Madere - The Devil's Own

With its opening scene, The Devil's Own shows how family is a central theme of the plot. This scene opens with the Irish countryside, showing the possible and natural peacefulness and beauty of the country. Frankie Maquire is fishing with his father and returns home to have a family meal with his mother and little sister. The peacefulness of the scene does not last long, however, as Frankie's father is brutally murdered at point-blank range right in front of his eyes. In some ways, this scene shows how family ties can be someone's downfall. Not only does Frankie's father's supposed family ties to republican sympathizers prove to be the reason for his death, but as seen in Frankie's young, horrified eyes after his father's murder, his love and ties to his father has caused him to feel as if he's lost everything. On the other hand, however, this scene and its implications about family also end up being the way in which Frankie comes to believe he can regain all he lost with his father's murder. Frankie forms ties to the IRA and finds a family. Not only do these people fight with him in the cause, but they offer him protection and refuge, even leading him to America where he encounters the O'Meara family and once again finds refuge and forms family ties. His family with the IRA also gives him a cause to achieve--to exact revenge on the people who killed his father, which in turn gives him a purpose and reason for living.

Madere - Patriot Games

In Patriot Games, families serve as a reason and means for action. One such family is the main character's (as played Harrison Ford), Jack Ryan, his wife Caroline, and their daughter Sally. For Ryan, protecting his family from the terrorist Sean Miller becomes his main goal. In a way, Ryan almost becomes defined by his relationship to his family and the lengths he will go to assure their safety. This definition becomes apparent from the very beginning of the movie in the scene where the Ryans are on vacation and having a family game night. These early scenes before the inciting action of the film (where Jack kills Sean Miller's brother) define Jack as a "family man."

The inciting incident of the film also surrounds family. Jack intervenes in an attempt on the life of a member of the British royal family, killing Sean Miller's brother. This incites the plot of the rest of the film where Miller then attacks Jack Ryan and his family in order to avenge his brother's death. The loyalty felt by Ryan and Miller (which drives their actions in the film) makes the characters somewhat equal and able to understand each other on some levels, as Miller instinctively knows that the best way to act revenge on Jack Ryan is to strike out at his family.

Another family that has an important presence in the film and also serves as a means for creating action, even the inciting incident, is the splintered sect of IRA that attacks the royal family, of which the Miller brothers are apart. This sect plays not only an important part in the inciting incident in the film, but also, through other events in the film, shows another level of family loyalty and dedication where fierce, irrational nationalism and the "If you're not with us, you're against us" mentality comes into play.

Madere - Frantic

In his film Frantic, Roman Polanski uses many elements of noir to create the setting for Harrison Ford's distressed search for his wife. From the opening credits of the film, Polanski sets up the noir feeling of Frantic. The credits roll as though they are cars traveling on a busy highway, first appearing large and becoming smaller and smaller the further down the road they get. This and the opening scene with Harrison Ford's character Dr. Walker and his wife traveling in the cab gives ample opportunity to show the cityscape of Paris. This element, also known as the city in decline, portrays Paris as a seedy character of its own in the film. It also shows how Paris, especially given that Harrison Ford's character is an American who doesn't speak French well, adds to the element of psychological entrapment.

Another noir element employed by Polanski is the use of not only suspense, but helpless suspense. Once Harrison Ford's character steps out of the shower to find his wife gone, he is at a loss of how to address the situation. He begins the film-long search for her by wandering around the hotel looking for her, then by asking the hotel staff if they'd seen her. Finally, he ventures outside of the hotel to ask people if they might have seen anything. After finding a piece of his wife's jewelry, Dr. Walker seems unable to determine what his next move should be. He instinctively knows his wife is in danger, yet he doesn't know how he should go about looking for her. This theme follows throughout the film--with Dr. Walker helplessly grasping at straws and finding himself in dangerous situations while he tries to figure out what happened to his wife and how to get her back.

Still another noir element in Frantic is the femme fatale, embodied by the character Michelle. Everything about Michelle, from her heavy eye make-up to her leather clothing to her involvement in drugs as both an abuser and a mule, reveals her femme fatale status. She agrees to help Dr. Walker for her own selfish reasons as is constantly shown with her demands to get paid for her work transporting the bomb. It isn't until the scene in the cafe with the police from the embassy that she truly shows herself as a trustworthy ally.
The scene where Dr. Walker meets Michelle is particularly noir-ish. The lighting in the scene is dim, with highlights on the door and the murdered DeDe. Even the characters in the scene, Michelle and Dr. Walker, are obscured by the dim lighting. This scene is significant because it is the first time Dr. Walker comes into real contact with violence in the film and the dim lighting with the murder highlighted shows the significance of this fact, as well as foretells of more violence still to come in the search for Mrs. Walker. The camera proxemic of this scene is social, so as to reveal both Dr. Walker and Michelle in the scene, as well as the dark hallway and staircase in which the scene takes place (and the initial struggle between Dr. Walker and Michelle) and DeDe's murder. Again, the camera proxemic serves as foreshadowing: Dr. Walker and Michelle have fallen into a dark world and more darkness is to follow with violence accompanying it, and there will continue to be somewhat of a struggle between Michelle and Dr. Walker in the film. The relatively loose framing of the scene gives the characters some space to move around. This shows that both of them have choices in the film--Dr. Walker has the choice to stay true to his morals and not sink too far down in the dark world to achieve his goal and Michelle has the choice to be trustworthy, to work loyally with Dr. Walker, and to act for reasons that are less selfish and prompted by instant gratification. The framing is not too loose, however, revealing the fact that Dr. Walker and Michelle are not completely in control of how the story will play out from there on; they are somewhat at the mercy of Mrs. Walker's kidnappers.

Madere - Presumed Innocent

In Presumed Innocent, Harrison Ford's character Rusty Sabich spends most of the movie attempting to convince every other character in the movie and the audience of his innocence in Carolyn's murder. However, one of the reasons it is hard to believe Rusty when he says he is not Carolyn's murderer is that it is clear that he is guilty of some wrongs related to her death. Rusty's trial is dismissed, however, when misconduct by the prosecution is revealed and there is a lack of material evidence to convict him. It then seems as if Carolyn's murder would go unsolved until the second-to-last scene of the movie reveals that the murderer was actually Rusty's wife.

Despite the fact that Rusty's wife admits her guilt in the murder and explains the great lengths she went to to not only prevent the police from suspecting her, but implicate Rusty, it is clear that Rusty still experiences come guilt, some responsibility in the murder. He feels guilty for the affair with Carolyn (and the resulting obsession it created) as he has throughout the movie as it was a breaking of a rule and Rusty is a strict follower of rules. His wife's confession adds a new dimension to his guilt. Even if he was not the person to actually take Carolyn's life, he feels as though his actions and affair spurred his wife's actions, even that his wife was justified in her actions. In his mind, had he not had the affair and obsession with Carolyn, she would still be alive.

This guilt manifests itself in that he chooses to remain silent about his wife's guilt in the murder. He washes off the hammer, supposedly planning to never say anything to his wife about knowledge of her actions until she confesses to him. Even after the confession, he chooses not to turn her in, saying that it was an impracticality to try two people for the same crime and that he could not take his son's mother away from him. At the end of the movie, he speaks of a punishment, which presumably is a lifetime of guilt over the affair and responsibility in his death, a lifetime of guilt over not assigning blame and punishment to the murderer (which he clearly believes in throughout the movie), and a lifetime of living with a murderer.

Madere - The Fugitive

The opening scene of The Fugitive depicts the murder of Dr. Richard Kimble's wife through a montage--a series of short scenes that cut to each other very quickly. All of these scenes are in black and white, which could be for many reasons. Being depicted in black and white makes the scenes look the way they would if they were in a police case file, which are also usually in black and white. Similar to this idea is the way the shots are presented in the end of the montage, as if a camera is flashing and taking the picture, frame by frame, while all the while getting different angles and details of the crime scene.

The starkness of the white versus the black in the scenes also somewhat depicts the gruesome way in which Helen Kimble was murdered, especially with respect to the final full shot of her face. Her eyes and mouth are black as is any blood in the picture, yet her skin is white, which not only shows visually that the life has been drained from her, but literally, as well.

The black and white also makes it difficult to make out specific facial characteristics or flaws of the characters (Helen and her murderer) in the opening montage. This fact is especially important to the development of the story as both the audience and Richard Kimble are unaware of what the murderer looks like. It's also interesting to not that this montage does not include any shots of the one-armed man's prosthetic limb, which makes the audience unsure, even if it's just for a few more scenes, of whether or not Richard Kimble killed his wife.

Ironically, the scene being in black and white would suggest that the case itself is black and white, open and shut. This is definitely how the Chicago Police treat the case and Richard Kimble. However, the audience and Gerard become aware that both the case and Richard Kimble aren't black and white or easily figured out.


In this scene from about a third of the way through the movie, Richard Kimble is facing U.S. Marshal Gerard in a tunnel, getting ready to jump. Gerard thinks he has Kimble trapped and will be able to bring him in easily, as jumping from the ledge into the dam is very dangerous. Instead though, Kimble jumps (and survives).

This scene is taken from a camera angle that shows Gerard's point of view, which explains why Kimble is the dominant, as Kimble's capture is Gerard's goal (even obsession) throughout the movie. The foreground of the scene is dimly lit while the background is lit by natural light, which makes Kimble's appearance in the scene almost shadow-like. It also gives indication that Kimble is coming from a place of darkness to light--and he's bringing the truth about his wife's murder and her murderers to light, also. However, the long fall behind him indicates that he has a long way to go before that goal is acheived. The framing of the scene is relatively tight, but not as tight as it could be. This shows that Kimble does have a choice in the scene--forward, with Gerard and jail, or backward, to possible freedom or death.

Madere - Mosquito Coast and Witness

Both Mosquito Coast and Witness feature an element of the son in the film that has experiences that take their innocence and reverence for their patriarch and move them beyond their patriarch's knowledge. The beginning of each film features Samuel of Witness and Charlie of Mosquito Coast exhibiting their innocence and idolization of the patriarch of the film. Samuel's idolization can best be seen in the very beginning of the film, as he is traveling to the train station on the back of the horse and buggy, and sees the world around him with obvious admiration. For Charlie, the idolization and innocence is shown in the opening scene of the film while he is in the truck with his father, listening to his rants, while the voice-over proclaims his father as a "genius."
Samuel, however, loses his innocence early in the film when the inciting action, the murder of the police officer in the train station bathroom, takes it from him. In this scene, his loss of innocence is most accurately conveyed through the look in Samuel's eyes, which are conveying all of the conflicting feelings he has at the time: fear, confusion, uncertainty. In Samuel's eyes, you can see that he has witnessed something most people never see--especially the people in the Amish community in which he was raised.
After this scene, Samuel also begins to show a curiosity and affinity for the "English" world. This is most evident when he finds John Book's bullets, with obvious amazement, studies them. This is a scene he shares with his grandfather Eli (the patriarch of the film). With Samuel still close to him physically in the scene (and emotionally, as well), Eli warns Samuel of the dangers of the bullets and the "English" world of John Book and Philadelphia. This scene, with the proxemics of the characters, shows how Samuel is still close with his grandfather, but is also experiencing a loss of confidence and safety in the world he grew up in.
Charlie's loss of innocence and confidence in the world he once knew is, like Samuel's, also conveyed in a scene with his patriarch (his father, Allie). When the ice maker catches fire and blows up, Charlie observes his father become more concerned with the death of his invention than with the death of human beings. It is obvious in a look Charlie gives his father in this scene that what Charlie used to believe was genius is actually mental and emotional instability. Allie looks particularly insane in this scene, with most of his face drowned by the darkness and only the blaze of the fire reflected in his glasses. Charlie's face is also mostly covered in darkness, again except for his eyes, where the realization about his father's true nature is learned. The scene shows Charlie look over his shoulder at his father (with Allie just in the corner of the scene) and Charlie almost winces and pulls away from Allie. Charlie is also the dominant feature in the scene, which conveys to the audience that Charlie will have to defeat is father, save his family, and become the hero in the end.

Madere - Last Crusade

This scene, taken from the end of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade is indicative that Indiana has reached the final stage 0f the knight's quest--that of the Grail Knight. Although each stage of the knight's quest is highlighted individually in each Indiana Jones movie--the Mercenary Knight in Temple of Doom, the Indentured Knight in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and of course the Grail Knight in Last Crusade--scenes that portray Indiana in each of these roles all appear in the final movie.

The scene that shows Indiana Jones as a Mercenary Knight in Last Crusade happens at the very beginning of the movie when he discovers the cross of Coronado in a cave in Utah. Despite the fact that the cross was found by someone else (and thus belongs to him), and despite Indiana's righteous quote, "It belongs in a museum," it is clear from the look on Indy's face that he's somewhat starstruck by the cross. While it is clear that he steals the cross with the intent of having displayed in museum, there is also an undercurrent of perhaps wanting to be the person who famously recovered it. The scene immediately following this one also sets the story for Indiana's overall "anything goes" Mercenary Knight attitude in Temple of Doom, as he is betrayed, and this squashes any intent he had to go on his quest for any higher purpose than money and glory.

The scene in Last Crusade that shows Indiana Jones as an Indentured Knight are the scenes where Indy agrees to go on the journey to find his father at Donovan's request and on Donovan's dime. It is clear that he is only on the quest to serve one end--to find his father--and, unbeknownst to him, becomes Donovan's puppet in his quest to find the Grail and, ultimately, eternal life and power.

Indiana's transition into Grail Knight in Last Crusade begins with the scenes conquering the three tasks that you must pass in order to prove yourself worthy of finding the Grail. These scenes show Indiana's new found faith and belief in God and the Grail, as well as his exhibiting the mythic characteristics needed for a Grail Knight. His transition is complete when, in the second-to-last scene of the movie, he gives up reaching for the Grail (and eternal life, fortune, and glory) in order to save his life and the life of his comrades. This scene proves that he has conquered his demons and his love of material things and grasped onto a larger purpose.

Madere: Leia as Goddess and Temptress

In this photo from Star Wars: A New Hope, Princess Leia is very clearly the Goddess that Joseph Campbell discusses. She is dressed in white (as she is for most of both the first and second movie), she looks regal and, with the light cast down upon her in this scene, she looks almost angelic.

Leia's role as Goddess carries over from A New Hope into The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. She is still very much a driving force behind the Rebellion, as seen in the beginning of the movie in her role as executive of the Rebels' movements on Hoth. She also serves as Goddess for both Luke and Han personally. For Luke, as in A New Hope, she gives him a means and reason to fight and fulfill his role as Campbell's Contemplative hero in the story. In Han's case, she provides a search for something more fulfilling than just material wealth, which eventually blossoms into love. In this way, she becomes Han's savior in his quest for a more meaningful life and fulfillment of his role as the Civic hero. She also actually is Han's savior when she poses as a bounty hunter in order to rescue him from death at the hands of Jabba the Hutt.

However, in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, Leia becomes, both literally and figuratively, a Temptress. For both Han and Luke, Leia is an object of lust and reason for competition. However, this role changes in her interactions with Luke once they learn they are brother and sister. He then must overcome this loss and others associated with his family and past in order to continue on his quest. For Han, he must overcome the reasons for his original attraction to Leia--lust, money, greed, power, the winner over Luke in the battle for her affection--in order to achieve something more pure and wholesome with her.