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An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge: A Flash Of Life

Decent Essays

A Flash of Life
In Robert Enrico’s short film, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge, the audience is manipulated into believing a man on the brink of death gets a second chance at life. However, in the last scene of the short film, the man is literally snapped back to reality. The escape was merely an illusion and the man falls vertically to his death. Robert Enrico’s film ultimately shows the true meaning behind one’s life flashing before their eyes.
The film opens by showing an image of a public order vertically on a tree stating that any civilian caught interfering with the railroad, bridges, tunnels, or trains with be summarily hanged, thus foreshadowing the event of someone being sentenced to death. The next scene has a soundtrack of military trumpets and shows soldiers marching to a bridge over a shallow creek. The man that the soldiers have captured is being sentenced to death by hanging. In order to ensure the man’s death, the soldiers not only put the noose around his neck, but also tie his ankles, thighs, and hands together with tight knots. Right before the hanging of the man, the soldiers take the man’s pocket watch symbolizing that they are literally taking his time and life away from him. Another opinion can be taken from a critic, Donato Totaro, in his analysis he states, “When the …show more content…

The ending was a definite surprise for anyone that watched the film for the first time, but after going further and analyzing the film it is obvious that the events that took place were symbolic for what was going to happen. The film, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge did not give nearly the same amount of information as the short story, but both tell the same story and share the same theme. We as an audience got to see the true definition of one’s life flashing before their

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