Much like "Jacob's Ladder", this movie explores that last bit of resistance or fight to avoid death and progress on to the after life. The movie uses the geometry of the surrounding countryside, sound and contrast, to illustrate the emotions and pain of the last instant of life. The movie ends with the opening of a gate to a beautiful plantation representing a returning to home or heaven. The movie is best viewed first then viewed once again after reading the short story "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". My two favorite sequences are when our main character gives up his pocket watch symbolizing a seperation from his earthlyness, and finally the return home through an arched grove of trees leading to a purly gate opening to a plantation.