Expressive movement unit 1

This unit introduces the theme of fearful expectation by connecting two spaces and anticipating their collision. This expectation is generated by the interplay of music and the rhythm of the editing of the two spaces, which are designed differently on the photographic level in terms of camera range and shot variations as well as types of movement and contraction within the frame.

Acoustic horror, a shimmering Fata Morgana soundscape and midnight bells, form a synesthetic unit with the unmoving long shot of the jungle, the background of which is a chaotic plane of light and dark shadows. In the next shots, individual figures break out of the background and move towards the foreground—emphasized by a clear, simultaneous pause shortly before the end of the third shot of the jungle. The increasing distinctness of the figures is manifested in the main by reverse shots of Sailor and his reactions—pausing, the questioning way he tilts his head—each underscored by the sound of bells ringing.

After the Japanese in the jungle become clearly visible, another space is created by the Americans: the characters gather together and form one line, seeking protection in the closeness of body on body. The bottom half of the frame is filled by dark sand sacks and all extension upwards is avoided. The flat contraction of the depth of field in the shots of the approaching enemy is answered by the linear or punctual contraction of the group. In their alternation, both spaces now shape the expectation of collision, underscored by a slight change in the music.

In the shots that follow, the soldiers are separated in close-ups without spatial depth, the background and the barrels of the guns are unfocused. Their softness is in contrast to the sharply focused forest—this generates on the one hand a contrast between visibility and concealment and on the other hand a transfer and isomorphism of the movements of the soldiers’ facial expressions and the movements in the jungle.

Shortening the time before the long shots of the forest that follow increases the feeling of coming nearer while the identical length of the jungle shots creates a feeling of eerie sameness and composure. This is in contrast with the increased frequency of the close-ups of the members of the group. Their facial expressions and gestures create a specific rhythm and shape the expectation of the collision of these opposing spaces. The close-ups themselves are distributed unequally, so that every expression of the individual group members refers back to the Sergeant; either he is shown in a reverse shot or his orders (and he himself) are connected to their facial expressions. The slowing down created by the orders, a temporal extension mirroring intolerable heteronomy experienced by each individual, heightens the facial expectation of collision as growing fear of the movement in the jungle shots. Fear and expectation reach their end and peak as—parallel to the Sergeant’s “Alright, on the count...” the music stops and radical silence accompanies his countdown.