Movie Analysis Essay on Primal Fear

Introduction

Primal Fear is a 1996 movie produced by Gary Lucchesi and Howard W. Koch, Jr.and directed by Gregory Hoblit. The American movie was released by Paramount Pictures in 1996 and later to the rest of the world. The film follows the story of a Chicago defense attorney who holds the faith that his client, an altar boy, is innocent of the charge of murdering an influential Catholic Archbishop. The film espouses Roy as a person suffering from psychological disorder. As the viewer delves deeper into the film, the secrets that lay within begin to unlock. The film espouses the precarious yet fragile nature of the human condition through the split personalities of Aaron and Roy who display opposite and distinct characteristics from each other. The conflict of the film fits into the very thematic message of assonance and dissonance within the shaping of the human character in the spirit espoused by Roy.

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The film portrays aspects of ego, super-ego and defense mechanisms as the overarching psychological challenges to which the characters are subjected. The film reveals the kind of psychological disorder from which Roy suffers, as well as his thought process from the perspective of a bio-psychologist with the use of therapy for cognitive behavior. Sigmund Freud explains the human condition as being governed by three distinct components including the Id, the Ego and the super-ego (Freud 171). The three are known to work together to create complex human behaviors. Every component contributes significantly to personality with all the three elements having powerful influences on each other.

The cell scene in which the Attorney walks into the cell and announces the good news that the jury may agree to halt the trials presents an idea inter-play between ego and super-ego. At the onset of the scene, Roy sits withdrawn from the attorney not knowing what news to expect. On hearing the news about his likely release, he says, "the minute you came into my cell, I knew everything would be okey (Hoblit)." By the time the attorney gets out of the cell, the mood changes to that of doubt and suspicion between the two characters. Although he positively did not know any of this information, his super-ego suppresses his rather subservient ego in espousing the confidence he could not have before. Consistent with the ideals of the super-ego, Roy exhibits internalized character traits that he has learned from the society around him that work to suppress the urges of the id, trying to make the ego behave morally rather than realistically (Kupfer).

The Courtroom scene, in which the defendant queries Roy, opens up the alternative character of Roy for the world to see. After a series of rigorous and aggressive questions, Roy assumes his personality as Aaron and jumps out of his stand, attacking the attorney at the dismay of the court room. He espouses the theme of defense mechanism in which one assumes an alternative personality to cope in times of distress and when he or she feels threatened (Hoblit). The interview scene also presents the defense mechanism espoused by Roy's personality. He refers to his alternative personality as Aaron. The attorney queries whether the Archbishop used Roy and his girlfriend as tools for his sexual gratification. She assures him that what the Archbishop did would be enough for her to stab him 78 times and inscribe writings on his chest (Hoblit). At the height of provocation, Roy jumps out of his witness stand and attacks the attorney to the utter disbelief and shock of the entire court room.

The interview scene between the attorney and his client, Roy, presents another fertile ground of inter-play between ego and super-ego. The attorney comes into the room to establish the truth behind the murder of the Archbishop because everyone believes Roy is the mind behind it. The attorney asks him whether he underlined the book (Hoblit). At the onset of the scene, Roy espouses suppression of the super-ego by his ego as a defense mechanism to deal with the impending questioning. He begins by stammering and hesitating about giving direct answers and ends up lecturing the attorney to his amazement. From the way he responds to the questions it is easy to note that he is hiding something (Hoblit). Roy turns from a victim to the villain and ends up attacking his attorney, revealing all the information about the murder of the Archbishop.

Knowledge about human psychology is essential in understanding human behavior at any given time and space. The interview scene between Roy and his attorney reveals evidence of the fact that he suffered from dissociative identity disorder otherwise known by the initials DID (Simpson 4). From the perspective of a bio-psychologist, the dissociative identity disorder is normally characterized by the presence of various distinct and split identities both of which take total control of someone. Roy takes on the persona of Aaron whenever he needs to confront his demons and when he feels threatened. According to the United Nations report on human health individuals that have Neurocognitive disorders, Somatic symptoms and other related disorders by the year, 2050 will have grown to 37 million (Freud).

Normal people would have a stable metal attitude. People that have Neurocognitive disorder, however, have an unstable mental attitude. Mental instability makes them temperamental, jealous, envious, depressed, and moody. While normal people would be organized, committed to their course and have a clear vision of the things that they want to achieve, people with Neurocognitive disorders are tired, demotivated and not particular about the things that they would like to achieve (Simpson 4). The disorders make the patient compulsive and obsessive, and they exhibit forgetfulness and lack of care for their health. Among the people that have the Neurocognitive disorder, there is an exhibition of five characteristic deficiencies that are common among them. The science that seeks to understand the particular functioning of the brain is the science of cognitive neuroscience and neuropsychology. Individuals that have the Neurocognitive disorder are expected to live for 6 to 10 years after they have been diagnosed with the condition (Hoblit).

Overall, super-ego and defense mechanism stand out throughout the scenes of the film.

The character traits progress fast and have far reaching effects. Roy amazes other characters in the film by the way he portrays two distinctive characters and seems to forget every time he changes his character. Such a condition poses danger to him and to the people around him as he can easily become violent and turn against his friends thinking they are his adversaries. The rate at which the international community recognizes the danger that the neurological disorders pose to the society is shown by the rate at which the non-pharmacological and pharmacological approaches continue to be invented to try and counter the effects of the conditions.

Works Cited

Freud, Sigmund. The Ego and the Id. New York : Oxford , 2018.

Kupfer, David J. American Counseling Association . Pittsburg: American Counseling Association , 2010.

Primal Fear. Dir. Gregory Hoblit. Perf. Gregory Hoblit. 1996.

Simpson, Joseph R. "DSM-5 and Neurocognitive Disorders." Neurology 1.6 (2014): 1-6.