2013's "Prisoners" movie: an occult, esoteric and symbolic smorgasbord.

[TargeT]

Note: I'll try my best not to "spoil" the movie here, but it really got me thinking lastnight and I thought I'd like to see other people's take on the movie.



Of course before you even see a single thing from the movie, we get the image of the labyrinth; the symbol of the inner journey.
http://www.sacredwalk.com/

Labyrinths are featured throughout this movie in various ways, broken labyrinths prevail around one of the "bad guy" figures who has PTSD scarring from earlier situations in his life, he is never shown with a complete labyrinth; which I surmise symbolizes his inner turmoil.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KWhS0xN3C0g

And the story is about child abduction, something we know is a common theme among certain circles of occulted groups; I don't think this needs much expansion.


The first and most blatant symbol shown is of course, the crucifix, this is shown early and often in the movie, as the movie starts with "our lords prayer" and many scenes in the lead characters vehicle show a cross hanging from the rearview mirror, the first scene it is clearly hanging so it can be seen from a rosary (I'd guess) as a "father / son" moment unfolds after the successful harvest of a deer; there is a bit of "survivalist" overtones which will be underscored later in the movie as we find that the lead character is a "prepper".

Obviously the crucifix has many meanings as a symbol, and the use in the movie is very interesting, when thing are going bad later in the movie and the parents are making morally questionable decisions the cross in the lead characters vehicle is shown so that you cannot see the horizontal portion, it simply looks like a line; something that seems clearly on purpose.

The detective that is assigned to this case is heavily symbolized himself, he has a cross tattooed on his left hand, the same hand that he wears a large gold Mason ring on his pinky (which isn't clearly shown until about 1/3 into the movie, but from then on it has several prominently displayed moments.)


Both of these items on the left hand probably mean something as well.

on his right hand every finger has a symbol tatooed on it, but it was only shown clearly a couple of times, I thought I recognized some as perhaps greek charactors, hard to say but also, probably significant.

The main detective has a tattoo on his neck which is never fully shown, but still is very prominent in it's display with many left-side shots throughout hte movie (both for the neck tattoo, the cross tattoo and the mason ring I'd guess.)


now this 8 pointed star on the side of his neck, is this the sigil of Chaos? Chaos magic? The octagram is often the expression of the "Law of Cause and Effect". Those two are inextricably tied together: "What ye sow, ye shall reap". (Compare with Karma / Wheel of life) That makes the number 8 the number of fate, destiny and justice. Transformative qualities are: resurrection, immortality and prosperity. There are many interpretations of the octagram, "the seeker" being another, a novice in the occult. I think seeing a good close up image of the tattoo would be ideal here, as what ever is in the middle is of importance I am sure.

there are disturbing scenes in a bathroom with a black and white tiled floor (not the typical checker pattern, but close to it, close enough that it seemed significant).


there are many plot twists in the movie and it was well done enough that I'd recommend it; I think the visual symbols also lend to the symbolic nature of the story line, I think it was especially important how they kept referring to the Labyrinth has a Maze (the two are totally different) purposefully changing its meaning which fit the movie very very well.

there were also several times that the labyrinth is referred to as "unsolvable" which is not true, a labyrinth has nothing but 1 path that will always take you to the center when it is followed.

This movie provoked a lot of thought & I think further analysis is definitely needed.. though I'd have to own the movie so I could see in more detail what is going on.



while I was reading a bit on this movie I ran across this movie analysis:
http://jaysanalysis.com/2010/04/16/b...analysis-pt-1/ 1980's "Labyrinth"
very good also, it brought to light parts of this movie I have seen 100s of times yet never noticed; hidden symbols in plain sight; I guess this stuff has been going on for a long, long time.

[Adi]

Excellent movie, I saw it last night, quiet impressed, lots of interesting symbol indications, well played out plot twists ect. Recommended

Adi

[kenaz]

This is chock full of symbolism. It looks like the labyrinth (prisoner) is surrounded by a maze (search). The detective's name is the norse god Loki. His symbol is the 8-pointed star.
One of his name meanings is yet to be solved. He is a trickster and shapeshifter. There's the trumpet... a warning of coming tribulation. And Malik in arabic means
angel or lord, chief and king. It is also one of the 99 manes for god. Is god mute to our pleading? All this in two trailers. Very interesting.

Second Trailer gives a bit more info...

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=hB-jNPVK674

[13th Warrior]

Detective "Loki" and as far as I can tell this isn't a Marvel comic remake...

[TargeT]

Posted by 13th Warrior (here)
Detective "Loki" and as far as I can tell this isn't a Marvel comic remake...

Yes, I didn't even start to get into the names... very interesting.. the whole movie can be used as a metaphor for the situation we are in; quite thought provoking, yet at the same time I looked around at the general audience and wondered at the different perceptions that must be going on.