Unlike the satirical content of the original, Russell's focus is entirely on the discussion of abnormal consciousness and hallucinations. In the film, scientists experimented with themselves, using isolation sinks and shielding the five senses to induce a different state of consciousness. Later, for a stronger effect, they even went to the primitive tribes of Mexico to find magic mushrooms. The prototype of the sink is based on a real experiment, while the mushrooms in Mexico are a discussion of hallucinogens.
The most impressive part of the whole film is naturally a few images that show the state of hallucination. And these bizarre and gorgeous illusions are not just for appreciation and visual pleasure, they echo the reality of the protagonist in parallel. Although it can be said to reflect the subconscious state of the protagonist, Russell's emphasis on the description of the illusion world actually makes the real world more like It is just an explanation to assist another world of consciousness.
The concepts put forward by the scientists in the film are the biggest hints of these visions. The memory of a living body is a kind of energy, and energy will not disappear, so the memory energy we share should be billions of years old, but it cannot be connected in a normal state of consciousness. The protagonist firmly believes that it can be communicated by physical means The memory of the world, and as the illusion gradually increased, his physical and mental state became more and more out of control.
The Lord felt that the first vision was a mixture of the seven-eyed goat, the cross, the blood, and his dead father, and we were able to peek into the memory and state of the original protagonist. His father's death casts doubt on his beliefs and evolves into this hallucinatory nightmare. After going to the Mexican tribe to eat hallucinogenic mushrooms, a vision is interspersed with the strange tribute of the tribe and the Western-style tea party of the protagonist and his wife, as well as entangled pythons and fireworks. The retrospect of primitive culture, the comparison of modern Western culture, pythons, etc. have also begun to suggest libido.
After starting to strengthen the effect and using the isolation tank and medicine at the same time, the protagonist's phantom travel became more and more intense, and began to blur with the real world. He often felt that he had regressed into an ape-man, growing hair and claws. His beastly attacks on animals in the zoo seem to support the protagonist's theory of having cosmic memories. He is going back a little bit to the past, back to the original state. "American Werewolf in London" is similar in age to "Soul Search" but also has similar elements. Of course, from another perspective, from the death of the father to the appearance of the ape-man state, it can be seen as Freudian dream psychoanalysis, whether it is the collapse of the patriarchy or the revealing of the id. The last part of the illusion is also the most vast. The protagonist completely opens the alien channel and becomes an inextricable monster. He travels between cells, blood vessels, and nebulae in the universe. It is also the most compact and dizzying "phantom journey". The protagonist he controlled was about to be swallowed up. But in the end, it was love that rescued him.
In the end, he and his wife embraced and pulled the protagonist back to "reality" from the brink of being out of control. And no matter how bizarre the film's process is, Russell still gives the answer that love trumps everything. This is the most expensive and gorgeous "psychedelic" movie in history, but beyond the psychedelic and bizarre, it is a movie that finds a soul's destination.
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