Martin Scorsese's "Bringing Out the Dead" can best be described as an acid-cool mix of "Taxi Driver" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." It is a hallucinagenic fright trip that takes place in a couple days--tracking what transpires to EMS workers in NYC.
Frank Pierce (Nick Nolte) has been at this for a while. In monologues reminiscent of those uttered by De Niro in "Taxi Driver," Frank tells us that his job has really gotten to him. Most of the people that he and his partner reach are already dead. He has lost hope in his job because he doesn't see himself as a saver of lives, but as a mediator between life and death. He feels that his only purpose is to be present during people's demise--a witness, so to speak.
The movie can be divided into three sections--based on the three different partners he works with. The first is John Goodman, a man who is still rather detached to his experience--not yet having suffered the full ramifications that a job like his can inflict on a person.
The second one is Ving Rhames. He can be viewed as the one who realizes the torture behind the job, but tries to add a reason to it. They go to a goth club at one point in the film where they try to bring a kid back from his heroine overdose. While Frank administers the drugs, Marcus conducts a administers his version of drugs--religion. He is obviously a religious man, but that sounds a little simple. Although not explored much more beyond that--Scorsese seems to be saying that Marcus is one who will place God in the ultimate position of authority in these situations. Thusly, he is able to smartly escape any of the hardship that befalls Frank.
The third is Tom (Tom Sizemore). This is the man who Frank will become. His job is nothing more than a game to him. He has been driven mad by the lunacy of saving the lives of the "freaks" within the city that he comes across as an angel of darkness--almost expediating their deaths.
Mary is played Patricia Arquette, the daughter of a man who has just had a heart attack. Frank, like a man who has become very attuned to the inklings of dead souls, asks her to play some Frank Sinatra for the dead man and he suddenly awakens. From then on, the body of the man code blues throughout the entire movie. Every time it does, it comes back to life.
The way the man to vehemently clings to life creeps under Frank's skin. It gets to the point where the man even speaks to him. It gets to the point where the corpse asks him to kill him.
Franks relationship with Mary is similar to that of Robert De Niro's and Cybil Shepard's in "Taxi Driver" in that it is very atypical. There doesn't seem to be much of a sexual vibe going on between the two. Here it seems that Frank has connected to the woman merely because he is her father's savior.
Minor characters are interspersed throughout the film. Marc Antony, in a bravura performance, plays a Noel--a lunatic street ruffian who enters Frank's life at every turn, and is the target of a disturbing attack at the hands of Tom.
Scorsese brings beautiful complexity to many sequences--like the "Oasis" scene that takes place on the 16th floor of a project. "Take my pulse" says the black girlfriend of the man who owns the apartment. "Two beats per minute; perfect," says Frank.
The film is full of this kind of absurdist humor, and then is complimented with a beautiful introspective moment--like a man, contemplating his fall from a building, observing the "fireworks" over the Empire State Building.
Scorsese, yet again, amazes one with the complete and utter dexterity he has with his camera. Shot compositions are unconventional and the fast motion shots brilliantly capture the energy of the big city in which the film takes place. What else do you expect from Ralph Richardson?
Cage is stunning and makes you wonder why he doesn't stick to this kind of quality work. He's wonderful to watch as he goes from regular EMS worker, to lunatic--needing the very medicine and oxygen masks he dispenses on his patients for himself.
Admittedly, the film is all over the place--similar to "Summer of Sam" in that respect. But at it's center, unlike the admirable but heavily flawed "Fear and Loathing" is a film that beautifully captures the torments of one man's life as he is slowly being driven over the edge by the very people he is trying to save.
Frank Pierce (Nick Nolte) has been at this for a while. In monologues reminiscent of those uttered by De Niro in "Taxi Driver," Frank tells us that his job has really gotten to him. Most of the people that he and his partner reach are already dead. He has lost hope in his job because he doesn't see himself as a saver of lives, but as a mediator between life and death. He feels that his only purpose is to be present during people's demise--a witness, so to speak.
The movie can be divided into three sections--based on the three different partners he works with. The first is John Goodman, a man who is still rather detached to his experience--not yet having suffered the full ramifications that a job like his can inflict on a person.
The second one is Ving Rhames. He can be viewed as the one who realizes the torture behind the job, but tries to add a reason to it. They go to a goth club at one point in the film where they try to bring a kid back from his heroine overdose. While Frank administers the drugs, Marcus conducts a administers his version of drugs--religion. He is obviously a religious man, but that sounds a little simple. Although not explored much more beyond that--Scorsese seems to be saying that Marcus is one who will place God in the ultimate position of authority in these situations. Thusly, he is able to smartly escape any of the hardship that befalls Frank.
The third is Tom (Tom Sizemore). This is the man who Frank will become. His job is nothing more than a game to him. He has been driven mad by the lunacy of saving the lives of the "freaks" within the city that he comes across as an angel of darkness--almost expediating their deaths.
Mary is played Patricia Arquette, the daughter of a man who has just had a heart attack. Frank, like a man who has become very attuned to the inklings of dead souls, asks her to play some Frank Sinatra for the dead man and he suddenly awakens. From then on, the body of the man code blues throughout the entire movie. Every time it does, it comes back to life.
The way the man to vehemently clings to life creeps under Frank's skin. It gets to the point where the man even speaks to him. It gets to the point where the corpse asks him to kill him.
Franks relationship with Mary is similar to that of Robert De Niro's and Cybil Shepard's in "Taxi Driver" in that it is very atypical. There doesn't seem to be much of a sexual vibe going on between the two. Here it seems that Frank has connected to the woman merely because he is her father's savior.
Minor characters are interspersed throughout the film. Marc Antony, in a bravura performance, plays a Noel--a lunatic street ruffian who enters Frank's life at every turn, and is the target of a disturbing attack at the hands of Tom.
Scorsese brings beautiful complexity to many sequences--like the "Oasis" scene that takes place on the 16th floor of a project. "Take my pulse" says the black girlfriend of the man who owns the apartment. "Two beats per minute; perfect," says Frank.
The film is full of this kind of absurdist humor, and then is complimented with a beautiful introspective moment--like a man, contemplating his fall from a building, observing the "fireworks" over the Empire State Building.
Scorsese, yet again, amazes one with the complete and utter dexterity he has with his camera. Shot compositions are unconventional and the fast motion shots brilliantly capture the energy of the big city in which the film takes place. What else do you expect from Ralph Richardson?
Cage is stunning and makes you wonder why he doesn't stick to this kind of quality work. He's wonderful to watch as he goes from regular EMS worker, to lunatic--needing the very medicine and oxygen masks he dispenses on his patients for himself.
Admittedly, the film is all over the place--similar to "Summer of Sam" in that respect. But at it's center, unlike the admirable but heavily flawed "Fear and Loathing" is a film that beautifully captures the torments of one man's life as he is slowly being driven over the edge by the very people he is trying to save.