Mr. O´Brien
English IV
1 February 2013
First Dresden Encounters
Although the movie Slaughterhouse-Five travels a different series of events than the actual book written by Kurt Vonnegut, many scenes stood out to me as very similar to the original writing. The constant changing time periods in Billy Pilgrim´s life throughout the movie made it difficult to perceive which scene correlated with what part of the book. The scene with the American soldiers marching through Dresden for the very first time was portrayed in the movie exactly the way I personally imagined it when I was reading the same scene. I feel this Dresden scene captured the novel well in many regards such as the presence of Billy Pilgrim´s character, the mood and the hidden beauty of the city before its tragic destruction.
Despite the difference between the novel and the movie in the way of which Billy obtained the silver boots and fur lined women´s jacket Billy wore, he showed them off in the same manner in both settings. The movie showed him marching through Dresden next to his two acquaintances, Lazzaro and Derby, the same way he was in the book. What I found the most acclaimed part the movie was able to portray was how Billy was at the head of the group of American soldiers, him being oblivious to how ridiculous he looked in his attire. In the novel, Vonnegut writes ¨Billy Pilgrim was the star. He led the parade” (446). Billy did exactly this in the movie as he curiously observed sites of a city he had never seen before. Just like the reactions of the citizens of Dresden reacted in the book, they all giggled at Billy´s appearance and excitedly watched the American and German soldiers march down the streets of their town. One man in particular had an issue with the foolishness of how Billy looked. In the book, ¨it seemed to him that Billy was in abominable taste, supposed that Billy had gone to a lot of silly trouble to costume himself just so” (447). The movie took a little twist to this insulted character and had him come out of nowhere in disgust and slap Billy. Although there was this difference, a very similar stance was taken that set a similar mood when Pilgrim innocently took the hit and had no idea what the man meant. This characteristic of him and the curious mood within the interactions between Americans and Germans as read in the book was portrayed nicely in the film.
Even though I disliked many of the ways scenes were created in the movie, along with the chronological order of them, this part where the soldiers have their first encounter in Dresden appeared on film just how it did in my mind. As the soldiers´ eyes wander from the eccentric architecture of the city to the many strangers watching them, this movie scene shows just the mood and emotions felt by the soldiers that Vonnegut expressed in the novel. Although I didn't find myself laughing at this supposed ¨Dark Comedy” plot, the image of Billy Pilgrim ¨leading the parade¨ in Dresden with his furry coat and silver boots brought a smile to my face. The movie did an excellent job portraying this scene almost exactly the way it was written in the novel.
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