The Jacket (2005, DVD)

The Jacket snuck up on me, and I didn't even realize it was in theaters soon, until the day before I saw it. The promotion for the film was lacking in just about every facet, and with two other films taking away air time, it suddenly appeared in my local theater. I knew when I saw its first preview though, that this would be a movie I would need to see. It looked a little dark in the trailers, and being a fan of films like Se7en, Saw, and the Hanibal trilogy, this one became a must see for me. The Jacket looked to be a thriller of the mind, and not relying on special effects to tell a deep story, my appetite had been wetted from my first glimpse of. That being said, I was setting myself up for sure disaster, if the film didn't turn out to be everything I wanted. But, in the end, the film DID live up to everything that I had wanted.

Adrian Brody plays the lead role, as Jack Starts who has been admitted to a psychiatric ward in rural Vermont. He is an ex-Marine, who believes he has died before, and stumbles into a situation with which he loses all control. Finding his lack of memories to be a sign of guilt, he is put into the psychiatric facility in order to try and "fix" him. Deeming him crazy from the get-go, the facility distances itself from what he has to say, and instead be content to think that anything uttered is simply a delusion. This is of course what we all fear, that moment where nobody else understands us, or believes what we have to say. Though it?s not something most people like to talk about, the fear of not being accepted can be a vicious thing indeed. Being stuck in that situation, can actually turn a sane person crazy, and it is up to the audience to decide what is going on here.

Two doctors are in control of Starks fate now, and they have much different ideas on what will make him "better." Kris Kristofferson plays Dr. Becker, who has found that a form of treatment described as "taking them back to the womb", will be the basis for Starks salvation. His ideas are not based in reality, but rather on his belief that he is doing this for his patients, so it must be okay. The treatment involves a sort-of deprivation chamber in which Starks is put into a straight-jacket, placed on a slab, and slid into an open morgue slot. This seems pretty machob when you think about it, and it brings to mind more fears that people have: dark places, the inability to breathe, and simply the location of this treatment. Injected with a drug, Starks begins to see things that nobody can explain, including himself. He is haunted by visions of more than just his past, and he goes on a mental quest to figure out what they all mean.

It is in those visions, that Starks comes across a girl from his past, played by Keira Knightley with a dark passion. Both characters play well off of each other, and it is a treat to watch how they perform on the screen. Knightley and Brody are great in these roles, and the audience is taken on a trip that involves the darkest recesses of Starks's mind. The Director does a great job of weaving storylines into both character's lives, and through intense sequences, and vivid flash-backs, all of the blanks are filled in for us. The story itself is quite dark, but while you are in the midst of it, it seems more a struggle of the mind, than what is actually taking place in the lives of the characters.

The film does a lot to build up its plot, fill out its story lines, and to develop the personalities of its main characters. I would have liked some of the supporting roles to be explored a little more, but in the end I was very happy with the result presented in front of me. In a smaller role for her, Jennifer Jason Leigh plays the other doctor working with Sparks, and she is quite believable as someone new to this type of work, who is just starting to feel her way. Brody is extremely good in his role, and with Knightley bringing an uncharacteristically great dramatic presence to the film, and incurs a sympathy for everything about her character. The story weaves in and out of dramatic moments, and is often making the audience think about where the next scene will lead. Those are my favorite types of films, and it is one of the main reasons I highly recommend this film. In the time of season revolving around horror and comedy, this is a great presentation on film, and made me enjoy a Saturday night at the movies.