Becca Hornick-The Jacket

The Jacket was a good film. It had me at the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. It wasn’t a movie that I could just predict everything that was going to happen I was actually right along with the characters wondering how Jack died, and why he was put in the “box”, and why he could see the future while he was in there, and if the future was actually happening or not. The movie was intriguing in many ways, even the scene where Jack is walking down the road alone; I wanted to know why he was alone, where he was going, and I knew that something was going to happen and I wanted to know what that something was going to be. The cover of the movie made a me a little hesitant to watch it because it looked like one of those creepy, awful to people kind of movies, but I am really glad I watched it. My favorite scene was when the doctor took Jack to see the little girl and the mom. The part that really touched me was when he was leaving and he said goodbye to Jackie. The way he looked at her with the unconditional love of a man fully devoted was amazing. Even though she was still only a child it pained him to know the love they would have shared together, and the final look and touch he gave her was innocent and beautiful. It really moved me, because it was a look of pain, love, self sacrifice, and fear of what he would be losing all wrapped up in one final glance. I also found it interesting that the name of the movie was The Jacket, and the two main characters names were Jack and Jackie. Obviously on purpose, but why, I am not sure. I imagine it has something to do with the fact that the jacket they put him in while he was in the box was as big a part as the main characters. The jacket changed lives just like Jack and Jackie did, because without the jacket Jack wouldn’t have been so able to stay calm, because he was restricted by the jacket keeping him still. I feel like had he been able to flail about in the box he would have never been able to calm himself down and see the visions he started seeing.
The movie had some philosophical and ethical undertones that posed some really good questions. One being the way Jack was treated by the doctor. Was that torture or actually helpful? I feel like it was both. It was unethical what the doctor was doing which is why it was done in secret at night, but in a way it helped change the life of the girl Jack loved. So I would call that a catch 22 situation. Also the notion of time travel is one of the oldest asked questions and unsolved mystery. Were Jack’s visions real, or were they just a made up universe to help him escape from his memories of the war? Either way in the end we are lead to believe that Jack changes the relationship between Jackie and her mother for the better, which seems to be the thing he wanted to accomplish in the end anyhow. In the end to me it seemed like the movie had a kind of “everything happens for a reason” feel to it; because even though he was searching for the answer to why he dies, he still dies in the end but saves a life of a mother and a daughter, so it seems he was meant to save the life of one while losing his own.