This film starts with several scenes of individuals dealing with grief and loss in their own way. This shot is of Hawkeye the moment he loses his family. It’s a moment of confusion, emptiness but most importantly, a moment of being alone.
There is a lot going on visually in this image but it still feels very lonely. The tree on the left hand side frames the figure and rest of the scenery but also leaves some breathing room to see the rest of the field. The viewer also gets a tree peaking into the shot on the right that helps balance out this image. These two elements help keep Hawkeye’s figure as the focal point.
Hawkeye’s figure looks relaxed but straight. There is a very statue-like feel to the way he is positioned. He isn’t tense but he isn’t in motion. The composition of this shot makes his figure feel singular and almost small. His head is above the tree line, adding to the expanse of space with the sky taking up about 70 percent of the image. The colors used in this shot are not bright but earthy and drab as there is a high amount of contrast used in the lighting.
This image harkens back to an Andrew Wyeth painting. Wyeth used a very muted color palette as shown in this image. His subjects were fields, figures and nature. There was a melancholy feel to his work that is accurately captured in this still of Hawkeye. One of Wyeth’s most well-known works is called “Christina’s World”. This painting shows a woman that is sitting in a field gazing toward her home. She has a disability that makes her unable to stand. This painting has some striking parallels to Hawkeye and how he is stranded in the world to make it back to the home alone.
The arrow still stuck in the target, table and home in the distance help this scene feel natural. As viewers of this opening scene, we get the feeling that the world has stopped and Hawkeye is alone in time. This shot showcases two of the themes of this film; Loneliness and Time. The plot of this movie is to manipulate time so they can reverse the loss and loneliness that they feel. This opening scene shows this in this one shot perfectly.