An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge

Filmed in 1962, the short film shows the final moments of a man who was victimized for being at wrong place. The film is related violence and tragedy. It is all about the strong survival instincts in a man who wishes he had one last chance given. The desperation to live is upheld here.

The film opens with a bird chirping sound, a notice is seen stuck to a wooden piece, and the surroundings is viewed briefly. The efforts of cinematographers are seen here. The rolling of camera is exceptionally well and the audience are introduced concisely.

The location is a forest down the hill. The clouds are calm and the forest is silent. There is only one noise that could be heard – an atonal music of pipes and discord voice of an officer giving commands. The weather is pleasant and foggy. There is a river somewhere in the middle of the thick forest and a bridge is built across it. The army is settled here.

The camera is now focused to a particular army man, who is tying a rope to hang a person. An innocent man is about to be hanged. He is made to stand on the edge of a board and as he is about to breath his last, he takes a quick glance of all the police officers standing almost everywhere with the weapons. He could see those holding guns, cannons, firearms, flame – throwers, muskets, and other type of heavy machineries.

His legs are tied and he is nervous. He can now see all those weapons pointing towards him. He realizes there is no chance to escape. He closes his eyes and his family appears to him. The magic is all in the key grip, at this point of time.

A commander is about to give the command when the prisoner starts crying. He tries to loosen his thread but he is too late. The order is passed and the lever is pulled. He immediately falls to the river.

The water is deep and the shiny reflection of sun is seen. With the bubbling sound of water, the man is seen drowning in the river with his infinite attempts to free the ropes. After a long struggle, he is at liberty. He swims to the surface of the water.

He looks around him with bliss for the hope of new life. He sees the daylight again and overjoyed to see the tiniest and, almost unnoticed things seemed interesting.

After he saw the beauty of nature and of second life, he noticed repeated gunshots at him.

The bullets are let off continuously. He swims quick enough to escape it and suddenly he is in the middle of water current. The water washes him away, far from the bridge.

He is tired and weary now. He reaches the shore. There he is mesmerized by his deed and starts laughing loudly as if he had had a new life. He looks at his wound on his hand and laughs mocking death, and plays with sand, rolls down on the bank and finally crawls to a flower nearby under the shady trees.

As he smelt the fine flower, another shot is fired from an unknown place. He somehow starts running and now under the fading trees. He sometimes tripped and his speed gradually decreased with time. The birds are continuously making noises and then he sees a gate opening for him.

The merry music at this point is spectacular. The perfect angles for the horizon of the viewer are shown. As he walks further, he sees his wife coming for him. He runs towards her, for it was all he had hoped. The way this scene is shown is heart – touching and the tension are created for the audience to crave for more. Is it a happy or bad ending?

Not all films have happy conclusions though bad endings are not really an end. As he approaches his wife, he calls her name and suddenly the lever is pulled, this time for real and he is seen dead, hanging above the river, on an old bridge.

The soldiers walk away and the credits role. The old bridge is seen for one last time. The settings and effects given are good and natural. It is amusing to see the film on screen with ambient music. The sounds are provided at right times with good audio quality. However, the video quality seems little dull. The picture could not be viewed properly and there are many disturbances while filming. Unexpected things appear on screen now and then leaving the plot confusing.

Nevertheless, the crew are to be appreciated. The lead man has justified his part. Unlike film .303, this film has the violence shown in the most ‘un-disturbing’ way. The film has almost everything it needs to present a perfect idea about violence: annoyed, disappointment, fear, sad, etc. it also has the emotions of love, happy, hope, and belief.

Overall, the film is sensational. It can be viewed for not more than twice, but it is worth watching since it has the basic awareness of the “importance of life to oneself”.

-- Suchetha, 14 September 2020