The drama is preponderantly dark, cheerless, frightening. I knew at once that the score which accompanied this story would have to reflect its characteristic ambience. But other elements, visions racing back and forward in time, shattering dreams of Viet Nam, and the imminent presence of the demonic master-terrorist, Carlos, invoked sounds which needed to be dehumanized, abstract, interior, definitely electronic. These sounds often appear in the score as sudden, unexpected eruptions, tearing through the orchestral fabric into another musical and psychological dimension. At the heart of the film and the score is a man whose own identity is unknown to him.
Shots ring out, a man overboard, into the depths.
Finally, in the morning calm, a half-dead body washes up on a Mediterranean beach. The next statement compounds the non-resolution on a higher pitch. And so, these six notes will dog our hero until the final confrontation with his arch-enemy. The Incident at the Bank, which begins with a chillingly nervous meeting in a private office and ends in a withering blast of gunfire in the lobby, thrusts upon him the knowledge that his name is Jason Bourne, that his balance is fifteen million dollars, and that unknown hands are trying to kill him. From there on, the story descends into the labyrinthine convolutions of Ludlum's plot.