Déjà Vu Movie Analysis Essay Example

New Orleans has been depicted in many ways in various media like film and television. One film that did a good job portraying New Orleans is the film Déjà Vu, Déjà Vu is a 2006 film directed by Tony Scott starring Denzel Washington. The movie is set in New Orleans and is about a ferry explosion and an ATF agent that tries to go back in time and stop the disaster from taking place while trying to save a woman from being killed. Déjà Vu depicts New Orleans in a way that is real and true to the many cultural traits that the city has. 

The movie was happening during the Mardi Gras season, and the explosion took place on Fat Tuesday. Before traveling back in time to stop the accident, Doug (Denzel Washington) was told,  “Remember the ferry blows at 10:50 on fat Tuesday.” (Déjà Vu, 1:27:28) There was a scene at the beginning of the movie that showed Doug walking through the French Quarter and you could see that it was trashed from all of the Mardi Gras festivities. New Orleans during Mardi Gras is full of people partying, parades, and many other gatherings. With all of these people and gatherings, there is a lot of trash that builds up in the city like bottles, paper, beads, and more. AFAR Magazine did an article about the tons of trash in New Orleans during Mardi Gras titled “What Happens to All the Mardi Gras Beads Left Behind?”, written by Jenny Adams. The article talks about all the trash that builds up in the streets, and the clean-up process for the city after. Adams states that “Mardi Gras produces around 1.2 million pounds of garbage in fewer than 14 days. The majority of the trash is single-use plastic—cups, hats, doubloons, plastic toys, and those colorful beads—all of which can slip into storm drains or end up in Lake Pontchartrain.” (Adams, par.3) Many people litter and don’t pick up after themselves leaving tons of trash in the city that does lots of damage. The Grounds Krewe began to set out recycling cans for people along with the neighborhoods for the parades and parties. Brett Davis, the founder of the Grounds Krewe stated that “Mardi Gras is a hugely embarrassing waste problem.” This scene in the movie was showing what New Orleans, particularly the French Quarter, really looks like during Mardi Gras.

Jazz music is such a staple part of New Orleans and this movie didn’t have lots of jazz music in it. At the beginning of the movie when the ferry is leaving you can hear the band playing the classic song “When the Saints Go Marching In.”  (Déjà Vu, 03:03) Besides this in the opening, and hearing it when they go back in time is the only time you hear jazz in the movie. New Orleans is the birthplace of jazz music and is such a staple part of the city, and it’s a shame that they didn’t put any more jazz music. There are scenes where they are in town that could have faint jazz music playing instead of the action, thrilling music that is playing throughout the movie. The Article “History of Jazz Music: Birthplace New Orleans” written by Jan Ramsey, talks about how New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz and the history of the music genre. People in areas like New York and Chicago have debated where the birthplace of the genre was but, “The discussion quieted after the publication of In Search of Buddy Bolden: First Man of Jazz. Historian Don Marquis’ book documents the life of the New Orleans native trumpeter (1877-1931), and also offers glimpses of the times and his remarkable sound.” (Ramsey, para. 2) Ramsey even talks about modern jazz, “Modern jazz took hold in New Orleans in the 1950s, when local musicians were exposed to trailblazers such as the great trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, and when great players such as he arrived in the city to perform.” (Ramsey, para. 6) Modern jazz is something that the film could’ve played in the background, just a small thing like the music can make you feel like you are in New Orleans with the characters. 

When Doug is going back and showing the other investigators what happened in the past in real-time, they find information on the terrorist that they’ve been looking for. They state that “he had another property, 5874 Mullie Ave., ninth ward, New Orleans.” (Déjà Vu, 01:14:31) While Doug is going through the ninth ward you can see that it consists of rundown houses that are barely standing. These scenes are very accurate to how the ninth ward looks today. David Lohr wrote an article titled “New Orleans' Upper 9th Ward Resembles A Zombie Apocalypse” published on HuffPost. This is because hurricane Katrina had left all of those homes and areas abandoned and rundown. Lohr describes the ninth ward and the types of damage that the hurricane had done, “Blocks of storm-ravaged homes, piles of garbage, and streets choked with vegetation serve not only as an eyesore to residents but also as a constant reminder of the tragedy that befell their city.” (Lohr, para.2) Hurricane Katrina had interrupted the filming of the movie, but the director had said that “Filming will begin Monday and continue through April in the devastated 9th Ward neighborhood, as well as the relatively unscathed French Quarter, Garden District, and surrounding parishes” according to the TODAY magazine. (TODAY, para. 2) The film was “dedicated to the strength and enduring spirit of the people of New Orleans” for their courage throughout the troubling times. (Déjà Vu, 01:58:05) 

Normally during Mardi Gras people decorate their houses with decorations to show their spirit for the holiday. This movie was lacking lots of Mardi Gras decorations or festivities, if they hadn't said anything about Mardi Gras in the movie I wouldn’t have noticed that it was happening during that time. There was only one scene that I saw that had a place with Mardi Gras Decorations which was where Doug was walking through the trashed French Quarter to get to Claire’s house. (Déjà Vu, 21:36) There was also another scene in the movie which showed a large area and there were no decorations, and for a celebration on Fat Tuesday, you think there would be Mardi Gras everywhere around, rather than the few people wearing beads in scenes. (Déjà Vu, 01:43:40) Mardi Gras is very important to the people of New Orleans and they always go all out. Southern Living did an article titled “Mardi Gras Artists Keeping Joy Alive in New Orleans by Turning Homes into Parade Floats” written by Meghan Overdeep about how in recent times the people of New Orleans began decorating their houses because there were no parades. Caroline Thomas, a parade float designer, states that “This is proof that New Orleans is going to find a way out of this because we’re stubborn and resilient and we always find a way to add some color to a dreary situation” (Overdeep, para. 9) It disappointed me that there wasn’t that much talk about Mardi Gras in the movie because I really would've liked seeing a parade chase sequence or something of that nature, it really would've added that extra touch of New Orleans to the movie.

This movie was something I was unsure about at first because of the plot and the trailer didn’t make that much sense to me. Whenever I was looking at other movies to due this paper on I kept finding myself going back to Déjà Vu and I decided to take a chance on it. I ended up enjoying this movie, it kept me on edge and wondering what was going to happen next and wondering what led to the ferry explosion. I can see myself watching this movie again, and I would recommend it to a friend. Some scenes that were my favorite that I didn’t talk about were the Bayou chase scene when they first use the machine to see the past, and whenever Doug realizes that the “past” is currently in the present as well. New Orleans was portrayed correctly throughout this film and I couldn’t find many things that were not accurately depicted in the film. Even with the little things that they didn’t accurately depict, you could still tell that the movie was based in New Orleans and I feel like it kind of added to the tone of the movie.