JACOB'S LADDER

Jacob is a Vietnam veteran, like many in his situation, the experience of war has traumatized him. Often he is assailed by terrible nightmares in which he sees monstrous beings, similar to demons, that chase him to kill him; his life has become unbearable and his relationships with others unsustainable. He comes into contact with his former comrades-in-arms and discovers that they also have the same problems. What are these terrible hallucinations due to? Jacob will soon discover that he, along with his comrades, was the guinea pig for a military experiment: to make them more aggressive, they were given a special drug, without imagining the consequences they would face... Written by Bruce Joel Rubin and based on a true fact - moreover always officially denied by the Pentagon - this "Perversion" is undoubtedly the most original and unsettling film by English director Adrian Lyne (made famous by films like "Nine Weeks and a Half" and "Flashdance"). It is a psychological thriller with dreamlike and fantastic elements, forays into horror and anti-militarist polemics, a film almost impossible to categorize given the many themes addressed and the styles used, so varied that it would be embarrassing to have to choose a single film genre to label it. The protagonist is an inspired and effective Tim Robbins, who probably delivers the best performance of his career. Special mention should be made of the thriller and horror scenes: this film features some of the most terrifying, breathtaking and profound visions ever to have passed through cinema. The fact that they are contained in a non-horror plot contributes to giving them even more prominence; just to name a couple: the sequence in which poor Jacob (Tim Robbins) imagines being taken to the basements of a mysterious hospital, where he encounters curiosities of all kinds (deformed beings, dismembered and tortured bodies, etc...) or the initial scene of the spirits in the train. A film in some ways unforgettable and therefore absolutely recommended!