"No one wants to know about conspiracy any more!"

Yesterday in film class we watched Brian de Palma’s 1981 film Blow Out. In this thrill ride, the main character, Jack Terry (played by John Travolta), is a sound editor for some low budget films. While capturing “real” sound outside one night, he records the sounds of a car crash. After the car crashes into the river, he saves the girl in the car, Sally (played by Nancy Allen), and finds out later that the driver of the car was a famous politician. The sound he recorded that night ends up being more valuable than he could have ever imagined. What Jack accidentally caught turned out to be the proof that this politician’s car “accident” was actually a murder. This crazy twist turns out to lead Jack and Sally down a ride full of danger.

This film was much different than the movies we’ve watched so far in class. We began with movies made during a time where modesty was in style. Then suddenly, we are thrust into the 1980’s where things have certainly taken a turn in the other direction. From the initial scenes of nudity to the world full of lies the characters live in, things have definitely changed.

One main difference I noticed about this film as compared to Singin’ in the Rain was the flatness of the colors on screen. Everything seemed dull and dingy rather than bright and happy. Blow Out just screamed “dirty” to me throughout the entire film. It seemed like a low budget movie with a low amount of quality. If it weren’t for the fact that I’ve learned about film techniques in class, I would have thrown this movie aside into the “do not like” pile. But, when you actually analyze the film, you can see the greatness and beauty in it all. The director, Brian de Palma, meant to do every single thing seen the on the screen. Nothing was unintentional or by accident. If it looks dirty, it is meant to be dirty. If the transition or backdrop looks fake, it is supposed to look fake. I think it was incredibly brave of de Palma to do this film in the way he did. He didn’t let anyone change his vision, and for that, I applaud him.

One of my favorite scenes in the entire movie is when Jack Terry goes to his sound editing room and discovers that all of his sound has been erased. The camera continuously spins in a circle while Jack paces about, knocking things over and messing with all sorts of tapes. This shot really put things into perspective and made watching this scene particularly enchanting. You couldn’t look away because you didn’t want to miss what was going on in the shot. That shot must have been terribly hard to pull off, but pull it off de Palma did!

The last thing I want to comment on is what this film says about America. I had never really put this idea into thought, but after our class discussion about the film, it all made sense. Blow Out portrays America as one big lie. One conspiracy after the next and the next and the next. A lie to cover up this and another lie to cover up that first lie. It’s all one big puzzle that no one really wants to solve. And unfortunately, this concept has some truth to it. Politics is a horrible game that we like to think of as noble, when really it’s just one big scam after the next. Doesn’t that just make you feel happy? The film Blow Out really pushed me to think outside of the box and I encourage all to watch it. I promise it won’t disappoint!