Jacob's Ladder

[maneesh agrawala]

I just saw Jacob's Ladder and I can't understand why they put in the last scene
with Jacob dying in Vietnam. Was the whole movie a dream of his just before
his death?

Maneesh

[Zev Winicur]

man...@leland.Stanford.EDU (maneesh agrawala) writes:

>Maneesh

The answer to this question is a bit of a spoiler so if you haven't seen
the movie, quit this message and go do something else.

The movie, as I see it, was supposed to be highly symbolic. All you know for
most of the movie is that something happened back in Vietnam and Jacob is now
going through a living hell. Or you think. You aren't sure what is real
because he keeps waking up from one scene and ending up in another.

You have to remember that the movie was titled "Jacob's Ladder." Why? Partly
because the main character was named Jacob, partly because the drug that
turned friend against friend was called ladder, but mostly because Jacob's
Ladder in the bible was the ladder that led to heaven. And that's what the
movie was about. I don't think it was just a dream before he died. Jacob was
going through Hell before learning what happened, learning it wasn't his
fault, and finally being admitted into heaven. Most people hated the ending
and accused it of being cheap, stupid, and other nasty names. I felt that
you needed the ending to know what was going on in the movie. It was just
a living hell of remembering the incident, it was a REAL Hell.

Of course, I'm sure other people will have different interpretations but I
think this is what the movie was trying to get across what with the title
and all.

Zev Winicur

_______ __ , _____/ *
| \ / | * Zev Winicur
| \ | * win...@beagle.colorado.edu
______|_ | \ | *

[Michael L. Kaufman]

In article <winicur.682556701@beagle> win...@boulder.Colorado.EDU (Zev Winicur) writes:
>I don't think it was just a dream before he died.

[I have deleted the rest of Zev's theory for brevity.]

Well, some of the previews for the film (particularly the one that is on the
tape for some new release) specificly state that the film is a dream that
happens just before he dies. I can't remember the exact words, but it starts
something like "In the last moment's of Jacob Singers life he learned..."
This is, I think, fairly strong evidence that the whole film was a dream.

Michael

--
Michael Kaufman | I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on
kaufman | fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in
@eecs.nwu.edu | the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be
| lost in time - like tears in rain. Time to die. Roy Batty

[Gregg Silver]

You got it!

[Drifter...]

SPOILERS!

Thank you, assholes, for spoiling a fundamental aspect of a film that many
people, including me, have not seen yet.

In the future, remember to put SPOILER warnings in your messages, prefferably
along with form feeds or blank lines.
Thank you and have a shitty day.

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