Review Jacob's Ladder (1990)

divemaster13

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
Is Jacob's Ladder considered a "cult" film? Probably not. But I didn't know where else better to put my review and discussion.

This post contains my REVIEW of the film. No spoilers.

The follow-up post (just below) contains my DISCUSSION of the film, which, of course, is filled with spoilers. If you have not seen the movie and my review intrigues you, I strongly suggest that you not read the discussion post until you have watched the movie.


Jacob’s Ladder (1990)
Directed by Adrian Lyne
Starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, and Danny Aiello
In English
Film: 5 stars (out of 5)

Have you ever had one of those dreams where, after you wake up, the palpable relief is overwhelming that it was only a dream and not that nightmare you were in? Probably. Most of us can relate to that feeling. “Thank God it was only a dream!”

What if you awoke from such a dream, started going about your daily business, and then realized that this was the dream and the nightmare you thought you woke up from was your real life? How terrifying would that be?

Jacob Singer is living such a life. He’s back home from Vietnam, settled in with a hot girlfriend, and has a mundane job at the post office. He’s a smart fellow (his Army mates gave him the nickname “The Professor” because he earned a doctorate but never did anything with it).

But Jacob has inner demons that cause turmoil in his life. He’s divorced from his wife, but still feels a connection. And he has to deal with the painful memories of one of his young children, who was killed prior to Jacob leaving for Vietnam. And his memory of a particular event in Vietnam that he can’t explain and still haunts him.

But what Jacob has to face now is that these inner demons have shown themselves to be real (at least, to him), and are tormenting him. He goes to see his regular VA counselor, only to be told there is no record of such a doctor and no file for Jacob ever having been there. He sees strange things out of the corner of his eye that he can’t explain. When he realizes that his platoon mates are experiencing a similar nightmarish existence, they go to a lawyer who checks out their story and tells them they were never even in Vietnam. They were all discharged on psycho grounds after going nutso on a training exercise.

Jacob becomes convinced that they were all part of some sort of Army “experiment” that did something to them, but he can’t explain what because the things he is experiencing have no explanation. Were they all part of some Manchurian Candidate group hypnosis experience? Guinea pigs in chemical warfare testing? Is Jacob truly going crazy? Or, is it an example of “I’m not paranoid if they really are coming to get me”?

Jacob’s Ladder is a frightfully effective film of a man who may or may not be losing his sanity. Robbins is perfect as the quiet, introspective, amiable fellow who is at the end of his rope and has nowhere to turn. Director Lyne does a great job keeping the horror in the shadows; playing with your mind’s ability to extrapolate and fill in a scene. The film works much better as a subtle exercise in psychological horror, as evidenced from a few more explicit scenes wisely cut from the film (but available on the DVD extras menu with or without commentary.) Even so, there are images so frightening that you will probably jump a couple of times. And replay them in your head while trying to sleep later. (Good luck.).

The film works best if you go in cold. Allow the film to unfold and reveal its secrets, and then watch it again. This movie deserves NOT to be spoiled, but I see plenty of reviews doing just that. Shame on those people.

Most of the DVD extras are not mentioned anywhere on the DVD case (unless this was corrected in a re-issue). The DVD contains the aforementioned deleted scenes; a trailer and TV spot (both of which contain scenes that were not in the released version); a “making of” type of documentary where the actors, writer, director, etc. give their impressions of the film and discuss some of the filmmaking techniques; and a director’s commentary which I enjoyed.
 
divemaster13

divemaster13

Member: Rank 4
Jacob’s Ladder Discussion

SPOILERS BELOW!!!!!

I almost didn’t watch this movie. I had read a review that was not kind. But my roommate at grad school recommended it, so I went ahead. I’m glad I did because I think this is a tremendously effective film.

The movie works for me because it is so much more than the “gimmick” or the reveal at the end. If that’s all there was to it, it would just have been a fading blip on my radar screen. Like a formula whodunit where, after you know the culprit, there’s not much replay value.

Jacob’s Ladder has a lot of replay value.

Of course if you’ve seen the film you know that the entirety of the movie, save the very last scene, is a end-of-life scenario playing out in Jacob’s mind as he lays dying in Vietnam. He never did make it back home. The whole film is an exercise in “what never happened.” Ironically, the “flashbacks” the movie shows of him injured back in Vietnam is the real time up until his death in the EVAC tent.

So, what to make of the meat of the movie? In my opinion, it is the attempts of a dying man to 1) come to terms with his life, and 2) try to make some sort of sense out of something so senseless.

I enjoyed watching the movie again and picking up on the “tells” and foreshadows director Lyne throws in. The first scene of Jacob on the subway shows him looking at a sign that says “Hell” in big red letters. He tries to exit the subway system, only to find all the exits blocked. If you note, all the exits (which lead upward toward light) have a sign next to them that says “Ecstasy.” So close and yet so far for Jacob.

There are many other interesting tidbits. The palm reader reads his lifeline and tells Jacob “according to this, you’re already dead.” And of course, after his Dantean descent into the hell of the hospital corridor (a scene that will forever stay with me), the “Doctor” tells him that the reason Jacob is there is because he, indeed, is already dead. It is a testament to the director that he is able to focus the viewer on Jacob’s insistence that he is very much alive and determined to stay that way, rather than tip the movie’s hand of what is really happening.

In my opinion, the character of his girlfriend Jezzie (actually, Jezebel) serves to keep him distracted from coming to his final peace. She vacillates from being supportive of him to being a part of his demonic torment. (Who can forget the demonic orgiastic coupling, and the scene where she transforms right in front of him?)

The character of Louie (the chiropractor) is wonderful. He is presented as a sort of Christ-figure (Jacob even describes him as “an angel.”). Louie is typically shown with light from behind and above, giving him that heavenly tint, and he is full of sage advice for poor Jacob. The “savior” aspect is made explicit when Louie literally picks through the hospital and rescues Jacob.

Louie’s final words to Jacob are the key to explaining why Jacob has been tormented by these demons. “The part of you that burns in Hell is the part of you that won’t let go of your life. Your memories; your attachments…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.”

It was a nice touch having his dead son be the one to finally take him home at the end, so to speak.

You’ll notice that I haven’t said anything about the “drug experiment” part of the film, and the character of “The Chemist.” This is where I might have a different take on things as some other viewers. The way I see it, there was no “Chemist” or drug testing at all. Jacob has just suffered a senseless mortal wound in a senseless situation in a senseless war. I believe this is his mind’s attempt to create a rationale. Remember, his conversation with The Chemist never happened. It was all made up in his mind. He never gets back with his friends to compare notes. They are not going through this with him. There is no government conspiracy.

Note that the story The Chemist tells him is not supported by the scene of Jacob’s stabbing. The Chemist tells of this superpowerful drug that causes men to attack and tear each other apart in a blind rage. But look at the stabbing scene. Jacob is disoriented, stumbling around in the jungle (possibly even coming back from taking a shit), he hears a noise, and his friend comes out of the bush and bayonettes him. Not in a blind rage, but in confusion and horror at what he has done. The friend looks scared and pathetic, and Jacob goes down with a puzzled look on his face. Puzzled at how something so horrible has happened with no rhyme or reason. There is no rage, no “ladder.”

That’s why I think Jacob’s mind creates the drug story. To try to rationalize. People always look for a “reason” for an unexpected death. Why did my child die? Why did my wife get cancer? Why did my baby have a birth defect? It must have been something the government did. Or society. Or God. These. Things. Don’t. Just. Happen.

But sometimes they just do. A simple case of mistaken identity and a nervous trigger finger in a confusing situation, and a life is taken. Jacob had a hell of a time accepting that, and his mind played it out in the only way it could in order to come to a final meaning or resolution.

That’s why the very very end of the movie leaves me a bit cold--where Lyne inserts a placard about Vietnam drug experiments or something. I don’t see the point in that. The movie can only be interpreted that there was never any drug “ladder” experiment at all, so that placard (to me) compromises the ending somewhat. (I always just turn off the movie before that final text :) )
 
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clayton-12

clayton-12

Member: Rank 4
A response to the review (rather than the discussion post - I was adequately warned off that!) :

It sounds absolutely fascinating. The title rings a vague bell as something that was critically regarded, but beyond that it completely passed me by - a little surprising, because I was fairly keen on Tim Robbins and his choice of projects back then, but given the Adrian Lyne credit, maybe not so surprising.

Speaking of which, whatever the hell happened to Lyne? 25 or so years ago he was a household-name blockbuster director, and he just, like, vanished. Spooky.
 
sitenoise

sitenoise

Member: Rank 5
I think Tim Robbins is one of those guys it's very uncool to like nowadays, but he was great in the film. A perfect softie. He owned that look of "this doesn't make sense" so well. That scene of him looking through the pictures. That wasn't acting. That was him. I loved the relationship with Jezzie. I remember trying to find more stuff with that actress but nothing came close. She was just in a great film here. A halo effect.

I agree with your discussion paradigm. I think at some point I had an epiphany about some other explanation of the whole drug bit, but I can't remember now. The film is very re-watchable. It has such a dreamy tone it floats by like music. Very creative in all the ways Jacob goes down a path, and then another, and another. It's totally limbo. Been a while since I last watched it but I'll bet I've seen it several times over the years.

I have often thought of this film in some special class, similar in wtf-ness to An American Werewolf in London and After Hours.
 
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