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AN OCCURRENCE AT OWL CREEK BRIDGE (1962)

(La Rivière du hibou)

A film review by Jeff Johnson

Director: Robert Enrico

Cast: Roger Jacquet, Anne Cornaly, Anker Larsen, Stéphane Fey, Jacques-Françoise Zeller, Pierre Danny, Louis Adelin

Everything is about time:
The time it takes to show up at your grave.
The time it takes to get from here to there.
The time it takes to put the tape in the VCR and sit back down again.

The time it takes to dream of a glamorous escape from whatever dooming gallows you might be under.
The time it takes to read this review.

It's 6:20PM.

Anyone who has ever made, seen, discussed or reviewed films (with the exception of the Lumiere Bros., Edison & Melies) has a certain film that opened their eyes to the magic of the celluloid moving picture. A certain film that touched them in all the right places. So special as to leave you wanting more or forever searching for something similar. A film that burrows itself neat and deep into your skin; That shot that will never leave your minds eye, that line that whispers to you when you're drunk, that ending that is still a surprise after all the time that's passed.

I first saw the classic short film An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge in a High School English class. The film is the adaptation of a short story by Ambrose Bierce, one of the many stories he wrote concerning the American Civil War. At the time, watching the film seemed like nothing more than an escape from classroom confinement. Yet, by the end of the film I had felt something click in me, something creative and delicious, something that I didn't fully understand but needed to explore further; like my first light-headed long kiss.

All 30 minutes (1800 seconds) of An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge turned my expectations inside and out with a whiplash of storytelling and simplicity. It took my idea of film (to that point in time quite limited) and dumped cold water on it. Showing me that the conventions of storytelling, of film, of time itself were there to be played with, perceived with suspicion and lived under only if all else failed. While by no means the first story or film to offer up such an idea, it was the first knock on the head for me.

Directed by the late Robert Enrico, An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge was released in 1962, eventually winning the Academy Award for short film and the Palme d'Or at the Cannes film festival. Yet its first showing to American audiences came a few years later as a part of Rod Serling's Twilight Zone television show. The film tells the story of a Confederate soldier, played with terrific intensity and enchantment by Roger Jacquet, who is about to be hanged at dawn from a train trestle for treason. When the rope breaks he is thrust into the river below where he slips out of his constraints and makes an escape, via swimming and on foot, amid a fury of bullets and cannon balls.

Once in the clear, he finds himself near his sun-drenched, lazy day, weepy-willow plantation and thus a lovely woman.

We assume this is his wife for he had ventured a daydream of her while the noose was still around his neck. When he sees her he runs toward her at full speed, the first time he is running with excitement instead of fear, when he reaches her he finds...

The ending of the film is constructed as a surprise so I can't tell you what happens. However, if you've already seen it, well then you know.

Jean Bofferty's crystalline cinematography pin-points the details of the soldiers unease, fright and desperation. While Henri Lanoe's music remains hauntingly uplifting. Yet, it is Enrico's simple direction that seems to echo so strongly after all of this time. For, this film (which is virtually without dialogue but for a few words) offers viewers and film-makers alike something that is so often missing in today's films; a clear, concise story wrapped in a composition of striking images beating in time.

I highly recommend viewing An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge or whatever film it was that first moved you to revel in your initial feelings and interest in the movies. Take the 2 hours, hour or 30 minutes out of your time and enjoy the trip. For, no matter what the time you're at in your life, or the time of day, sometimes it's nice to go back and relive your first time...However long it lasted.

It's 6:20PM.

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge is available on video. However, it may be difficult to find - check video stores with wider selections in foreign and short films or your city library.

JEFF JOHNSON – 24 January 2002