Expressive movement unit 4

In concordance with the silhouette shot, a good-sized group of the characters known to the viewer are standing at the railing. They are looking out to sea or (it is implied) in the direction of the burial we have just seen. They seem to be floundering, sobered, thoughtful. One is holding his helmet in his hand, two seem to have their hands folded. Two soldiers leave the group, creating a gap into which Stryker can stride. A zoom in heightens the effect of bringing Stryker closer to the group. Stryker reports on the death of Hellenopolis and the survival of other missed soldiers, bringing the theme from the documentary burial to the group of protagonists. On the soundtrack, a trumpet can be heard blowing the official signal of mourning, “Taps.” While all the others turn to look at Stryker, Thomas continues to stare at the ocean; he bends his head down, because of the context his hands seem to be folded in prayer. When he again raises his head, he blinks a couple of times and looks straight ahead without focusing. Stryker sends everybody under deck to get cleaned up and again embody the model image of Marines. Thomas needs to be asked separately, whereby the camera tracks in showing Thomas and Stryker in one shot. Taps ends. While Stryker stares out to sea in a similar posture as previously held by Thomas, Thomas halts his movement, turns and opens his mouth, stares once again into off screen and closes his mouth. Just in this moment Stryker turns to the side and calls the narrator Dunne to him (at this point the music changes to a heavy timbre). Thomas has missed the opportunity to say something to Stryker. Stryker speaks to his subordinate: “I got a couple of bottles of sake in my gear. Give it to the squad. Tell them you got it off a dead Nip.” He repeats the expression “got it off a dead Nip” to stress that there is a reason for this. A personal gift is transformed into supposed spoils of war in order to, figuratively speaking, allow the experience of the Japanese enemy, almost never visible in the film. This symbol of the consumption of the enemy is utilized to again awaken the Marines’ fighting spirit. A close up of Stryker’s face follows (ca. 10 sec.): It shows ambivalence, there is space for the viewers to add meaning to it, sometimes hate of the Japanese, sometimes reflection on his own action, sometimes mourning.