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First of all i want to say how much i love this film. i love it's complexity and ambiguity. For example at the beginning we are told by the travel guide on the ferry that no one has escaped from Alcatraz and lived to tell the tale. The character Walker is shot several times and left for dead, then we see him climbing a tall wire fence, looking wistfully at San Francisco, then he begins to swim accross the bay. This is the ambiguous nature of the film. Is the central character alive or dead, or possibly a ghost. Throughout the film the character Walker has only one aim nothing else matters, obtaining his money. Is it a fixation, as if he is having a dream? There is a certain amount of violence perpetrated throughout mostly by Walker. Although well staged it appears possibly too controlled, as if in a fantasy. There are also moments of surrealism throughout the film. At the end of the film there is a shot of the characer in which he may be dead. As Edgar Allen Poe stated 'all that we see is but a dream within a dream'. I love films which allow the viewer to make their own judgement about what they are experiencing. The casting of the film is perfect, some excellent character actors playing smaller but important roles. Finally, what an excellent director john boorman is, I also like Excalibur and Deliverance ofcourse. The Emerald Forest was also ahead of it's time, an eco-environmental thriller, set in the Amazon. If you want wierd there is always Zardoz.
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