The movie opens with a yellow Volkswagen Beetle navigating a winding mountain road, accompanied by the haunting music of "Dies Irae" and credits in blue letters.
From the outset, the film is rich with significant details. As the car proceeds, it encounters a hearse parked just before entering a tunnel. Two notable details emerge here: first, as the car passes the hearse, the credits introduce Scatman Crothers, who portrays the Overlook Hotel's Chef. He, alongside Jack, the protagonist, will ultimately be the only characters to meet their demise in the course of the movie.
But more importantly for the interpretation of this movie, the hearse before the tunnel symbolizes the passage to the afterlife. People often describe near-death experiences as involving a tunnel. This idea is reinforced by the symbolic significance of scarab beetles in ancient Egypt. Scarab beetles played a significant role in ancient Egyptian funerary rituals. Scarab beetle amulets were often placed in tombs to ensure the deceased’s safe passage into the afterlife. These amulets were also associated with the heart and were sometimes placed on the heart during mummification to symbolize its importance in the afterlife. This connection underscores the symbolic weight of the scene in the movie, where the funerary car and the tunnel represent a transition into the afterlife. The Egyptians also believed in the judgment of the deceased as a prerequisite for passing into the afterlife, and as said before, the music playing, "Dies Irae," translates to "Day of Wrath" or "Day of Judgment" in Latin, further emphasizing the theme.
So we see just from the beginning that this is about a judgement where the deceased is Jack Torrance and the Chef's dead is foreshadowed in the same way with the same symbol.
As the car arrive to The Overlook Hotel we see from above, that there are 41 cars parked in front of the Hotel, there is also a snow vehicle and apart we find some cars presumably, those of the staff.
But the important detail is that those of the guests are 41, and this is important because continuing in the same line of interpretation, we know that the Egyptians believed that the judgement of the dead was presided by 42 judges, as stated in the book of the dead. The deceased was accompanied into the presence of Osiris by the god Anubis, where they would declare their innocence of the "42 sins" against justice and truth by reciting a text known as the "Negative Confessions."
The heart of the deceased was then weighed on a two-plate scale: one plate for the heart and the other for the feather of Maat. Maat represented by an ostrich feather, was the deification of truth, justice, rectitude, and cosmic order. The 42 judges who flanked Osiris acted in her name, determining the fate of the deceased in the afterlife.
It may seem problematic that there are only 41 cars, but there are two possible explanations for this. First, at the end of the movie, Halloran, the Overlook's chef, arrives at the hotel using a snow vehicle. The snow vehicle seen in the opening scenes could be foreshadowing this event.
However, there is another, more likely explanation. The right candidate to be the missing judge will be revealed in the upcoming scenes of the movie and is no other than Danny.
Immediately, we see Jack's family—his wife and son—eating breakfast. For the first time, it's revealed that Jack's son has an imaginary friend. This detail becomes crucial for the rest of the movie, as Tony, the imaginary friend, will be the unseen protagonist driving much of the narrative. In the final scenes Toni will even take over Danny and will save him from Jack by fooling him into the maze.
Behind Ullman, we can clearly see an eagle and a U.S. flag on his desk. The eagle emerges as a prominent symbol throughout the film, establishing a clear parallel between The Overlook Hotel and the United States—a connection that will become more evident as the movie progresses. As Jack drives in the entering scenes through the serpentine road towards the Overlook Hotel, the car is followed from above, as if the camera was an eagle and once in the Hotel as said we see the eagle behind Ullman, who then reveal to Jack the Hotel´s past. He explains that something happened years ago at the hotel that he should be aware of before accepting the job. Ullman then tells Jack about the previous caretaker who killed his family and himself with an ax during the winter of 1970. Jack doesn't seem impressed by this revelation and readily accepts the job.
The next scene reveals several key points. First, it becomes evident that Tony is real when he predicts that Jack is about to call, and immediately, the telephone rings. Additionally, we see that Danny has the number 42 on his right sleeve. This detail ties back to the Egyptian line of explanation, where we have just found the missing judge: Danny is the forty-second judge who hasn't yet arrived at the Overlook. Furthermore, the name Danny is a Hebrew name, that literally means "my judge". So Danny confirms perfectly well the previous explanation.
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