SAW (including spoilers! haha)

While many see 'SAW' or the 'SAW franchise' (seems though we are up to number 7 in the making) as a gore fest of un-needed and uncalled for violence, Many people wont look past the graphic nature to the main plot behind it, which is what intreages me the most. While it does take a long while for the story to come out, the basic plot and the story behind the lead character helps the audience to understand the mind of the serial killer 'JIGSAW' however to some extent John Kramer is not a killer.

While Saw one begins and remains shot 90% in one room, a bathroom, we soon learn that it is not all what it seems when the two 'victims' back story and what exactly they have done to deserve this, to play the game. While in the end we find out it all is the plan of a single man, who reveals himself in a very shocking twist at the end of the movie, Later on we realise that this isnt just the sick and twisted game of a madman, but a cold and harsh way of dealing with the idea that the world around us has gone to shit, and he is offering his victims a chance to write there wrongs.  

To understand the mind of John Kramer you will need to understand abit about his past:

Married to Jill Tuck, In flashbacks through out the 5th and 6th film we learn that Johns problems begun with the death of his baby Gideon while his wife was pregnant and working at a drugs clinic by drug addict Cecil and later we find out amanda young. After the death of his son, John closed himself off from his wife and soon found himself devorsed. . After this turn of events, John found himself trapped by his own complacency, until he was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. Extremely bitter over his wasted life, John began observing the lives of others and became even more depressed as he saw those around him wasting the gift of life that he had just been denied. After surviving a suicide attempt, John was reborn. The idea that the only way for someone to change is for them to change themselves. He designed a test for Cecil and decided to use the rest of his existence to design more of these "tests" as a form of "rehabilitation" that would change the world "one person at a time". These tests where on the premise that the victims would have to endure a pain, a suffering, a loss, or even (in saw 4) learn the act of forgiveness and moving on. John was soon given the name JIGSAW so named because he removed a puzzle-piece-shaped chunk of flesh from those who do not escape his traps. John himself states that this name was given to him by the media, and that the cut piece of flesh was meant to represent that these victims were each missing something, what he called the "survival instinct".

The tests: brutal which are often ironically symbolic representations of the problems in the victim's life and require them to undergo severe physical or psychological torture to escape. For example in SAW4 a man who raped and video recorded him doing it (and got off scott free from the law) had to gouge out his own eyes or else his limbs would be torn from there sockets.

To continue his work, he enlists the help of his only surviver to date Amanda. And via flash backs we learn that Detective Hoffman is enlisted into helping Jigsaw after he manages to create a copycat killing in JIGSAWS style to murder the guy who raped and killed his sister.

The point, that i well, love about this film is infact the logic behind it, the idea of forcing these victims into taking charge of changing there own lives, by sacraficing something else.

The machinery used in the 'tests' remind me very much of the DIANA THORNEY CROFT photo of the woman in the headset, infact JIGSAWS first apprentice Amanda servived a very similar trap seen here in a trailor:

 Not only does the imagery of the traps, the feeling of restraint, the darkness and almost evilness of the whole feel of this film intreges me. But the idea that these people are getting 'salvation' from hurting themselves also links into the idea of self harm that i am looking into. Some people do selfharm because they feel it saves them from this dark place, from this world where nothing seems right and your scared of your own mind, where deep down you know that this feeling wont leave unless you do it, unless you hurt yourself.

I was lucky enough to go to a 12-hour screening of the saw films in marathon at the cinema delux in town, not only did this help me by reinforcing the overlays in narrative and the high use of flash backs and elipse plots, but it also made me think about the great effort the team must of gone into, not only to have such an interesting plot, but to create JIGSAWS world inside them movies.