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El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie - Analysis

SPOILERS !!!

El Camino is a neowestern modern classic. It is beautifully shot, well written, and perfectly nostalgic for fans of its predecessor. A quick overview about the movie; Starring Aaron Paul playing as the kind and likeable Jesse Pinkman, the movie picks up directly after the epic series finale of Breaking Bad, but starts out with a callback for an opening scene. Mike Ehrmantraut(Jonathan Banks) is seen with Jesse as they discuss Walter White, his former partner. In the background a mountain looms, perfectly symbolizing Walter's presence over their conversation. The dialogue is easy to follow and we learn that this is where Jesse chooses to leave the 'business' of selling and making methamphetamine, which was the entire premise of Breaking Bad. Here, we listen to Mike's wishes of starting new, and how he thinks Jesse is lucky, being so young and having an opportunity for a fresh start. As they discuss this Jesse asks where Mike would go if he could go anywhere. Mike states, "Alaska." And further explains how it's "A great frontier." With this opening it cuts straight away to where we last see Jesse. Speeding away in his ex captor's Camino. He's screaming as he races down the road to freedom, but his journey is not over yet.

El Camino does justice to many characters from Breaking Bad. Two of them being Badger and Skinny; old friends of Jesse. Jesse rushes to their house for refuge and here we can see Aaron Paul's acting skills come to life as a devastating close up, lighting up only half his face, depicts a broken and traumatized Jesse. Scars cover his face, his hair is matted, and his entire demeanor is grim. His old friend Skinny opens the front door and doesn't even recognize him at first. This moment shows the true depths of Jesse's gruesome experiences and how even his friends are now so distant from his actions in the past that they can't even recognize him.

Director Vince Gilligan quickly changes Jesse from a stone hard meth dealer to a broken man to be sympathized with. As an audience we saw little of Jess's capture in season 5 of Breaking Bad, but Vince Gilligan brilliantly reminds us where Jesse was. After they stash the old Camino in Skinny's backyard, the shot cuts to Jesse scarfing down ramen noodles hungrily. Clearly starved from his time in captivity. Another cut leads us into the bedroom where Jesse collapses on the bed in exhaustion. Yet another humanizing and relatable way to get the audience to connect with a person who should be distant from the everyday viewer. Gilligan reminds us that Jesse is human through basic needs and things we do everyday. He displays how they were taken from Jesse and shows him as a victim of circumstance instead of a villain or a criminal.

As Jesse awakes from some well needed sleep, we are given an overhead shot as he opens his eyes. A flash of a cage ceiling is shown, indicating that Jesse's mind is expecting to wake up in captivity and that he does not completely believe his escape. This is a perfect depiction of flashbacks as a side effect of Post Traumatic Stress. Jesse shoots up and begins to panic and rips the curtains up trying to keep his freedom intact with an unclear mind. Skinny and Badger walk in worried and Jesse points a gun at them clearly scared for his life. Skinny and Badger prove their loyalty and friendship in this scene and others to follow. They calm Jesse, who collapses on the ground with only half his face in the frame, being drowned out by the bedding. He is haunted by his experiences. Skinny and Badger give him fresh clothes, a place to shower, and nothing but kindness and understanding to their old friend Jesse Pinkman. Before Jesse shuts the door to shower, Badger dares to ask if Jesse was really put in a cage. The frame cuts to Jesse at a higher angle with half his face in frame. His is squeezed into this condensed space signifying that although he had escaped, his past still has him trapped.

Another great scene immediately after shows Jesse showering. Once again we are shown the horrors of PTSD as Jesse has another flashback to him being hosed down on a wall by the Nazis who kept him enslaved. Overwhelmed by the memory and familiarity he shuts the water off. He then takes a long look at himself through a small mirror. We see a shot on his back revealing horrendous scars, and Jesse's reaction to himself is sad. He sees a scared, aged face. Older and damaged like his old partner Walker White or Mike. It then cuts to Skinny's reaction to Jesse walking out of the shower. Jesse had cut his hair against the advice of his friend in an attempt to seem recognizable to himself. He walks up to the window to look out and we are shown a fresh Jesse, ready to take on the world outside of captivity and one who refuses to end up like Walter White.