Abstract
The Big Heat is a film I had seen in one of my high school English classes and found it quite interesting. After analyzing the movie, I rediscovered it by paying more attention to details in the film, to its meaning and to the true connotation of the story. In the process, I discovered a new way of watching films: more intelligent, more attentive, and more interesting. I had initially felt that the film noir was a period movie genre and had not paid much attention to it. I present in this essay about this film that opened my eyes. The film starts with a giant close-up on a .38 gun lying on a desk. The camera stays still and we see a man's hand grabbing the weapon and disappearing with it from the screen. Then, a single sudden bang makes us understand that the man committed suicide and we get a shocking confirmation when the dead body bursts into the screen falling forward on the desk. This is rather a quite surprising introduction for the viewer who was just warming up on his seat.
