When it comes to choosing whether or not to read the text along with the film, most would recommend reading the story first for “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge”. While the film had a mostly accurate portrayal of the story, one would need to read the text for the entire account. Although, the main character was believable as he made the reader or viewer sympathetic towards him. With flashbacks to his family, one could almost be empathetic with thoughts of losing someone. The use of camera angles was very effective.
During the grand escape, they shot a majority of the shots at a high angle to show how helpless he was, at the mercy of the river. At times, the music could be a bit distraction. For example, when he first escaped, they played the song “Livin’ Man” and it was a bit strange. But at other times, the music helped to add intensity or emotion to the scenes when words could not. The film version of the story did a decent job of showing the main theme but left out a few key details. For instance, the film does not tell us how the main character, Farquhar, gets into the situation he is in. He is about to be hanged for unknown reasons.
Also, the film is repetitive and some would say that being so recurring would cause the viewer to lose attention. Overall, the lack of color, while ionic, seemed to enhance the mood of the film by making it seem more ominous. It also could make one more attentive to the setting and what it consisted of rather than the color. The general theme of time was well demonstrated throughout his escape. It makes one feel like all of the elaborate escape is happening over hours of time when in fact, it is only a matter of seconds. The text version was able to add some more description to Farquhar’s character.
We learn how he got into the situation of being hanged. “Peyton Farquhar was a well to do planter, of an old and highly respected Alabama family. Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. ” This explains that Farquhar is a slave owner and would do anything to help out the South during the Civil war. All throughout the text, the author uses descriptive colors to help the reader know the surroundings better. They plant little hints here and there to help you figure out what is reality and what is imagination.
The main theme of time is created in the escape in this version as well. All of his possible plans running through his head right before he dies. All in all, should one have the choice of reading the text of this story along with the film, it should be taken. Though the text and the film both show the theme as time very well, some things are very different. In the film, there are things such as the music and camera angles to tell us the story. While in the text, there is the background and thoughts of the main character to tell us the emotions.
