Anne Zagursky-The Jacket

Scapegoats and Spiritual Journeys

In the film, The Jacket, we find a man who returned from the Gulf War struggling to understand or deal with the pain and destruction he faced there. He had many flashback and even blacked out because of the memories. He helps a woman and her child on the side of the road and hitches a ride with a stranger. The driver ends up being a criminal who gunned down a police officer. The driver escapes and the man is, who was knocked out by the driver, is arrested for the crime. He can't remember anything and they find him to be mentally insane. He is put into an asylum and is soon subjected to many strange tests and experiments by the doctors. They take him downstairs to the mortuary and put him in a straight jacket and then put him into a body drawer. He is forced to lie there and allow him imagination to take over. At first he is very distraught and frantic, but soon he find solice in the jacket. This jacket allows him to go into the future in his mind and deal with the people and things and have put him in this place or are in some way part of his life. He ends up meeting the girl that he had met on the side of the road. He uses her to find out more information about the doctors, nurses, and his own life and death. He uses his gift, much like Phil in groundhog day, to help people. At first he wanted to save his own life when he realized he was dead in the future, but soon he just wanted to use his time to fix things for others and give others a better life. In the end, he dies in order to save others. He sacrificed his life so that other people, such as the main doctors and the young girl had better lives.

There were many symbols in the film to help illustrate the sacrifice he was becoming for the others. For instance, much of the film is set in the winter and the skies are filled with clouds and darkness. this symbolizes the death waiting for him and yet it at points gave glimmers of hope for the spring. Hope that the others would have after he passes through his spiritual quest and made the ultimate sacrifice. Also, he was brought to the morgue, but the doctor called it a womb. Both death and life were present. He was reborn into a man of sacrifice in the "womb" but that is also where he would once again die. Death and life were very important in the movie and helped show how important sacrifice is.

In the Bible and many other religious texts and stories, we find people who did the same kinds of things. Jesus is a prime example of a man who took a spiritual journey and soon sacrificed himself for the people. Like the man in the movie, Jesus faces oreals that would test his endurance, mental capacity, and faith. He went through his rituals and actions in order to be the mediator or the scapegoat for people.

The spiritaul journey teaches people many things and gives those questing visions and premonitions. Usually they go into it needing answers about a problem or needing understanding about something in life. The answer or cure comes after the person finishes the journey. Either that person will come back and tell of their new-found lessons or if they are the sacrifice, the answer or cure is that death. I think ever person has spiritual journeys but many times we don't realize that is what they are. We don't look at our pain as a step toward an answer but merely as a burden. Pain it's necessary for growth. Our spiritual journeys lead us through these pains and other outward acts because we seek an answer. But the journey that Jesus and the man in the movie took was on behalf of the people. It was to save them from something horrible. The saviors are necessary in life because we can't always do it all on our own.