‘An occurrence at owl creek bridge’ directed by Robert Enrico is a 1962 short film with little to no dialogue. An emotional experience is largely created through a combination of visuals, sounds, music and editing. Throughout the film, we follow only one character’s story. As a viewer, we get deeply involved and engrossed in his story.
The film starts with a drum roll and a close-up slow tilt reveals a notice that we can clearly read - ‘Any civilian caught interfering with the railroad bridges, tunnels or trains will be summarily hanged’, with a date underneath - ‘4th of April, 1862’. This information immediately tells us that the film is going to be about a civilian being hanged. Even though we anticipate it, the director does not immediately show us that. There is a slow-paced buildup before we see our main character. With slow pans through the trees, accompanied with sounds of birds, and bold army calls, we see extreme long shots of the bridge. At this point, we are observing from a distance - we see the army march in unison and hear the loud sounds of their boots striking the wooden bridge. An aerial view through the trees establishes that there is absolutely no one around except the army and the fact that we can hear all the little sounds so distinctly illustrates the silence of the forest.
Finally, from afar we see a civilian being brought by the officers onto the bridge. The array of long shots break with the close up of the protagonist. He is looking down and his facial expressions are enough to tell us that he is the one going to die. We see low angle shots of the unemotional officer preparing the noose, he checks and pulls it multiple times to ensure that the rope is tightly tied. Two officers bring the civilian to be hung and make him stand on a plank protruding outside the bridge. We observe that his life now depends on the person standing on the other end of the plank on the bridge. We again see a close up of him and this time there are sweat beads on his forehead as they untie his tie and put a noose in its place. He looks down and we get to see his POV - the plank is feeble, his legs are trembling and he is on the edge of his death - quite literally. From his POV, we observe the surroundings around him - army officers to his left, one in the center, one to his right, one behind him - there is absolutely no chance he could escape, right? They even tie his legs together. We are shown a cannon that is directly pointed in his direction. These slow-paced pans are building up for the final moment of his life.
There is a beautiful camera pan from the army officer’s shoes standing on one end of the plank to the civilian’s shoes on the other end of the plank, and up to his face. He closes his eyes at this moment and it cuts to another scene. We see happy people - a gorgeous lady dressed in a gown with two children playing around her. We reckon they are his family as we generally tend to remember our close ones in our final or difficult moments. The ambient sounds in the previous scene now change to a ticking sound that seems like a bomb countdown. As the lady gets up and moves closer to the camera, there is a dialogue, ‘Take his watch’, and it cuts back to our character who snaps back to reality. Our hopes are shattered, but now we wish this tragedy does not occur and he gets to meet his family and be happy again. By showing his association with his family, we emotionally connect with this character.
The director shows us extreme close ups of his face - he starts crying and trembling, then extreme close ups of his hands tied behind his back - it is quite tight, there’s no way out. The head officer gestures to the officer standing on the plank to get off. He keeps one foot off the plank and then another and the protagonist falls straight into water instead of hanging. We are taken by surprise, but believe it all because after all, we want him to survive.
We see underwater scenes of him, he hits the water bed and works fast to untie himself, remove his noose, and free his legs. He quickly swims up, and gasps for breath. He looks around in disbelief, but we believe he has survived. A happy music track plays with the lyrics ‘a livin’ man’ and he finally smiles for the first time in the film. As the music continues, we see close up shots of the leaves fluttering, insects, dew drops - all the nature’s beauty that makes us happy. Our man is finally free! Oh, but maybe we were being way too hopeful, because suddenly the music fades out and is replaced by distorted and echoing sounds of the officer commanding his soldiers to attack him. The slow motion visuals add to the drama, suggesting something bad is going to happen - would he die again? We are confused, we don’t know what’s happening. He looks up and sees the officers pointing guns at him, he is pale and freezes. As the officer shoots, he takes off - we follow him as he is swimming. Officers are continuously firing one after another, but he escapes one and all shots - even the cannon fire! After a point we only see him swimming without stopping surrounded by continuous sounds of gunshots. He gets some relief from swimming as he approaches a waterfall and the flow of water does the work for him. Soon, he reaches a shore and we see a close up of his hand grabbing the grainy sand. Through his POV, we see him observing the reflection of the sun on his hand and him feeling the sand. Phew! Another escape! Finally, we feel the drama is over, he crawls on the sand, takes deep breaths and laughs out loud - he’s a happy man. At this point, a happy, summery music track plays again, igniting hope within us. He moves toward a flower to smell it and as he is about to do that, the music slows down and fades away and we hear a loud bang with the director cutting to an extreme long shot of the place. We feel he dies this time but our thoughts are dismissed as we see his figure running in the woods.
He runs fast, and faster, a drum roll plays in the background that matches his running pace. The camera moves along with him running and we get the feeling that we are running with him, almost cheering him along the way. A cannon shot comes his way again, the music stops, but he escapes this one too. He does not give up and continues to run, with the drum roll starting again. He stops, the music stops. He starts, the music starts. It is a long running scene and we are still hoping that he will escape. The running and the music breaks with him falling on the ground with a thud, but he gets back up. Now that he is peacefully walking, we believe he is out of danger.
We see a close up of his face, he is tired and his eyes are almost closing, when suddenly his face brightens up as he looks up. We see a huge gate that automatically opens up for him and he enters inside. What is happening? Surely, there can’t have been automatic gates in the late 1800s’! But it is happening, he goes in and as he is strolling, he looks up to see his own house - the one image he last saw on the edge of his death. A slow piano piece starts playing. Are we believing this? Oh yes, of course we are, we want him to unite with his family - that’s what we were hoping for all throughout. His wife walks out in the same beautiful gown. We are shown a shot of him suddenly running. Then a shot of his wife delighted and walking. These same two shots repeat three times alternatively but they don’t seem to progress towards each other. Almost making us question once again - is it even real? But then, we see them together - they hold each other and have their brief moment when suddenly he falls down and it cuts to him hanging from the bridge.
We stare at the screen in disbelief - so all of it was actually unreal? The happy music, the beautiful scenery, his escape multiple times was all a lie.
The film ends just the way it began. With shots of the forest and then the bridge from an extreme long shot through the trees accompanied with the same drum roll. Who’s next?
So many emotions kindled within us with the interesting cuts, different music at apt points in the film and the entire build up using different magnifications and movements of shots. It was truly a one of a kind cinematic experience.
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