Probable Boating Accident

The next scene opens with a shot of the interior of the local morgue, or at least whatever passes for such a facility in Amity. Above a stainless steel surface is a shelf of artfully arranged bottles and to the right of the frame in a corner of the room is a cold storage unit. Apart from the bottles - some of which are of coloured glass, some of which contain liquids of blue or pale amber - the overall scheme is antiseptically white. On the far left of the frame, positioned on the edge of the work surface, is a plastic specimen bottle half full of a red liquid, which provides a visual echo of the crimson water in the previous scene.

Brody and Hooper are followed into the room by the medical examiner, who goes to the cold storage unit and retrieves a plastic bowl covered with a cloth. For some reason, despite the second attack on the boy and the story of the two fishermen's unsuccessful attempt to catch the shark, the authorities still seem to be sticking to their story of Chrissie Watkins being the victim of a boating accident. As Brody hands over the amended report he draws attention to the cause of death, which Hooper enunciates ('Probable boating accident') in a tone of disbelief. The chief averts his gaze and mutters a simple affirmative that essentially acknowledges his own culpability in the cover up. He moves to the window and tosses a wet oilskin jacket to the floor. It's an item of wardrobe that may have come from an earlier cut scene for its presence - like the towel the chief wears over his shoulder in two early scenes - is never explained. It does, however, provide a convenient visual metaphor that marks Brody's transition from a member of the group trying to cover up the threat to the one man who can make a difference. As he tosses the jacket onto the floor, he wipes his palms with a degree of distaste as if he is washing his hands of any previous involvement in the small town conspiracy.

 

Hooper draws back the cloth from the plastic bowl and gasps. He is wearing transparent surgical gloves and is kitted out with a microphone and a cassette player that allows him to record a commentary in typical autopsy-speak ('The right arm has been severed above the elbow with massive tissue loss in the upper musculature.'). Dreyfuss speaks the lines - which are interspersed with a polite request for and an acknowledgement of a drink of water - with an edgy rhythm, as if all the while he is fighting a gag reflex. He manages to reprimand both the medical examiner ('This was no boat accident.') and the chief ('Did you notify the coastguard about this?') with a superbly modulated delivery. The former phrase has passed into movie quote legend and was even referenced by Dreyfuss himself in Stakeout.

The framing of Brody against the window recalls the earlier images of the chief in the town hall meeting. As if it were not enough to have his professional integrity questioned, he is chastised when he attempts to light up a cigarette. Hooper moves around to the other side of the table on which the remains have been set and lifts the severed arm into view. This no doubt is the same limb that Brody found on the beach and it will later be echoed by the shot of the estuary victim's leg spiralling to the sea bed. As Hooper lifts up the marbled arm, he utters the phrase 'This is what happens', which - like the insert shot itself - remains something of a non-sequitur in the scene.

 

Hooper now segues from mortuary attendant-speak to shark expert-speak, announcing that the wounds indicate 'the non-frenzy feeding of a large squalus, possibly longimanus or isurus glaucus.' There is no mention at this stage of carcharodon carcharias, although Hooper will later use the Latin phrase when trying to convince Larry Vaughn of the threat to the community. As Hooper talks with an increasing sense of anger and even contempt, there is a shot of the medical examiner crossing his arms and lowering his gaze, in an echo of the defensive posture he adopted on the ferry. This is mirrored by a medium close up of Brody, whose gaze is directed to his right towards Hooper. When Hooper says the word 'propeller' Brody's eyes shift towards the examiner and his mouth turns up slightly on the left as a final acknowledgement that the truth has come out.

 

Hooper's litany of potential causes of the girl's death ('It wasn't any propeller. It wasn't a coral reef. And it wasn't Jack the Ripper.') move from the plausible to the unlikely to the absurd. There is a shot of his profile as he bends down to bathe his face and when he turns to the camera, his final line ('It was a shark.') provides an aural match cut to the next scene, just as the close up of his face provides a visual one.