The film is about Sebastian Caine, a scientist who volunteers to be the first human test subject for a serum that renders the user invisible. When his fellow scientists are unable to restore him back to normal, he becomes increasingly unstable and eventually goes on a killing spree.

In the poem, the hollow men are a metaphor for society. While people are not physically empty, they are spiritually and morally empty. After the destruction and death of World War I, people just move through the world in a listless and meaningless existence.

Throughout, however, the speaker makes a series of subtle religious references and allusions. These references suggest that the “hollow men” have lost their connection to God. The speaker thus suggests that they might be restored—become fully human again—if they could regain their faith.

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas! The poem begins in the first stanza with the speaker, who is considered to be the collective “Hollow Men” He informs the reader of this fact by stating that “We” are both stuffed and hollow. They are like scarecrows, appearing like men but with a “Headpiece filled with straw.”