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Can anyone explain the supernatural element of this film?

posted 9 years ago by SmokeAndMirrors11
9 replies | jump to latest

There a scene towards the end where Mickey Rourke tells Luke Goss that his court martial papers mysteriously disappeared, which I found very unnerving.

Honestly, I couldn't sleep properly that night and it gave the film a very spooky feel, to think that there were elements of supernatural forces at work behind the whole thing.

What was behind the mysterious disappearance of the court martial papers? Had Luke Goss's character been dabbling in the black arts in order to survive the campaign but the trade off was that the spirits would take his court martial papers after it was over? Like some Mephistophelean arrangement?

That one line really put the chills up me. I was going to give this film one star before that, but the paranormal sub-plot elevated it to two stars.

[–] aholejones 9 years ago

Honestly that scene where Mickey Rourke tells Goss that his military court martial papers have mysteriously disappeared sent chills up my spine. It made me realize that this was not in fact a simple war film like I had thought, but more of a multifaceted psychological thrillers. One might say there are several layers of consciusness in this film; the subliminal, liminal and superliminal. I think the director purposefully left a lot in this film open to interpretation, but after I discussed this film with other War pigs aficionados, I came to interpret this film in a way that Goss and the other characters in this film are actually dead and what we are looking at is in fact their journey towards catharsis and salvation.

[–] SmokeAndMirrors11 9 years ago

They were...they were already...dead? They WERE already dead!

That is something special right there that this group of thespians and artists have collaborated on to bring us, and I'm not even just saying that.

That's like something from Hollywood's Golden Age, as if Sunset Boulevard had never been written but Adam Emerson and Andrew Kightlinger saw fit to germinate the idea and set it in the middle of our greatest generation's last stand against the beleaguered relics of the Axis.

They were already dead. Messers Little, Emerson and Kightlinger, put on your Ray Ban Wayfarers and proceed straight to the Dolby Theatre because you are getting awards! All of you! One each! Maybe more!

And here I was thinking Ryan Little just churned out endless poorly colour corrected WW2 flicks starring gis-a-job actors with some basic props and fourth hand uniforms that he stored at the back of his woodshed.

They were already dead. There were never any court martial papers, for in truth, there lives had already suffered the ultimate court martial. And here's me can barely type through the tears. 'Fore some gave all...fore some gave all.

[–] aholejones 9 years ago

There are things you only pick up on your second viewing, or, in my case, the ninth viewing. A viewer with a keen eye will realize that the opening battle with Luke Goss and Chuck Liddell and their team is not actually a battle for an insignificant piece of land, but a battle of their souls. The whole film is a metaphor for a triumph of free will and soul over the metaphysical constraints of time and space. In essence the film is a journey depicting the story of the souls of Goss and his team. A realization happens after several repeated viewings that one is actually watching a complex re-imaging of Dante's inferno with seven layers of hell, and that the opening battle, is actually a battle out of the outermost layer of hell. When one realizes this fact, the opening battle and whole film becomes all the more emotional. Goss didn't just lose the physical body of Chuck Liddell, but he lost his soul. When you realize this, you will understand how beautiful the ending scene is where Goss salutes Liddell's grave. He is, in essence, on the verge of ascension, and is saying farewell to the soul of a friend. I just couldn't hold my tears when I saw that scene.

[–] swatsonatepies 9 years ago

The lost papers signified his loss of innocence - a court martial would give tangibility to his existence but now he is in eternal limbo - will the papers resurface? We can only hope that the inevitable sequel addresses this and other points.

* The flimsy cross and undisturbed field that stood in for his friend's grave suggests he is not dead and perhaps lost in the void, like the court martial papers.

* The German interrogator who demands to know the purpose of the mission under the shadow of the biggest artillery piece in the Wehrmacht shows the childhood innocence lost to all apart from the deadly War Pigs.

* The War Pigs themselves, the self styled deadliest troops in the army, getting captured on their first day out - surely a searing indictment against military cutbacks and poor training?

One to marvel over for the rest of time!

[–] gilwood 9 years ago

You guys are hilarious! This thread was like 10x more entertaining than the movie itself.

[–] SmokeAndMirrors11 9 years ago

Hilarious?! Good god, man, this film is no Jerry Lewis madcap romp.

I must have watched this upwards of forty times in the last few days and like the protagonists of Poe and Lovecraft, sir, I feel my very sanity slipping.

Why, not more than half an hour ago I made a terrible discovery which lends credence to the very notions only theorised above. The discussion of the court martial papers has a hidden key, only open to the keenest listener but after hearing it, any doubts you may have will swiftly vanish like hope leaving a drowning man.

After Rourke brings down the metaphysical hammer upon Goss and confesses his court martial papers are no more, Goss questions the truth with disbelief. Then Rourke, in either a poor attempt to calm Goss or a sinister mockery of his innocence in matters arcane, intones "You bet your bottom, soldier."

And then, all jokes aside, one can quite hearly hear the gaggle of spirits laughing from the netherworlds. Quite clearly, if one turns the soundtrack up to a higher level of decibels.

This is no jolly jest or caper, friends, nor is this some online tomfoolery I've dreamt up. This is fact. Like Nixon and the Watergaters, the audio does not lie.

These disembodied souls treat the newly promoted Goss as a plaything and laugh in the face of his confusion over the missing court martial papers. I don't think this was scripted. I really don't.

Something is horribly wrong here.

[–] sized-2 8 years ago

It's obvious you live where pot is available in mass quantities.

[–] elgaspo 8 years ago

I must have watched this upwards of forty times in the last few days and like the protagonists of Poe and Lovecraft, sir, I feel my very sanity slipping.

Ha! Good 'un!

Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and I'll have my wife's brother arrested.

[–] marcosmalo 8 years ago

No sir, this film is not a madcap romp. It's a chilling narrative of the horrors of war, on par with Shaving Private Ryan or Apocalypse Now! (with a little Paths of Glory and Galipoli thrown in for good measure).

We're just having a good laugh, having survived the extremely realistic experience of watching actors struggle with a mediocre script BEHIND ENEMY LINES – which is itself both a play on words (script, lines, get it?) and an even deeper metaphor.

Allow me to explain: the movie has even deeper levels than the ones already discussed. The metametametaphor is a movie about a movie. That is to say, the squad represents a low budget movie crew, specifically the Grip Department. Goss's character represents the Key Grip. The sergeant that gets killed early on is his Best Boy. Dolph Lundgren is the replacement Best Boy. The Colonel is the Director of Photography. And the squad represents a bunch of recent film school grads that think they're experienced because they've worked on a few music videos and maybe an infomercial.

I believe the madness of low budget filmmaking is what is really torturing your mind. It's triggering my PTSD, that's for sure.

Great effin' thread guys. Y'all gave me an even deeper appreciation.