Jacob's Ladder

Hooptober 12 — 17/35 Man’s inhumanity to man. A film that feels like a nightmare that you can’t wake up from, but also a memory that you never want to lose. It manages to be heartbreaking, terrifying and beautiful all at once. Tim Robbins in amazing as Jacob, and you can see every single ounce of paranoia, confusion and trauma in his eyes. Elizabeth Peña alongside him as Jezzie really helps to make his madness seem genuine, as she doesn’t know how to cope with what’s going on. Adrian Lyne blurs the lines between reality and dreams in the most horrific way, and some of the visuals are truly haunting. He manages to disorientate the viewer with sheer terror and suspense, and there’s never any warning signs. It points out the flaws in human nature, and it proves how messed up some people can be in order to achieve a larger goal. The ending is one that makes me happy too. The use of religious symbols relating back to the story of Jacob’s Ladder in the Bible is genius, and it plays a key role in the final scene. Overall, it’s beautifully dark, and it’s moving in different ways, both right and wrong.