Compelling Paramedic drama. (Bringing Out The Dead (DVD))

Member Name: RussellC

Product:	Bringing Out The Dead (DVD)
Date:	22/08/00 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Thought provoking and genuine.

Disadvantages: None for me, but if you're lookign for another Nicolas Cage action movie you'll be disappointed.

This has to be one of the more intelligent and thoughtful films to come from the US in the past year. Based on a book by a genuine New York paramedic (Joe Conelley), the film follows a few days in the life of Frank, himself a New York paramedic. Scorsese directs with his usual skill, presenting New York at night as a dispondent ghost town.

Frank (Nicolas Cage) is a man on the brink of a break down, he desperately wants to escape from the daily pain of the paramedic and makes feeble attempts at getting himself fired by turning up late for work. Despite this apparent desire he seems compelled to continue in a job he apparently hates; it all seems to come down to his own addiction to helping people. By his own admition when you save somebody you feel like a God and everything seems wonderful, unfortunately Frank hasn't saved anybody in a long time. Instead he's haunted by the ghosts of those he hadn't saved and in particular one girl whose face he sees on the people on the night streets of New York. On one call Frank manages to bring a man back to life, but he unfortunately remains in a comatosed state, an apparent vegetable. Frank develops an interest in the daughter of this man, Mary (Particia Arquette) and throughout the couple of days calls on her and tries to help her through the difficult time. It's as much a recognition on Frank's part of his need for companionship (having been left by his wife long ago) and a recognition of something similar in Mary that drives his interest in her.

Throughout the course of the two days this movie follows Frank goes out on calls with a number of other paramedics each afflicted in their own way. Larry seems to shut it all out, hates the job, but holds onto his dream of becoming a captan and escaping from the ambulance. Marcus uses his paramedic skills as a floor show to promote his evangelical christianity and spends much of his time flirting at the unresponsive Dispatcher. He's a veteran
who has used his religion to keep his sanity in the face of their continual confrontation with death. Tom has turned into a thrill seeking psycho, always hoping for violence, and occasionally taking opportunities to mistreat some of their patients. At times they all seem to sink to uncompassionate lows as the strain and stress of their job takes its toll. This is all matched by the hard edged cynicism of the Medical staff at the local Hospital. Tehy've seen it all before, they're over worked and it's a struggle for them to care about the patients anymore.

All in all it paints a bleak picture of Frank's world, there's a lot of black humour, and often you realise you are laughing at extreme cases of creulty between men. Our lead character seems as lost as many of the people who walk the streets of New York. Frank is looking for his own redemption, but failing miserably to find it. He longs for the high of saving somebody's life, but is too fixated on the failings to see the good he does. The atmosphere Scorsese paints in this movie reflects Franks state of mind, New York is a bizarre and twisted ghost town where death is an everyday part of life. Frenetic burst of action from the ambulance crews, cleverly evoked by jerky stop frame camera actions and a pounding rock score counter the slower state of Franks deteriorating mind. It all combines for a beautiful and thoughtful film, it's not always easy to understand how the paramedics do some of the things they do, but it's hard not to feel sympathy for Frank's state of mind. The performances of all the actors involved are impressive they make the characters real and believable.

This is a great film to see at a decent cinema, it really makes the most of Scorsese's wonderful direction and excellent sound track. A DVD is now available in this Country and is probably the best way to get this film. Picture and sound quality are god on this disc, but there's a dist
inct lack of extras. A short Production featurette is somewhat sickening as every single actor tells you how wonderful it was to work with all the other and very little is learnt about the making of the movie. A few interesting insights into its orgin come from Scorsese and also the writer of the original novel. The movie is an excellent and thought provoking 2 hours and well worth the moeny of the DVD, definately one to see.

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