A Constant Flashback

A Constant Flashback

The movie presentation of Slaughterhouse Five is a film that I think represents the novel well. Initially, the director chooses to bounce around in Billy Pilgrim’s memory for a few short periods of his life. We are essentially time traveling with Billy as his mind goes back to specific events in his lifetime; this is something a tad difficult to understand at first. Although the movie jumps between memories more often than the novel does, the movie still does a proper job of including Billy’s experiences. Each vivid memory is depicted well in this movie by the director’s careful choice of actors and scene display. The director remains consistent in the tools he uses which creates a coherent feel to the movie. For example, the repetitiveness of Billy saying ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ in German when he feels unsafe or scared gives the audience a vivid image of the American soldiers outside Slaughterhouse Five and learning how to say it in German as their safe word. Although the scenes jump around quickly to different events, the director carefully chooses how he will transition into another important memory.
One scene in particular sticks in my mind and I feel it was displayed really well. The American troops are on the train to Dresden and Billy is chatting with Edgar who is writing a letter to his family. Edgar writes hopeful words to his loved ones about Dresden and how safe of a city it is that they’re entering. The troops set foot out of the train all together and immediately see what a beautiful city it is. As the audience, we witness this troop of brave men tour the city of Dresden as cheerful, welcoming music plays. We see from overhead that they’re enjoying the city and almost look relieved because they feel they’re safe here. The men stop, the music stops and Billy Pilgrim is slapped back to another memory that is his true reality. This is a defining scene for me because it represents how these men never felt safe for long while they were touring at war. Billy, still, is not safe for long as his mind is constantly traveling back to memories of good and bad things. So, although this scene very well represents the American soldiers’ time spent at war, it also depicts Billy’s overall life from then on. The happy music and memories will only play for so long, and then all of a sudden he’ll be slapped back to his present reality or one of a bad memory.
The choppiness of the film is initially distracting, but then the audience comes to understand this is the overarching theme of the movie and novel. Billy Pilgrim’s mind is a constant time-traveling machine that can’t escape from his memories at war. We learn so much of Billy’s life through his most pleasant and unpleasant memories displayed. The director of this film, I believe, represents what the author of Slaughterhouse Five intended in writing the novel.