BRINGING OUT THE DEAD Review
The night brings no peace for paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage). During those dark hours on the decrepit streets of New York City, Frank, with his dreary and exhausted eyes, rides along in his ambulance looking to help those in need. But in the past few weeks, that feel more like years to Frank, after a bout of people dying in his hands, his holistic service and ambulance have slowly, painfully transformed into a figure of impending death transfiguring the medic into a husk of a man filled with regret and self-loathing edging ever so closer to self-implosion . As it is, this is not new territory for director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader, as their previous link ups have shone a less than rosy light on the outsiders of society slowly succumbing to the sick city around them (usually NYC). However, with the gritty and stylish BRINGING OUT THE DEAD, their lowly protagonist is a good man lost rather than a lost man turned savage, not that Frank Pierce doesn’t go through all kinds of occupational, emotional, religious and psychological challenges that threaten to change him into something beyond repair.
With Robert Richardson’s boisterous and chaotic camera capturing a New York City that edges more closely to the constant bedlam found in the comic book worlds of your Gotham Citys, with its constantly overcrowded (and overlit) hospitals and consistently shadowed and covert city streets bringing to life a world that constantly teeters towards unmitigated bedlam, this is a film that has a unique look for a Scorsese picture. Definitely one of Scorsese’s more “in your face” films, visually speaking (at least before THE WOLF OF WALL STREET comes along), BRINGING OUT THE DEAD looks and sounds (and gives off the slightest stench) of your prototypically decayed metropolis (or necropolis if you’re so inclined). Indeed, Scorsese and co. have their production side (camera, lighting, editing, sound design, set design, etc.) working overtime to capture the wild and unhinged world of NYC paramedics (with one particularly striking flashback playing out in pseudo-reverse, essentially pulling a TENET before TENET). While they appear to be stylish for stylish’s sake, especially a style that is decidedly 90’s, Scorsese allows Schrader’s script to come alive in this hectic world full of whacked out paramedics and their equally whacked out clientele.
As mentioned earlier, Schrader’s usual bag of storytelling themes are found here (decaying people and society, religious discussions and subtext, a woman [Patricia Arquette] who acts a beacon of hope for our main character), giving room for one to see this film as a TAXI DRIVER with paramedics which couldn’t be further from the truth. While that Robert De Niro vehicle played more like a disquieting psychological portrait, this Nicolas Cage vehicle feels more melancholy and sorrowful in a psychological portrait that is more wrenching than disturbing. Indeed, Cage hits his usual notes of unhinged frenzy and mania in one scene and reserved depression in others nevertheless threatening to go too much into either of those switches in the occasional scene. It doesn’t help that the story itself puts Frank into those emotional positions in ways that feel as abrupt and unearned as Cage’s performance resulting in something of a lost opportunity for a more fleshed out protagonist. The supporting cast however gets a lot to chew on with a barrage of characters that tread the line between cartooney and still somehow believable and endearing in their own ways, with special shout out to Ving Rhames playing against type as a hearty and energetic paramedic whose love for the Holy Book is only matched by his love of women. It’s a genuinely surprising and funny performance from an actor known more for his tough guy roles.
While the characters edge ever so close to becoming over the top, Schrader’s story always feels personally somber and closer to earth. In its depiction of a good man on the edge of his wits, a never ending victim to that specter of guilt, Scorsese and Schrader craft a film that sifts through all the constant terrors and ills of the world to focus on the poignant journey of finding forgiveness and hope. While each interaction that Frank has with every lost soul (both literal and metaphorical) feels obvious in its journey to leading him down a path of salvation or damnation, it’s a testament to the filmmakers and the performances that even an obvious journey holds true human depth.
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD seems to be destined to be forgotten film in the lexicon of Scorsese’s work, not because it’s bad but because of the departure in look and soul that Scorsese pursued during its production. Even if it is forgotten by wider audiences (or even Scorsese heads themselves), I always get excited to see a filmmaker take some turns into other strange and wrenching detours. Like the spirits that haunt Frank, BRINGING OUT THE DEAD lives out in a specified time frame but its impact on the viewer stick with them longer than they imagined.
3.5/5
