jacob's consciousness as he was dying).
Since Louie was Jacob's chiropractor and guardian angel, he may've been either someone who didn't actually exist and was only his chiropractor and guardian angel in his mind. Or he really was Jacob's chiropractor before Vietnam and then in his mind became his guardian angel too because he remembered Louie as such a good guy.
Other characters in the movie also existed in both Jacob's memory and his dying experience but just had different roles. Jezable was just a woman Jacob knew from the post office before Vietnam but in his dying mind she and him had a romantic relationship and lived together. You can really make various debates on every character from the movie. What and who he remembered, how he pictured them in his mind or fantasy, and what he wanted or didn't want from each of them. Overall, this is a movie which really makes you think.
Aug 19th of 2002 I got in a motorcycle accident, flat lined 2 times and was brought back with the AED shock pads . I was in a Coma for 2 weeks and seen these same type of terrifying things. Later when my brother came to see me in the hospital I told him what things I was seeing , he said it sounds like that movie Jacobs ladder. Well... he was right . What i get from this movie is a guy was dying and they were giving him Morphine to keep him from feeling the pain of the shot wound. He was hallucinating and in the process of dying due to losing blood . In the end he died and went with his son. I on the other hand did not die and here I am.
Wow, what have you done of that experience? Was it good or bad? What do you feel about it?
@@SailorCherylwhat did you see?
sure kid
Jacob's Ladder is an allegory for the spine which leads to heaven: the brain, pineal gland. Hence why he complains about having a bad back and visits the all wise chiropractor Danny Aiello.
Wow thanks for that! Makes perfect sense. A lot more sense than actually letting someone do that to your neck/back! I hate to see those manipulations - they make me shudder.
James Price do you mean the pineal gland and DMT?
ReviewCam And DMT is what's released by the pineal gland (in very small doses). It's believed that spiritual experiences are brought about by the pineal gland being activated. It's also interesting that the pineal gland is also associated with our "Third Eye" located in the middle of our forehead and that during the scene in the hospital a needle is stabbed exactly in the middle of his forehead... On top of this there is belief that one of the major times in somones life when the pineal gland is activated is during death- hence why there are so many interesting near death experiencrs stories. I'm not sure exactly what the film was trying to get across through the third eye symbolism, perhaps it was just another clue that he was in fact dying for the entire film which would still be a great nod to the audience added by the makers of the film
dripping faucet... drips faster
I thought something like this when I first heard Jacob say something like "gee, what did you do to me?" when he felt peaceful after a spinal adjustment. The most obvious "third eye" reference is when the eyeless "doctor" in hell injects something right between Jacob's eyes. But the "ladder" itself being the spine makes perfect sense with the chakra system idea. Never thought of that. Thanks for the hint.
The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won't let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn 'em all away. But they're not punishing you,' he said. 'They're freeing your soul. If your frightened of dying, and your holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. If you've made your peace then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.”
~ 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart, quoted in Jacob's Ladder, by Bruce Joel Rubin
I will never allow any "God" or whatever to erase all my memories and attachments to my world & life. Never.
So true.. Thanks. Now i see why eckhart tolle took the name
@@spottdrossel100 Lol you presume you'll get the choice. One stray car and *pop* goes the personality, hello Jello.
@@spottdrossel100 I’m interested as to why you feel this way. I feel the opposite.
@@mokkaveli i am interested as to why you would want to completely forget about all of the good and bad memories that have happened in your life? tell me.
why is this still the single most scariest film i've seen ... it left me numb for days
+Gavin S I'd say because it portrays our real, biggest inner fears, loosing a loved one(in this case a child). Unlike many other horror movies which use imaginary monsters, etc. this movie hitts you on a very basic human level
Because there are no clear answers, and not knowing something is terrifying
Because it about death and as in reality there is no certain answer given
Because it's based of real life there is reptilian demons in real life disguised as humans but Jesus can protect us from them
@@dibidus6080 i feel like it's not that. there are lots of horror movies that have losing loved ones as a plot point and they aren't scary. i think it's because the hallucination elements in the movie are extremely well done and the reveal that they're related to being tortured in hell. there hasn't been another movie that portrays this version of hell or a near-death experience, it's very inventive. also the tie in to the experimental drug which makes the story feel more real.
I cry so hard in the ending, when his child appears in front of Jacob and he send him to Heaven, it's a wonderfull representation of the "demons" becoming angels free him from the earth
what it all means as i see it.....the only real part was the scenes in Viet Nam. the rest of the movie is just his experience of the death process.
Exactly right !
No. His memories of Gabe and Sarah were real. His life with Jezzie was purgatory. Biblically, Jezebel is a seductress. She's tempting him to stay in purgatory with her. She burns all his pictures in the fire, which is a metaphor for what Louis said to Jacob about the only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that you won't let go. Jezzie doesn't want Jacob to think about his past life because she doesn't want him to make peace with it. She wants him to stay in purgatory.
avenuePad Though I’ve understood that Jacob was in purgatory, and I know Jezebel as a temptress from the Biblical story, I never made the connection in the movie that she was trying to keep him in purgatory. Thanks for the insight, much appreciated.
EDIT: I would argue though that not all of his memories of Sarah and his kids are real (excepting Gabe). The ones prior to going to Vietnam are, but the ones after he “comes back” are not (e.g., when she and his other sons come visit him in the hospital after getting mugged and beaten).
Well put.
I understand how the story is putting across his flashbacks Etc and possible purgatory. But when I saw this movie I thought okay if he's in present day USA how could that be a flashback? Is there such thing as a Flash Forward and why would you have knowledge of the future accurately in a flashback flash-forward? Cuz when the movie finished I felt that it doesn't make any sense. If they portray his life after Vietnam (and he never actually lived to be present for that life) then how does it seem real? It's as if it happened at some point, but it didn't. So if he dies in the battle field Hospital how is there any definition of what the future is like even if it is a flashback?
They could have portrayed his life after Vietnam in some kind of dystopian future that would have not had a clear and accurate portrayal of what America was like. In other words, if his life after Vietnam never existed and how is there a way to show his life as a postal worker, etc..?
Anybody?
Tim Robbins what a talent
They will never reach the same pinnacle of raw emotion , with the remake of this extraordinary film.
Remake in-coming.
why re-make the Tim Robbins original was brilliant.
@@arserobinson7118 yet they did ........trailer is out
Its got to be woke!
The movie is just a literal quote in the movie itself... Basically it touches on anyone that believes in spirituality and the acceptance of death as a release and not as something to be afraid of as we cling to life for survival, selfishness, and material things. It is the foundation for the path to dharma in all forms of Buddhism.
+Danzig Rulze he'd taken a large dose of a dangerous drug meant to applify his performance in vietnam and his fear of dying was making the hallucinations worse.
Arse Robinson And what does that have to do with my comment? You are basically making your own analysis that has little to no bearing on the point I'm trying to make.
+Danzig Rulze Yeah, well, it sounds nice and all. Fixating on the positive gives the pleasant illusion that there's some inherent fantastical spiritual aspect to nature. It's a beautiful projection. Ironically, the thing missing from the whole equation is the fact that if you aren't clinging to survival and attachment to material things in this reality, then you become prey and existence becomes miserable. We definitely are not an enlightened society. Psychopaths of the world view you, your passions and your loved ones as material objects useful for merely toil and resources, not highly complex subjects.
The only line that separates Jeffrey Dahmer from Nicola Tesla is a few neural pathways firing early in their life that created values and boundaries between certain emotions and behaviors. We've a society where the education system is failing the people and media that advertises narcissistic psychopathy, which is becoming more acceptable. We have increasing numbers of two-faced people who're either valuing your humanity open-mindedly and/or devaluing you based on your objective worth and status. The duality and metaphysics of (human) nature is disturbing when you get a good look at it and the potential squandered and destroyed by its cold inhuman side.
***** It isn't nice and all, life is viewed as suffering and so is the tangible. Most monks that follow Buddha's teachings deliberately starve themselves and suffer on a daily basis, they are usually beggars, and a majority of the time they spend in meditation. If someone were to harm there life I'm sure they wouldn't stop them. Death comes to us in many forms. More often then not it is by nature that takes you and not another hand. I know that your view point is based on science and sociology but the world around you is more then statistics and infallible rhetoric that has been only around for about 500+ years of this planets existence. I would delve more into the discussion but I think you get my point as well as I get yours.
Danzig Rulze
I'm just saying positivity can really blind you from the elusive dark aspect. I say it is a projection because it really is just a dream. I mean what is consciousness, we can be analytical about it and say it's real, but all we are really doing is processing the world through our senses and never really experiencing the outer world. We see how easily meditation or drugs can chance your sensory response to the world.
I'd love society to be a bunch of people with the good, uncorrupted values and lessons religions have to offer. But instead it's a bunch of divided half-wits limited by extreme biases and ignorance. Nobody cares about the homeless, third world suffering. We have a bunch of self-indulgent professional victims who still spend their time demonizing and scapegoating people they don't want to listen to and refuse to empathize with, poorly educated prejudicial bigots fueled on less-than-half-truths.
I think you can tie science to certain religious theories. The Bible teaches that corruption and "the Flesh" destroys the presence of "god" (the power of compassion and knowledge, the capacity for people to learn new knowledge when not closed off and held back by personal biases, stubbornness, impatience, etc., and the affect that can have on personal well-being as well as others futures).
RIP Elizabeth Pena' and Danny Aiello. Both where excellent in supporting actor's in this film.
Mind... Blown. I had no idea Elizabeth Peña was dead! I'm especially shocked at how she died. On Wikipedia, her cause of death was said to be cirrhosis of the liver from prolonged drinking.
Yea, she was! I was fucking shock.
she sucked a mean cock back in the Bronx in 86
dark, depressing, totally terrifying, it really pushed the envelope in modern horror... a mind-bending hellish pitfall of a movie that somehow takes a intellectual and spiritual curve. There's maybe one other movie that is up to par with this monochromatic masterpiece , but this, even today... it is so chilling...
trentigalaxy whats that movie
@@janawall1227 donny darko I guess
Thor LivingStone more like donny farto
4:04-4:17 The description of Jacob's ladder gives you a broader sense of what the rest of this video discusses. He is trying to make peace with his unresolved issues (via dream state wherein he revisits memories, relationships, friendships and people from his past) from the time he is injured in the Vietnam war until he finally flatlines.
That makes the most sense
@Never Knew he was in a bardo.
Silent Hill defiantly payed homage to this film.
+TheHotFalafel Jacobs ladder and the later silent hill Games/movies were both inspired by the art of Francis bacon.
+TheHotFalafel yep a film called 'Session 9' paid homage too another slow burn psychological horror
So did Avenged Sevenfold
sooo true
Silent Hill did indeed pay homage to this film. They're both shit.
i was surprised how many never really GOT the film. jake never returned from vietnam. he died there. all the imagery was his own phantasmagoria as he lay dying.
also, the "dream on" line really freaked my dog out at the time...lol.
LOL.....:-) Funny how animals "catch the vibe" of things going on around them. QUESTION: It was not clear to me during that scene of the movie: were we expected to recognize who's voice that was? And if so: who's voice was it???
~ RED ☮♥♫
funny, i never got a memo about your post.
i don't think it was meant to be anyone in particular. more like jake hearing stuff. hence the monotone.
yes, that was a powerful look on jake's face. robbins had to play a wide variety of emotions as jake...lol
I honestly think Jacob never served a war. His war was losing his son. No one. but him and his son is confirmed as dead.
The part that confuses so many, I think, is his son. The letter home let you know the kid was born before Jake went to Vietnam. If he hadnt died he would have been there to save the kid. But it took like 4times for me to get it. Great Movie! Im sure the remake will look fantastic and be dull dull dull. Modern filmgoers need it resolved NOW!! No loose ends. . .Vietnam was one big loose end.
One of my favorite films makes you think about life and death.
MK Ultra in action. Amazing film with so many layers to unravel
Wasn't mk ultra a different program
Absolutely agree: one of the most phenomenal films I've ever seen. Fabulous acting...and the photography and visual effects were excellent (and so true to the era). Incredible story: and the screenplay so well written. I'm siding with you on the route to the issues presented here....or at the very least some sort of similar program or experience.
greasy fastspeed agreed.
what? someone explain
@@georgea.4125 yt search mk ultra.
In my opinion this was Tim Robbins greatest performance. Amazing movie and is #3 on my all time fav movies. One of the best movies of all time!!
Lady M He was close to Oscar-worthy, far as I'm concerned.
Better in The Shawshank Redemption.
what are the other 2?
@@flowrepins6663 nothing to loose with martin lawrence
The anxiety jacob has about dying is what I go through on the daily.
I lost 10 people last year all very close to me. It like why them and not me. And it's sooooo hard to shake this feeling.
Fr dude
Go to therapy
U will know when it's time & your loved ones will greet U with open arms. Until then, keep on your mission. All these things are God's reasoning. God Bless U ❤❤❤
I recently showed this movie to my dad who's been a firefighter paramedic for 25 years and finds movies like Saw laughable. He couldn't make it through the whole film. It was at the bathtub scene where he said he couldn't take it and walked out of the room. He actually got mad at me for showing it to him.
I don't get it why did he acted like that??
@@OGFENIX Because he's now stuck with these creepy images. That demon in the car scene still give me the chills
He was probably bored. To be honest I love this film, but I could see where people would feel lost or it's not enjoyable.
@@unityofvitality-5875 I meant car scene
ruclips.net/video/YgkYu13HqI8/видео.html
@@OGFENIX because he probably has PTSD from his job and this movie rang a little too true to home for him.
This is the most important film I ever saw in my life. It is about Bardo, a state between life and rebirth in Buddhism where your self or ego is destroyed to prepare for the next. Bruce Joel Ruben wrote it. He's a Buddhist. Beautiful film. you'll see Book of the Dead (Bardo) in Jakes drawer..
Amazing movie, btw that "dream on" we mysteriously hear in the hospital scene creeps me the hell out every time I see this masterpiece of a movie lol
I think it has to do with a very close microphone placement and a jump in volume irl. So that makes you jump :)
The fun part is how everyone gets something different from this movie
It's unbelievable
The craziest thing is that this movie is directed by the same guy that directed Flashdance! And Unfaithful! Definetly his best work out of the whole bunch tho
For most film critics it's fatal attraction....and 9 and a 1/2 weeks is he's limbo movie which is pre 50 shades of grey...it's torn in between a good/bad black/white contrast film which has a lot of good scenes and has a lot of bad scenes, but no grey scenes which is very rare.
what a masterpiece this film is. it borders perfection
Jacobs Ladder is also a very great representation of what the onset of schizophrenia can be like.
"schizophrenia" is just another name for demonic possession / attacks. Jerry Marzinsky published his research from the psychiatric hospitals.
Incredible review! One of the few I’ve seen or read about Jacob’s deep seated guilt about his son’s death. If I were to put the pieces together, Jacob was hanging out with his son Gabe at a park. At some point, he got distracted by something (we never know what distracted him), and a car (basically a truck, like trash truck), runs over Gabe. This terrible tragedy, the death of his youngest son, caused a split in his marriage, ending in a bittersweet divorce (his wife Sarah apparently loved Jacob, but losing Gabe was too much). Still, the loss of Gabe was even more intense for Jacob, who ended enlisting in the army and going to a decidedly pointless war. It’s as if Jacob was willing to commit suicide for his mistake. While we see him smiling and joking with his platoon mates, things soon turn terribly wrong as his platoon goes under attack … by fellow Americans drugged out with (supposedly) BZ. Yet, while Jacob’s platoon manifests drug side effects, none go violent and Jacob himself seems one of the few, if not the only one sane enough to help some of his wounded friends. While hiding in the jungle, avoiding conflict with a then unknown enemy, he ends up being stabbed by a bayonet, a serious and mostly deadly wound. It appears the wound tears his spleen and probably destroys one of his kidneys, plus causing a wound large enough to let part of his intestines out.
Jacob will certainly die, but right after being stabbed, the movie cuts to the New York subway, with Jacob seemingly falling asleep. It is here where the movie truly begins and the first time he sees an old picture of his son Gabe, he breaks down, probably remembering his fatal mistake on his favorite and youngest son. The movie is basically about Jacob’s last few hours, turned into days in his head. The bittersweet ending is heart wrenching as Jacob finds his son Gabe toying with his favorite device: a music box playing Al Jolson’s “Sonny Boy” (ironically, a song about a father losing his beloved son). Jacob fears this to be another bad hallucination but no: Gabe has come for his dad. Jacob breaks down in his little son’s arms, a scene that’s tough to watch (for me ). Gabe embraces his that telling him “it’s OK” and later, “let’s go up”, meaning let’s go the light … call it heaven, the afterlife or whatever, ultimately saving him from his purgatory. Then the film cuts back to Vietnam, where it all started and we Jacob dead on a gurney but with a peaceful semblance on his face, as if he came to terms to the reality of his situation. One of the medics even says, “he looks peaceful, the guy”.
While marketed as a horror film (and it does have plenty of that), “Jacob’s Ladder” is a brutal drama about a man’s last hours of life and how he copes with a seeming purgatory that won’t let him ascend to higher and peaceful plane. A true classic film that deserves WAY more recognition!
I watch this movie every couple of years, probably since first seeing it back in the early 90s. I watched it again last night, this time on Blu Ray, I love it for so many reasons.
Each viewing feels somewhat new and reveals new details, you feel for Jacob from the outset, even before you know of his tragic past. These formulaic tropes usually drive me crazy, a cheap way of getting you connected to the character but somehow this grabs you, when he finds the picture of his dead son it really hits you. I love the way it handles the concept of Purgatory, not in a strict biblical sense but more on a philosophical level and leaves it open to whatever you believe in with the after life.
The balance of horror and psychological drama and the spiritual world are so well crafted and played out and of course the acting from Tim and his supporting cast keep the madness grounded and so believable. The tight script & dialogue is pretty much perfect and so engaging, the directing and the cinematography and the many subtle visual symbolisms mirror different aspects of his life and experiences as he slips between the two dimensions of life & death.
Definitely a classic and genre bending movie that exceeds the expectations and leaves you thinking for days after.
I have awakened in a dark closed underground train station while being in a coma from an overdose. This movie really speaks to me on many levels.
That's the most interesting thing I've heard in awhile. Actually, the guy who wrote this said he had that dream.
If you guys enjoyed this film I HIGHLY recommend a film called Session 9, another movie that served as an inspiration to the creators of silent hill.
that's a great movie!
Is it on RUclips by any chance?
Thanks man, i always loved this movie and the fact that it served as inspiration for Silent Hill just makes it better for me. I'm definitively gonna check Session 9 out.
Patrick Andrews silent hill is amazing
Rui Pedro Fonseca
indeed it is
One of the GREATEST movies of ALL TIME. Watched iit at least 50 times (VHS).
1:05
Macaulay Culkin?
Yup.
Yea..so what?
@@freeman7079 why so aggressive?
@@freeman7079 You gotta free yourself, don't linger with spite, be better then that
I remember when first time seeing it on TV I was a teenager, lying on the bed in the night just wandering. And then this film goes... It made a great impact on my soul, so terrfying, so lonely, so many things were going on on the screen. I wasn't expecting what i was going to see.
Now it's my favourite horror. And probably one of my favourite movies. I've watched it only once and never again though i clearly remember all that emotions, the atmosphere and the plot.
5:15 That shot and music is so Silent Hill (I know they were inspired)
+Johnny Twohats Agreed
the creators of silent hill actually admitted to using this movie as one of their inspirations. the music, the wheelchair scene, the hospital scene, practically the whole movie reminds me of silent hill.
I'm pretty sure in Silent Hill 3 there is a cameo of Jacob's Ladder
Silent hill was actually inspired by this movie. well at least the first game. ive been a fan of both for years and i just recently found that out in a gaming magazine.
I was wondering where I saw that no eyes face , hehe Silent Hill
I’m actually watching this movie right now. I’ve always loved this movie, it’s very deep on so many levels and makes you think. I also found out that Elizabeth Penã passed away in 2014. Very sad. Rest In Peace Elizabeth. I often wonder if they actually tested narcotics using troops.
Look into mk ultra
They declassified the use of BZ against Vietnam vets.
As a child I was devastated to watch this
Please, Mr.Postman !
What a great movie! One of my all time favorites! The background score is as gripping and emotional as the storyline and the acting itself. Amazing movie, I watch it on a regular basis. Very good analogy, spot on Sir!
One thing is certain guilt is hell. When I was young I didn’t understand what that meant but now that I’m older and have experienced true pain and guilt(my wife died of cancer in front of me) the demons I fight daily I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
Watching this movie right now. It was heartbreaking in 90 and still is.
I cried thank you for this. This movie meant so much to me.
it still blows my mind
Yes ! That quote you end the video with is the exact one which lead me to understanding this film !
Thats it Stan. It's based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The director also leaves a clue when Jake is rummaging through drawers in his flat and the Tibetan Book of the Dead is there. Best film I've ever seen.
Great video! I like your analysis alot. Very good points I never thought of before. I always believed that, Jake being stabbed, and taking hours to die (Him put into the ice bath while having fever representing in the real-life portion, his abundant loss of blood and freezing) his life did not flash before his eyes, his life flashed forward, before his eyes while still on lsd. Interesting concept I always thought...yours very well put too. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for this. One of my favorite films of all time. I knew this is what the film represented, but it's still nice to hear it explained. "Purgatory
I always thought this movie was about his last dream he had when he died. It always been one of my most favorite psychological thrillers!
Danny is his guardian angel. Gabe or Gabriel walks him up to heaven. The life passing by his eyes as he dies while doing hallucination drug
Dream on
At 3:55, unless you have no understanding of the occult: the blinding of the "third eye", which in puncturing, prevented insight and foresight and clairvoyance...
@Elijah Norton symbolism
When I first saw this film I was hit by the contradictory messages and darkness of this movie. I liked it but could not really tell you why. Like all the other classics, I see something new, every time I watch it.... And I see it differently, now I'm a father and let's say.... A man, carrying mistakes and reasons. Great review.
My take on the movie after watching it many times over the decades is that he was killed in Vietnam,the film is set in the lower astral where his spirit is being purged to burn off his attachments to his previous life ...the Meister Echart quote. One of the deepest films ever made I think. This is based on some earlier work I remember
Anyone see the remake coming out...has literally nothing to do with the original at all..just made it into some zombie thriller
What does all the "u"s are "v"s have to do with anything? V is how U was written in Latin and it's an older university document.
MIHI NOMEN EST HADRIANVS SEPTIMVS, EQVES ROMANVS
I honestly can't remember the context or else I might be able to tell you. I've been meaning to re-watch the film for awhile now.
What it all Meant There's no context though. It is meant to emulate traditional Roman script.
SENATVS. POPVLVSQVE·ROMANVS (SPQR)
I get what you're going for though. Typically, in dreams, written words and letters are gibberish. I think at best this was done intentionally to be ambiguous to an erudite viewer. In other words, it's meant to make you wonder if it's a dream/delusion or reality. Or maybe it was just a simple case of formal scripting. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) still does this, if I'm not mistaken.
I watched it also!
i think it's a throwback to Latin and the spirituality aspect, but also fits if you think V for Vietnam
I saw this in the theater when it came out and it moves me to tears everytime I see it.
Best film in the world. In my world, at least.
true
Have you ever seen the bee movie?
PikFittan fuck off
Are you on BZ or somethin?
Who's here after watching the trailer of the remake and haven't watched the original, so here for the summary?
Pal C the remake looks terrible tbh, i would highly recommend watching the original instead, it’s a masterpiece
@@triggeredmcshitmypants2760 just finished watching the original one and holy fuck, my mind is completely blown away. I don't think that the remake can get any closer to the original.
Pal C omg I’m scared to even watch the original 😣
@Taqifsha Nanen it was worth watching. I am still pissed that I haven't found about this earlier
Most remakes are terrible now a days
One of my all-time favorite movies. I'm not sure I entirely agree with your synopsis, but that is the beauty about watching this movie. All of us may take away something different. I don't necessarily feel that he was experiencing guilt at all, but rather his inability to let go. Jacob was in limbo and the movie was about his struggle to let go of his life as he knew it and ultimately accepting his fate.
This film makes me remember "One" from Metallica...
The whole movie parallels “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.
There was a big stink about this film when it first came out.
They were saying that the film depicted soldier's being induced with "dutch courage drugs" that where placed on the battle field would have no fear of death.
This is how some people interpreted it .
Going on what we know now. I wouldn't doubt it for a second.
I feel that if I wasn't too chicken with horror films, I would actually enjoy this one. Screw it I think I'll give it a chance.
Three years late, but have you watched it yet? If so, how did it go? I might start this movie myself...
You should, but it is the creeping horror that sticks with you.
an oldie ..but ..damn wat a good one..hard to top.....freaks the crap out of me still !!!
Another movie with a similar vibe is The Machinist.
Goddamn this absolutely blew me away. Weeped like a baby.
So did his platoon actually get drugged with BZ? Seems like it’s just Jacob’s mind trying to figure out why he was stabbed by a friendly
Thank you for enlightenment for years I thought about what it was all about this film and could never really come to a conclusion. But now it all makes sense.
I like that gurney ride through that creepy hospital rolling over body parts on the floor. There goes a liver , and there is a kidney. Amazing film.
He is in the purgatory...that simple... he is a good soul so elected to go to heaven but had to clear his spirit by accepting the death of his son. You can't acces heaven with a torn spirit. Once his spirit was clean and in peace, his son came to take him to heaven at the end of the movie. There's a saying that tells that is always the most recently one dead of your family who's coming to guide you in to heaven, in this case his son. Thus, the part of the drug in vietnam doesn't make any sense here, by the simple reason that nobody can explain to him while he is in coma state before dying. My final word, the drug story ruined the movie, because it's useless in the pitch
L
saw the movie on video when i was 13, still freaks me out as an adult. I couldn't sleep for a week after seeing it. One of the best films ever made
holy shit,.... I just now noticed the subtle edit after he gets stabbed in Vietnam and wakes up on the train. It's his conscience dying.
If Shakespeare were to live today, his take on the human condition might be very similar. This was a very insightful explanation.
The director, Rubin, spent two years in a Buddhist Monastery before making this movie. It is a depiction of the Bardo Dothol.
I got to this movie by researching Meister Eckhart and his mystical/ philosophical implications. The two sided nature of purgation ( pain and freedom) are so well illustrated here...and Gabe as his guide tor his higher life is a touch of magic.
Did you notice how close-ups of Tim Robbins eyes were eerily similar to Macaulay Culkin’s? I was sure it would be a Gabe in the frame when the camera panned back!
Wonderful film.
Thank you for sharing this!
I've been contemplating something but those strongly indoctrinated in religious scripts will disagree. I've concluded we all are locked within Earth because we are angels. Asleep. Tricked. To believe we're simple beings. Yet we are (some aren't) sleeping, awaiting to awaken, some are opening their eyes, minds and seeing things as though for the first time. There are 2 sides (not Jesus, Satan etc.) Dark and Light. Also fence sitters. Uncertain what's true, which road to take. We are fighting to find our calling. Which side are we uniting to. As for Jacob's ladder, the DNA (much still undiscerned) had evidence we are Angelic. The dna looks like a ladder. A spiral staircase if you will. Then we blend these "seals", chakras, kundalini (ı believe the Christ consciousness is parallel), it can bring terror if a person isn't open/ready to experience it. Once we are able to cross the threshold and the programmed dna within us will pop, we awaken, there will sometime later be a war, a spiritual war, between all of us Angels locked in this platform. We are waking up and it's past the 11th hour (Age of Aquarius is the 11th house), this film makes more sense once connecting these dots. "Singer" = Angel. His son named Gabe, "Gabrielle", Archangel. Known for beauty and singing beautifully (grigori chant is done, sounding Angelic) me anyway. Wasn't it released in 1988? 88 is full of time and eternity meaning as well. Anyway, I've been open, sought information, even uncomfortable information and this is part if it but it takes dedication for us all to find ourselves where we need to be, for true understanding of ourselves.
Much love to you.
💚💛
You just blew my mind
No, it came out in 1990
thanks for these explanations ,, some movies are straight forward though, the ones which aren't you cleared our minds about them , appreciate .
Was that a horn on the nurses head when her hat fell off in the hospital?
Cevanfx Looks like it, and it makes sense contextually.
My interpretation is that Jacob is in purgatory and is on the process of cleansing all his bad and evil thoughts, memories and experiences; so he can accept his death and ascend his way to heaven.
There are so many levels of interpretation in this movie. I always thought that the government hallucinogen (BZ) was a nod to the CIA'S MK Ultra program that gave American soldiers and civilians hallucinogens with and without their knowledge (including Charles Manson- look it up). In Jacob's moment of death, the drug widened his perception in a manner where he could see alternate timelines of his life, if he were to have survived. Grieving for a son that was never (yet) born but is cosmically linked to him in a hyperdimensional manner. Simultaneously, he grieves for his own inner child, an innocent boy sent to fight and die in a jungle under the influence of a highly psychoactive compound. The entire movie is him seeing through time while, in actuality, he was inhabiting the the first two realms of the bardo, or a limbo state. This blew my 15 year old mind when I saw it in the theater.
The entire film is a hallucination, except the glimpses of combat. And everything that happens is preceded by, and dictated by a choice he makes. Once you realize this truth, the form of the film becomes very clear, he is the only one in charge of events he's experiencing. Jacob is telling the story to himself.
The ending makes it very clear that Jacob died in Vietnam, regardless of getting killed by a brother-in-arms, and the drug theory to explain why it happened. Jacob never got to New York.
What bothers me is that we're shown Jacob opening his "Vietnam tin box" in New York and finding a letter written by his young son, Gabe. I will assume that even though this happens in New York, the letter did actually exist. But when did Gabe send it to Jacob? It must have been before Vietnam as Gabe must have had the bike accident before Jacob went to Vietnam. I say this because Gabe is the one who helps Jacob reach the afterlife.
depends
This movie opened my eyes to how the soldiers were treated during the Vietnam war, being fed hallucinogenic drugs in the ration without their knowledge, and sprayed with Agent Orange, so on and so on, but when I saw this movie, I understood why most of them died by friendly fire.
This was an authentic and sincere critique ... well done. Thank you.
A tortured man finds himself caught in a middle-ground between hallucination and reality in this supernatural thriller, scripted by Bruce Joel Rubin of Ghost (1990) and My Life (1993). Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a soldier stationed in Vietnam who undergoes a traumatic experience on the battlefield - the nature of which is initially unclear. The film then moves into his post-Vietnam experience in 1970s New York, where he feels consistently traumatized, but can never quite remember exactly what happened to him in Southeast Asia or to free himself from his anxieties over the recent tragic death of his young son (Macaulay Culkin). Though well educated, Jacob works as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service and has become romantically involved with one of his co-workers, Jezzie (Elizabeth Pena), after divorcing his wife. Soon, Jacob's tenuous hold on reality starts to slip as horrifying events befall him; he is nearly run over by a subway train, pursued by faceless demons in cars, and spots reptilian tails and horns protruding from the bodies of those he encounters. Jacob also suffers severe panic attacks related to the chaos that may be reality, or may exist only in his mind. He seeks counsel from Louis (Danny Aiello), a kindly chiropractor, as his ex-wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember), fellow Vietnam vet Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince), and enigmatic stranger Michael (Matt Craven) all try to help the tortured soul. Jason Alexander, Ving Rhames and Eriq LaSalle highlight the supporting cast.
It’s simply the burning away of human attachments, so that the spirit may move on to its next form. It’s the process we all go through, before we can move on. Some get stuck. It looks and feels like Hell, and it is, but it’s not meant to last, just to prepare you.
L
@@thedarkroom6416 M
Every time i think i get it, i don't. So all this stuff like his son dying and his wife never happened? Was this before he went to Vietnam?
It has always been my sense that 95% (or more) of this story takes place in the Astral Plane. Jacob is a soldier who dies in Vietnam and, as he is slipping away from the Physical Plane and retreating into the Astral Plane (where we all really are, not only between lives but even as we live), he is haunted by several unresolved issues. Some of those involve personal guilt (well-covered in this video) while others -- e.g., our government's senseless war in Indochina and the Pentagon's insane experimentation with drugs intended to enhance the performance of their human killing machines -- belong to all of us, not only to Jacob Singer. He is a victim not only of his own personal frailties but of our collective Zeitgeist. Danny Aiello's character, the chiropractor, is Jacob's spirit guide, his cosmic mentor, his guardian angel, who eventually helps him come to terms with it all.
Does any of you guys have an idea where I can find a deep analysis of the movie? It's so full of symbolism, I'm sure it's worth analyzing. E.g. why is it raining at the end of the movie when Jacob is brought to his version of the Heaven's Door where Samuel opens and welcomes him as "Dr. Singer"?
This is such an excellent review. Thanks!
The name of the movie is what the whole thing is about. Its the ladder. Hes going up and down it through the whole movie. His experience of dying was made more twisted than other people's because his dying brain was on the Ladder drug.
"Dream on." 4:46.
Holy crap. Dude.