Night Of The Hunter Analysis

In the film Night of the Hunter, young John and Pearl are trying to escape from a preacher named Harry who wants the money that their father stole for them when they were young. In this specific scene, the audience see them floating down the river coming to shore where there appears to be a small house with a backlit window, as well as a very large barn to the right of the house. The audience soon learns that John and Pearl would like to spend the night of the water, where they can actually lay down. This film has an endless amount of the hidden meaning to influence the audience to feel bad for what John and Pearl are going for. Some of these major meaning in this specific scene are the backlit silhouette of the bird in the cage, the view from behind the cows, the non-diegetic music, Harry riding the mule on the horizon, and the river. At the beginning of the scene when John and Pearl exit
These seem to be two major themes in the film and especially in this scene from the movie. In the beginning Night of the Hunter, the children’s mother is very protective and cares a lot about her children. But then after she is killed, it appears that the environment begins to act as their protector. It helps to keep them out of reach from Henry, and provides the necessities for them to survive. All of these different meanings appear to make the children feel scared and worried about what to do next. It’s important for the audience to share these same feelings with the characters, as it keeps the audience on the edge of their seat and interested in what is going to happen next. All of these elements were necessary for making the scene as important as it was. This film was filled with these hidden meaning and did a great job in helping the audience feel for the children along their