Jacob's Ladder (1990)


Jacob's Ladder frustrated me the first time I saw it.  I expected a straightforward film about demons coming after the protagonist and instead got a strange drama about government conspiracies and neglected Vietnam vets with some hints of demons here and about, but, in my opinion at the time, no solid horror story.  I thought the ending clever, but it wasn't the type of movie I had wanted it to be, and I was still at an age that I didn't understand there were times when one just has to sit down and watch a film with no distractions.

That is what I suggest for a movie like Jacob's Ladder.  For a surreal film it is still pretty honest about the story it is telling, but to get the full impact one has to pay attention to who the characters are, what they say and various events that happen.  It also helps to ask oneself if they make sense in the context of how someone would really act in a situation.  There is not a lot of subtext, but it is interesting to unravel the truth behind what is happening.

Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam veteran working as a postman in New York.  He is living with his girlfriend Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña) and just trying to make it through life.  His best friend is his chiropractor Louis (Danny Aiello), who keeps him informed about what is going on with his ex-wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember).  The problem is that Jacob has started to have visions of demons, showing up on the subway, at parties and sometimes directly pursuing him.

Jacob also has frequent flashbacks to a time when he almost died.  His unit came under attack and, at the same time, several of its members started getting sick or behaving strangely.  One of his ex-Army buddies, Paul (Pruitt Taylor Vince), gets in touch with him and reveals that he is seeing the same visions.  After he is killed it turns out the rest of his surviving unit are seeing the same things he is.  They decide to pursue it legally, but soon drop it after being seemingly threatened.  After being almost killed Jacob is contacted by Michael (Matt Craven), a former LSD manufacturer turned Army chemist who may have some knowledge about what is going on.

This has a number of surprising faces turn up.  Ving Rhames is George, a member of Jacob's unit, while Jason Alexander has a small part as a lawyer named Geary who offers to help them with the case before dropping it.  Macaulay Culkin shows up uncredited as Jacob's late son Gabe, while Louis Black and Kyle Gass make quick appearances.  It's interesting to see many actors and comedians who had much different careers make appearances.

It is also a bit of a departure for director Adrian Lyne.  Bruce Joel Rubin wrote the script and had been trying to get the movie made, but Lyne managed to get it done, toning down much of Rubin's more outright demonic scenes to kind of hint at what was going on.  His rationale - that it might be unintentionally humorous - was spot on, as rubber demon suits in what is potentially a film about covert testing of drugs on our troops combined with a ex-soldier hallucinating due to PTSD would have been a bit too jarring.  It is still a bit awkward at the end with some information that appears on the screen that has to do more with the larger events of the movie than with the actual ending. 

I no longer have the issues I did when I first saw it, possibly because I know some more of the real history behind what the fictional events allude to.  Since I already knew how it ended I was paying the attention needed to get certain details.  I still think a major problem is that for the ending to work there is too much that happens that doesn't jibe with that last twist.  However, my attempts to make it work probably have more implications than Rubin or Lyne meant, as I still believe that the core narrative is supposed to be taken at face value even if it is still a bit of different construction that most films.

Jacob's Ladder had a major influence on the Silent Hill game series and was one of the first movies of the 1990s to play around with different narrative structures.  It is quite engaging and Robbins, who at that point was known more for comedy, shows a good amount of range as a man who thinks his life and his mind are suddenly falling apart.  I know there has been a recent attempt to remake it but, like a number of movies from the 20th century, this is of a time and a place, and is best left as it is for people to discover. 

Jacob's Ladder (1990)
Time: 113 minutes
Starring: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven
Director: Adrian Lyne

 

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