Evacuation Scene Atonement

To someone just picking up this book, this scene would simply look like some poor soldiers developing a temporary and innocent coping mechanism to deal with Death as they face him head on. But

Through “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” the soldiers standing, watching as everything goes on around them, are not able to stop what is happening. The soldiers represent the unforgiving nature of war.

Everyday men and women die in the most brutal way possible away from their family either killed from gun shots or landmines and they do come back. But in caskets, as images like these emphasize the destruction of war and these snaps just show the side effects of humankind's worse anger being shown. In the Article “The Stranger in the Photo Is Me”, Donald M. Murray expresses how harsh it really was in the war and how it changed himself forever and not in a good way. Not to mention, that he describes the way he felt ready to go to war, maybe even excited, but he wishes that horror on no one “I would not wish for a child or grandchild of mine to undergo the blood test of war” as the sacrifice these men and women go through is undeniably tremendous

The strong imagery paints a picture of the battlefield and draws a connection between the past and present leaving the football players with a feeling of loss.

As for the sound effect, the alliteration of the "s" sound, "with spools of suffering set out in ordered rows", illustrates the silent and isolated atmosphere the photographer is in-the photographic studio. With "eyes" rhyming with "cries", it heightens our sympathy towards the victims in war as it appeals to both the readers' sense of hearing and seeing. Not only does the suffering turn out to be more descriptive and

There is one scene where the three flag raisers entered a crowded stadium before a football game which typified how an image of war can be so different to the reality of war. The flash photography, the cheering, the roar of the crowd all went to John Bradley’s head and he had flash backs of the fighting on Iwo Jima and the genuine heroes that he had left behind. This scene contrasts what the reality of war, were all the men are dug in and fighting for there life, and the images of war. Ira Hayes says “I know it’s a good thing, raising the money and that, ‘cause we need it. But, I can’t take them calling me a hero. All I did was try not to get shot. Some of the things I saw done, things I did, they weren’t things to be proud of, you know?” Clint Eastwood shows continuously, through his characters physiology shows how one single photo can be so different what really makes up the battle of Iwo Jima. The aim was to get war bonds; the minds of the three main characters through Clint Eastwood’s directing showed a strong insight to how the reality of a war and an image of war can be so contrasting.

Imagery is identified in “Sunrise Over Fallujah” to emphasize the dark tone throughout the book. “I seen a 240 take a guy’s leg off from a 100 yards...The whole leg came off and the sucker was just laying there on the ground, looking at his leg as he died” states a big-headed corporal (chapter 2 pg 37-38). His statement describes a gruesome scene of someone dying. This allows the audience to envision what it would be like to fight in Iraq/Afghanistan and puts them in the perspective of a soldier's shoes, part of unit that is most hated.

This is very important for the story because it is what keeps them strong and keeps them moving forward without giving up, it’s the image of them being able to grasp them emotionally and give them motivation to continue on til the end of the war, the visual of this can assist the audience and allow the viewer to be empathic to the POWs.

Not only does this emphasise the hectic ness of the battle field and the exhaustion of the soldiers,

“Hello mother, father, this is your Louie talking. This will be the first time in two years that you’ve heard my voice. I am now interned at a Tokyo prisoner of war camp and I’m being treated as well as can be expected under wartime conditions.” As a viewer we can see the look of pure disgust and longing upon Louie’s face. It was evident that he wasn’t eager to read what was prepared for him as it depicted a false perception of what his wartime conditions were truly like. The fact that he had to make it seem like he was well when in fact he was anything but. I am now able to understand that what those in society often herd about their captured soldiers was quite often incorrect. The enemy wanted to portray an image that hid the true conditions and circumstances the American soldiers were subject to. I not only found this film inspiring as it showed the resilience American soldiers had whilst confined in the prisoner of war camps but also found it interesting as it showed the truths of war so vividly in way that could never be achieved through the use of written words. As a result of this film I am able to see how much we owe these men for our freedom, we were never truly able to appreciate the sacrifice made by those men and women until viewing this incredible film. They went through so much to ensure the freedom of many generations to come and if it wasn’t for these men who knows what our lives would be like today.

To convey the terrible truth that the Allies lost 10,000 men on June 6th, the director had to recreate the gruesome blood soaked waters and beaches and the piles of dead and dying soldiers. The scene when Miller’s men go rummaging through the huge pile of dog tags is surreal.

The first scene that deconstructs the stages of madness is the beach landing scene where the crew launches their patrol boat and destroys a village alongside Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore. Throughout this montage of scenes, also the longest shot segment in the movie, shows the men descending into the first stage of evil, which is the “love of war; dehumanization of the enemy”. Throughout these scenes at “ Charlie Beach “, we really see an unfair fight led by Lieutenant Colonel Kilgore. Kilgore has installed a philosophy upon his men to disregard the military and fight this war as a game. In the first opening shots of the battle scene, Francis uses a beautifully done shot of the Helicopters descending Into the village in preparation for an assault. From this scene, we see how unfair the fight is. Right before the guns fire, we get two shots. The first shot is the raging helicopters that look like cowboys on horses or Calvary. The second shot is the peaceful and quiet Vietnamese villages. With these two shots, it demonstrates how the platoon sees war as playing cowboys and Indians. In many of the background shots of the village siege, we

Kevin Costner opens the movie with a remarkable shot of a soldiers, Lieutenant John Dunbar, boots and with bright red blood all two pairs of hands. The hands come from a doctor who is going to amputate the Dunbar. While Dunbar wakes up, and the director does a point of view scan of the scene and Dunbar realizes where he is. Then, the camera cuts to a close up of his face. Throughout the whole movie, with an exception with a couple of scenes, Costner gives the audience a variety of long shots. While filming Costner purposely created limited close-up shots to create a more powerful effect. So, the close up has a special meaning to it, the director wants the audience to notice that this is something important to him. Dunbar does not want his leg cut off because he would feel like he is out of the fight and does not want to be. The close ups show what is going on in his mind. The thought of his leg being cut off frightened

The camerawork returns to the conventional style used for the soldiers. The framing of the shot shows the soldier as the focal point of the shot. As the shot seems to be taken slightly from below it creates a more imposing stance for the soldier and shows the shadow over his eyes from the peak of his hat. All of this alludes to the mystery of this character and his intentions as the previously mentioned omniscience of the spectator is broken as the spectator has no idea of whom or what ‘Little Hansel’ is. The next scene starts to rebuild the tension again. The only sound is the diegetic sound of machinery and weapon. The shots are shot and closed off to surroundings. The extreme close-ups [Fig.6] limit the spectator’s understanding of what’s happening. From this shot the spectator can infer that it is some kind of weapon but other than that there is no other clue. The lack of music and complex techniques leaves nothing but the spectator’s confusion and as the montage continues the confusion leads to the building tension. The tension then peaks as the weapon is revealed [Fig.7] in an almost identical manner to Fig.2 and the spectator is suddenly aware of the magnitude of the danger for the characters in the woods. The reveal is not however, the climax of the tension, it keeps building. Yet, it is all the more tense as the spectator can now anticipate what it coming but by continuing in a similar

The sequence continues to increase in intensity as a fast tracking shot is present to keep up with the running horse, the accompaniment used becomes faster and is frequently interrupted by the sounds of explosions. Pro-filmic elements again are present and work alongside the tracking shot to increase the intensity, an example being the lighting within the trench which is barely visible with the flash of explosions being the biggest source of light. It isn’t until Joey begins to run towards the other trench that the hero becomes entangled in barbed wire and the climax ends. In contrast to the medium, long and tracking shots previous to this an extreme close up is present during the end of this sequence. After Joey’s struggle to get out of the wire an extreme close up of his eye is used, its spectators see the fear and sorrow within his eyes. Joey is laid powerless and weak, and is in need of a human support in order to survive. The accompaniment has now stopped leaving Joey alone in silence, there is limited use of lighting and dull colours are present, each factor directly influencing the