analyzing the themes of the film Jeremiah Johnson and Night of the Hunter

analyzing the themes of the film Jeremiah Johnson and Night of the Hunter

For my final project, I will analyze the themes of the film Jeremiah Johnson and Night of the Hunter. The film Jeremiah Johnson directed by Sydney Pollack is a Western, adventure, drama film set in the 1840s about a man who decides he wants a life of isolation after fighting in the Mexican War. He goes into the wilderness ill-equipped but eventually learns his way with the help of many along the way. He learns new things about himself and builds a life of his own until others ruin it, and Jeremiah decides to take revenge. Night of the Hunter directed by Charles Laughton is a thriller, film noir set in the Depression Era about a sexist, murderous Reverend named Harry Powell who goes on a hunt for $10,000 that his cellmate told him he hid at home with his wife and children. After getting out, the Reverend goes to his cellmates town and charms everyone except for the cellmates children who quickly realize his intentions. The Reverend begins to take control of the whole town and the children decide to get out while they can. The Reverend chases after them until the children luckily find a woman who is willing to take care of them while they hide from the Reverend. The film Jeremiah Johnson uses visuals of hunting, fighting, and endurance to bring out the overriding theme of a Western survival. The film uses many wide and cowboy shots and includes hostile elements through its visuals, such as fight scenes and surviving against the harsh climate of the Wild West. In contrast, the film Night of the Hunter brings out the theme of a fairy tale good vs evil through the Reverend of evil intent and the children of innocent, good intent. The Reverend is constantly manipulating others to get closer to what he wants which represents the villains in fairy tales; the children are innocent yet courageous in there attempt to get rid of the Reverend and keep their Father’s money safe. Both of the films are at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of style and visuals.

While there are many small themes scattered within the film Jeremiah Johnson, the dominant theme that carries on throughout is Western survival. The visuals often show Jeremiah successfully surviving or facing the challenges that come with living in the wild. At the beginning of the film Jeremiah comes back from the Mexican-American War and seeks isolation and to hunt for money, he heads West, and we see just how unprepared and inexperienced he is at protecting himself in the wild. One of the most vital things for survival in the winter is fire to keep warm, after seeing Jeremiah fail at attaining food, we see him fail even to start a small fire. The scene begins with a close-up shot of Jeremiah’s hands trying to start a fire with a piece of steel. As he continues, he sparks his finger, and in an eye-level medium close-up shot, he blows on his hand to stop the burning. The camera shows the full scene of Jeremiah surrounded by snow under a large tree for shelter in a hip level long shot. Then the camera switches back to a close-up, slightly high angle, shot. The camera follows him as he blows on the now sparked kindling and sets it down in the rest of the sticks. As a bit of foreshadowing, the camera shows a medium shot of the tree above then switches to an eye-level medium close-up of Jeremiah blowing on the fire to make it grow. The fire catches, and Jeremiah begins waving his hat over the fire in a hip level wide shot. The camera follows him back in the medium close-up as he adds more sticks, then the camera switches back to the wide shot and begins to slowly pan up the tree where a large snow pile is hanging directly above Jeremiah. Then in a full shot, the heap of snow from above falls instantly onto the fire that Jeremiah worked so hard on to build, he then destroys it in anger. Then the camera pans up a large snowy mountain in an extreme long shot. During this scene, there is complete silence beside the sound of the gusting wind. This scene shows that the Wild West is always working against Jeremiah, an inexperienced man who needs to learn the way of survival. The last shot of the mountain is a shot that impacts the viewer’s idea of the film. The silence and view of the surroundings make the viewer feel as though they are experiencing everything with Jeremiah, “The magnificent frames of cinematographer Duke Callaghan invite the viewer to traipse through the snow and shiver with the hero in his struggle for survival.” (Zimmerline) Getting the audience to feel apart of the film is what makes a film great and helps the audience understand the main idea of the film.

Towards the end of the film, Jeremiah seems to have mastered the art of survival in the West. He can now take vengeance on those who do him wrong, “No longer concerned with solitude or harmony, Jeremiah instead veers down a path toward sorrow and blood-soaked vengeance.” (Zimmerline) This vengeance comes in one of the most intense scenes of the film, Jeremiah attacking the Crow tribe. The visuals in the scene show how much Jeremiah has improved in his ability to survive and fight. It begins with a wide shot of Jeremiah’s horse standing on its hind legs as it dissolves into a trucking right shot of Jeremiah running through trees. It then dissolves into an extreme long shot, ground-level angle tilted up of Jeremiah fighting an Indian on a boulder while the sun glares into the camera. Throughout this scene, many images overlap with each other. For example, next in the scene a low angle wide shot of Jeremiah fighting another Indian is seen on the right, while on the left side of the shot a patch of sand covered with bones, feathers, and beads is seen. The left side of the shot remains the same as medium shots of Jeremiah show him shooting and running around with a bear head hat and members of the tribe falling to their death. Next, the left side of the screen shows a close-up shot of the Indian Paints His Face Red and a medium shot of Jeremiah on the right side slumped over on his horse as it continues galloping. The left side remains the same but faintly dissolves as another tracking shot of Jeremiah is shown running through the woods, then a ground-level up angle of Jeremiah jumping off his horse. The right side of the shot fades into a close-up shot of the face of Jeremiah as a medium shot of an Indian painted red throw a spear. It then fades into a zoomed-in medium shot of an Indian shooting a gun directly at the camera. A long shot of Jeremiah shows him jumping into the river, it then switches to a side view of the dive, then a pan down long shot of him in the river, and then a side view medium shot of Jeremiah tackled by an Indian. Then on the left side of the screen, a faint image of a Native American symbol is shown while Jeremiah struggles to fight on the right, switching from close-up to medium to long shots. The image of the symbol takes over the screen and pans left to show the entirety of it while the commotion slowly fades and the scene ends. This film gracefully created a basic Western survival story that everyone loves and added modern techniques to enhance its quality and level of entertainment.

The visuals in the film Night of the Hunter, are astonishing for its time, 1955, and are what make this film so gorgeously horrifying. During this period in time, the expressionist movement had been reborn through the movement of film noir. This film is a great example, “And many great movies are realistic, but “Night of the Hunter” is an expressionistic oddity, telling its chilling story through visual fantasy.” (Ebert) The film conveys visuals of dark, low lighting, twisted rooms, and odd angles that increase the confusion and eeriness of the scenes. One of the most haunting images in the film is of Mrs. Harper, the children’s mother, who was murdered by the Reverend. We see the mother’s lifeless body strapped to a car at the bottom of the lake, hair waving in the water similarly to the seaweeds surrounding her.

The central theme of this film is a fairy tale good vs evil, with a twist of horror that makes it different to children’s fairy tales. Throughout the film, there is a feeling of anxiety because the audience knows the Reverend is evil, but the town is under his spell. Once the Reverend murders the children’s mother, the film turns into utter chaos and horror. The scene that introduces the beginning of the children’s run from the Reverend starts once he asks where the money is. John says that the money is downstairs in the cellar, the Reverend does not trust them, so he makes them go down as well. The scene begins with an extreme long shot of the entire cellar, from a stage set point of view, as the Reverend pulls the kids away from the stairs to show him where the money is hidden. In a medium-full two-shot, John points to the location of the money and Pearl gasps at his lie. Switching back to the full cellar view, the Reverend begins looking but then in a side angle medium close-up shot declares that the floor is concrete, not wood. Pearl states that John has lied in a medium-full three-shot and the Reverend takes hold of John and pushes him against the barrel and looks up to the ceiling to talk to God. The camera flashes to Pearl, who is now scared, in a close-up shot, then to a medium two-shot in a high angle of the Reverend still holding down John and threatening that the Lord hates liars. Pearl begins whimpering as the Reverend pulls out his knife, then in a medium close-up shot, Pearl leans against the wall crying that the money is in her doll. The Reverend laughs and sits on the wall in a medium close-up shot; then the camera flashes between him and John in a close-up shot looking around the room trying to find a way to escape. In a full three-shot, John puts out the candle as the Reverend reaches for the doll and knocks the shelf down in a close-up shot onto the Reverend heads in a medium close-up shot. The children begin to escape up the stairs in a long ground-level shot. The Reverend runs after but trips over a bottle in a knee level high angle close-up shot, then falls to the ground in a high angle long shot. Then in a Frankenstein pose, he chases after the children in a medium-full shot. Just as you think they won’t make it, the door slams shut on the Reverend’s hand in a close-up shot and the children lock the door after he retracts his hand. This scene is similar to a fairy tale chase, the hero or innocent escaping the villain just in the nick of time.

The river scene has the most resemblance to a fairy tale than any other scene in the entire movie. The scene begins just after the children avoid the grasp of evil once again, and set sail onto the river to find a safe place for them to go. The scene’s music begins loud and intense, then suddenly roles into a mystical soft tune. The camera shows an extreme long shot of the children slowing drifting down the river in their boat and a starry night sky above. Pearl begins caressing her stuffed animal in a medium-full shot, at a slightly higher angle; she then begins to sing. The camera shows a full two-shot of Pearl continuing to sing at the back of the boat and John at the front fast asleep. In an expressionist type shot, the camera shows the boat drifting at a high angle wide shot with a spider web in a tree, covering the screen. Pearl continues her song as the boat drifts, and in a ground-level medium wide shot, both the frog in the front of the shot and the boat in the back is in deep focus. The screen fades into an overhead shot that shows both the children fast asleep as the boat then fades into a medium shot of swaying cattails in the wind as a harp plays out of this dream-like sequence. This films symbols sprinkled throughout help layout the theme of the fairy tale good vs evil, “Animals on the bank of the river; rabbits, toads, spiders, etc., represent the forces of nature (i.e. purity), as the children drift asleep in their boat and the river takes them away from Powell [the Reverend] (i.e. evil).” (O’Brien) Also in O’Brien’s article he speaks about how other directors avoid the use of obvious symbolism then goes on to quote Robert Mckee when he says, “The moment the audience reacts to an image as ‘symbolic’, the effect is destroyed.” Laughton’s way of not disguising the symbolism in his film puts the audience in a dream-like state, knowing what is real but also knowing what is not, making the movie even more terrifying. In a way, Laughton’s symbolism is vital to know because, without it, the realist effect the film gives disappears, making it not as grim as it is with it.

The defining scene of the film is when the Reverend catches up with the children who have settled in with Mrs. Cooper, a Godly woman who takes in lost children. The Reverend threatens that he will come back to the house after Mrs. Cooper shoos him off with her gun. Later that night, he shows up, and Mrs. Cooper guards her children until Rachal, one of the children, comes down with a light, and the Reverend disappears from the front. Mrs. Cooper takes the children into the kitchen to guard them due to the unknown location of the Reverend. The scene starts as the clock strikes 3, the camera faces the dining room in a medium-wide shot, and the Reverend’s shadow passes on the left side of the shot then ducks down. In a medium-full shot the group reacts, and Mrs. Cooper lifts her gun as she tells the children to run, and they exit up the stairs. A knee level medium close-up shot shows the children going up the stairs and a cat running down. A medium close-up shows Mrs. Cooper staring into the doorway, asking the Reverend why he wants the children. A medium-full shot shows an empty dining room as the Reverend speaks from a hidden area, then the cat from before screeches and the Reverend pops up into the shot. Mrs. Cooper immediately fires her gun in a side angle cowboy shot and reacts in horror as the Reverend yelps in pain and runs into the barn in a deep focus full shot. The scene ends with the children gathered around Mrs. Cooper as she rings the police. This is one of the most anxiety-filled scenes of the film, throughout the audience is aware of the Reverend’s location and motives. At this scene, the audience has the same amount of knowledge as Mrs. Cooper, barely any. This scene gives the audience a sigh of relief because the evil has finally been taken down, and the innocent are safe for now. Mazur makes an excellent point in his article that this film is so broad in its scenes that many are left up to interpretation; “Part of the slippery allure of The Night of the Hunter is that it can be read in so many ways, possessing layer after layer of perfectly placed influences…” (Mazur). This film’s use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and camera angles is what makes it just as entertaining and terrifying today as it was back when it first came out.

Overall, both films do excellent jobs getting the overriding theme across through the use of camera angles, shots, and movements, symbolism, and elements of different film styles. Jeremiah Johnson excelled at exploring the theme of survival in the West through the use of cinematography shots that set the mood for how hard it is to survive the vast Wild West. Simples scenes like Jeremiah struggling to start a fire or trying to hunt help the audience clarify the theme and feel as though they are apart of his adventure. While Night of the Hunter shined in the use of creative shots similar to the expressionist movement; these shots created a feeling of mystery and horror. The theme of a good vs evil was relevant through the Reverend and the children who were always chased by the man with evil motives. The use of symbolism in the river scene as well as the final scenes with Mrs. Cooper adds the extra layer of story to identify the theme. I chose to compare both of these films because of the broad differences use of camera work, style, and overall theme. Viewing both films helped me see how visuals are one of the most essential parts in understanding the theme in a film.