Owl Creek Bridge Evaluation

An Evaluation of “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” The film “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” written by Ambrose Bierce and then directed by Robert Enrico is a French masterpiece of a psychological thriller that contains a fair amount of drama, mystery, and tragedy. It was a successful film and with numerous shifts of emotions, this film is an example of one with great storytelling, acting, and cinematography to mold it into a successful short film. To begin with, the most generic yet still very important piece to this film is the storytelling with the interesting plot and structure. In order to get a good understanding of the film, it is a good idea to divide it into three sections. The first section begins with an external reality …show more content…
This film is a very unique one with minimal speech or dialogue. This means that the acting has to be very professional and done very well to be able to build up a character and their background. The acting by the Farquhar is performed very well. He does a good job of showing a lot of fear in his eyes and facial expressions while waiting to be hanged and even sheds tears when thinking about his wife causing a connection between the audience and the character. The officers or soldiers also do a great job of acting like a real soldier by showing no remorse or sympathy towards their target with their facial expressions and professional emulation of real soldiers in that kind of situation. Then, when Farquhar is free and reaches the land, he is struck with happiness and bursts into laughter and does not stop smiling to build his character as well. As he escapes, he shows a build up of fatigue and with the help of some dramatic intense music and he runs and acts with a face of desperation all the way up until he reaches his wife’s …show more content…
The very first thing that is noticed is the use of black and white film. It adds a lot to the mood and tone and helps the audience get a better understanding of the setting and it is very unique overall. The shots, angles, and point of views in the film are also done very well. One scene in particular in the beginning, there is a first-person point of view of Farquhar as he looks down at his shoes to show the audience what he is seeing. There is another shot like this but instead it is a shot where the soldier creates the noose and the camera looks up to him from below, causing the soldier to look powerful and seem to have more authority. Another thing that is very noticeable and strangely effective is some of the imagery. There are multiple shots of the weather, which turns out to be very nice. The sun is shining and you can hear the birds singing which is a very unusual setting for a hanging of a man and this foreshadows something abnormal will happen. There are also some outstanding close-ups that are captured. The most effective one was when the camera closes in on Farquhar’s face and shows him crying after getting the noose placed around his neck and the thought of his wife. This causes the audience to have an empathetic connection to Farquhar very early in the film, which proves to be important in getting a greater reaction form the audience. There is also the shot of the