Jacob's Ladder

A MAN'S PRIVATE PURGATORIUM.

Vietnam veteran Jacob (Tim Robbins) is a tormented soul. Memories of his dead son and traumatic experiences during the war increasingly occupy his waking hours. And at night, the nightmares come. The feeling that someone is after him and the other members of his old battalion grows stronger. Is he losing his grip on reality, or are the demons and visions that intrude more real than his job as a mail carrier and snow shoveler on the streets of New York?

Director Adrian Lyne, who after his breakthrough with Flashdance is perhaps best known for the infidelity thriller Fatal Attraction gives us a multifaceted and visually complete film that has aged with dignity in the years since its premiere. The image of the big city as a circle of hell we get in Jacob's Ladder became something of a recurring theme in the darker thrillers of the 90s such as See7en and Dark City . The discussion surrounding the many possible interpretations of the ending of Lyne's film continues to this day.

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Extra material:
– Documentary: Jacob's Ladder – A Vision by Adrian Lyne & Bruce Joel Rubin – 25min
– Short documentary – 2min
– Original movie trailer
– Enjoy movie trailers

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“ Absolutely mind-blowing ” – Empire Magazine

“ Lyne is at her best in her suggestive use of seemingly mundane images. Like a pair of tights hung over a shower curtain or a horrible piece of meat in someone’s fridge ” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times

“ The most intrusive nightmares are the ones that wake you up breathless and completely disoriented ” – The Ringer

“ One of Robbins’ best and underappreciated performances. Plus a slew of supporting roles by then-unknowns like Eriq LaSalle, Ving Rhames, Jason Alexander, Pruitt Taylor Vince and Macaulay Culkin ” – The Austin Chronicle