Saturday, March 12, 2011

Butcher - Fugitive Blog


The Fugitive begins with a fuzzy, black and white account of the murder of Dr. Richard Kimble’s wife. It is disorienting and blurs the viewers initial opinions of her murder. Just as the police, at that point the truth is not clear. As the film unfolds, the true story of her murder is uncovered piece by piece. Dr. Kimble’s innocence is proven through a series of flashback’s shown from Dr. Kimble’s perspective. The more flashbacks we see, the more we are convinced that Kimble did not kill his wife.
In the scene shown in the photograph, we see a flashback from the night of the murder. Dr. Kimble fights off the one-armed man, but he allows the culprit to escape in order to be by his deceased wife’s side. This screen shot shows Kimble looking after the one-armed man, not in the frame, as he limps away, prosthetic arm loose. We can assume that Kimble is innocent, as this scene reveals another part of the murder scene that had not previously been provided. Using Kimble’s flashback, he tells the audience of his struggle against the stranger, and weep over his bloody wife.
Dr. Kimble plays the part of the detective in this story. He rapidly uncovers more about the circumstance of what got him framed for cold blooded murder. Gerard is simply the chaser, following Kimble’s clues as he leaves them. When Gerard encounters Kimble at the beginning of the film, he tells Kimble he is not interested in whether Kimble is innocent. His only concerned with bringing in a fugitive. Only after leading him to the one-armed man’s house does Gerard realize that Kimble is providing him with secrets that point to a bigger problem. This ties in appropriately with the first blurry, black-and-white images of Mrs. Kimble at the beginning of the movie. This story follows the story of Dr. Kimble and his determination to uncover the truth; it is not about his wife’s murder. Rather, he is driven by his wife’s murder. His ultimate goal is to prove his innocence and figure out why and how he was framed for murder. The technique used at the beginning emphasizes that this film is really a murder-mystery detective story.

1 comment:

  1. I am not sure why my comment did not post, but I will give you credit for one missing assignment for this blog.

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