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Bringing Out The Dead (eng)
 Nicolas Cage plays a New
York City ambulance driver/paramedic Frank Pierce. He is a man who comes face-to-face with
the dead and the dying every day. Surrounded by the injury and death, Frank is dwelling in
an urban night-world, crumbling under the accumulated weight of too many years of saving
and losing lives. The film follows Frank over the course of fifty-six hours in his life -
two days and three nights on the job - as he reaches the very brink of spiritual collapse
and redemption. |
Movie Review By: Chin Kit Sen
Click here for pictures
With
'Bringing Out The Dead' Martin Scorcese reaffirms himself as one of America's greatest
living filmmakers. He serves up a small masterpiece with a ghostly elegy that could easily
stand out as one of the best films of the year.
Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) is a
paramedic at boiling point. He describes his career as a 'grief mop', which has caused him
to see the seedy side. more death and more pain than any normal, sane person can handle.
He blames himself for a young girl's death a few months before and the ghost of Rose
(Cynthia Roman) has begun appearing to him in the face of every person in New York. He
realises that saving lives is in fact a rarity in his line of work, being the first
paramedic at a crime scene, a shooting, an accident where chances of survival can verge on
death most of the time and this was starting to drive him insane. He strikes up a
friendship with the daughter of a heart attack victim, Mary (Patricia Arquette) who is a
former junkie. His partners each have a borderline personality of their own, each finding
different ways of dealing and coping with the horrors they encounter nightly.
The dark colour of night that both
Scorcese and writer, Schrader, paint in this movie is familiar territory for both of them.
the red-hot sirens and lights of New York City and not the disinfected, 'Disneyfied'
version of New York that now exists. The garish signs, the piles of trash, the street
denizens...you can almost smell the odours; almost feel the rain on your skin. Scorcese
and Schrader create the hyper-reality of New York like no other cinematic artists can.
It's bracingly refreshing to have both men back on the turf that established their talents
decades ago.
Cage is without doubt one of the most overrated talents in
Hollywood today, although he does find a great depth in this almost gothic role, as does
Arquette. Her acting has never had a more delicate difference in shade of meaning,
feeling, opinion and colour. Goodman, Rhames and Sizemore give colourful supporting turns
as Cage's paramedic partners and do well in keeping the film from being bogged down on its
own depressive aura.
Almost paralysing in its intensity, 'Bringing Out The Dead' is
riveting, frantic, and quickly paced. The feeling one may be left with, however, is one of
quiet. The film's religious and spiritual questions lead to self inspection and cautious
peacefulness. At its heart, 'Bringing Out The Dead' is not only about suffering, but about
finding a way through it to the other side...both in death, and in life.
Truly a masterpiece, it is one movie which falls in to the
category of 'Love ' or 'Hate'. If you appreciate documentaries and stories true to life,
this revealing film might just serve your cup of tea. If you like fantasies and are
eagerly awaiting Disney's next adventure, you might want to skip this one. Then again, you
never know! You might just be missing one of the most meaningful movies you could have
seen this year. |
  
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