The short story, “An Incident at Owl’s Creek Bridge,” also known as “An Occurrence at Owls Creek Bridge” by Ambrose Bierce, published in 1891 in the collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians was adapted into French film by Robert Eurico in 1962. The film adds to the beauty of the short story, though it had dropped out the sequence from the story that describes details of the protagonist. Noted for its unusual time sequence and twisted ending, the short story and the film, stand aesthetically unmatched.

“An Incident at Owl’s Creek Bridge” is a wonderful film in the sense that it makes the audience feel the tension and trauma of the character sentenced to death. It is an elaboration upon a man’s hope against hope even at the final moment of his execution.

His illusion of escaping the execution is shown in such a manner that it appears to be as if in a dream. The violent beating of drums beat upon the viewer’s mind. Thus, the tension is made felt to them. His escape from the ties, under the water seems miraculous. His suffocation and the final gasp of relief are equally made felt to the viewers.

The tireless swimming and running shows how intense his desire for life is. The intermingling of the slow and fast camera movements, his fictitious escape, his gasping, the amalgam of fear and hope in his eyes, his inexhaustible energy that helps him run, all combine to give stature to these shots that makes it worth calling surreal. The viewers are made to hope with him and fear with him. His joy at reaching a land and the way he adores the beauty of the tiniest of flowers shows the relived man.

The introduction of his wife and children provides a backdrop of fantasy. It shows the preoccupation of the man’s mind – his hope, his sole preoccupation. Eventually, when he is shown as meeting his wife, the setting is purely “more than real” with the slow-paced scenes, close-ups, a gasp of contention – all forming a dream-like sequence. The validity of which is knocked upon with the sudden shift of scene. The background music suddenly stops and a deadly silence is established. This brings the audience back to reality and makes it clear that all the preceding events were the illusions of a mind yearning to live more than fearing death.

The view of the audience is directed towards the criminal who is hanged and the tensions in his mind. Thus, the audience is made aware of the fact that “drowning is not so pitiful as the attempts made to rise.”(Emily Dickinson) It is his mental attempt at a vain escape, which deepens his sorrow. The last scene leaves the audience very disturbed, while the whole world is shown unaffected: the guards resuming their duty.

The film makes the audience empathise with the tensions of a man when he has to stand face to face with death. For everyone else, it is just insignificant. The film is notable for its cathartic effect. In terms of filmic vocabulary, the film remains a Classic.

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