| 10~22~99 Bringing Out the Dead -- To remove from within that which is no longer alive. What is it that was no longer alive? The old man that was being kept alive by machines was one. The guilt pangs of grief over the young girl that Cage couldn't save would be another. These two things were brought out, without doubt. Does a two hour long film have the right to hang many great vignettes on an age old thread of a man attempting to overcome his guilt in order to end his grief? Only if the vignettes strung along that thread somehow relate to the grieving process Cage is going through and guide him to an understanding of death and life that has hitherto eluded him. The seperate sections of Bringing Out the Dead do lend a hand to explain Cage's process and progress through the course of the film. Vignette one: Saving the old man. This first bit simply sets up the relationship between Cage, the old man and the old man's daughter. The old man is dead. Cage resuscitates him, and delivers him to the hospital. Cage developes a thing for the daughter, Arquette. Why? She's an Arquette, I don't know, maybe it's some sort of Florence Nightengale syndrome displaced from the old man to the daughter. Yes? Well, no. In the end we discover that Cage feels protective and caring of her because he is projecting onto her his desire to have saved the young girl he lost years before. The truth of this is seen when he awakes from a drug induced nightmare in which he relives losing the young girl in the past and hefts Arquette caveman style up over his shoulder and out of the friendly community oriented drug dealers pad. There's more proof in the last scene of the film. Between vignettes, Cage's narration tells us that he feels he is on a losing streak. He is losing almost every patient he is dispatched to attend to. In vignette two (If I'm missing vignettes excuse me, my mind ain't so hot tonight) Cage and partner, Goodman, are directed by Scorsese, literally, he is the voice of the dispatcher, to pick up a stinking old drunk who drinks himself to near demise every night. What the old drunk is supposed to illuminate for the viewer, I am not completely clear on. He is a constant. He and Cage both deal with death, albeit in differing ways, every night. Cage is also on a path of self-medication with booze. The next pertinent vignette brings cage to the desk of his chief. He has arrived to work late and is more or less pressing his chief to keep his promise that if he was ever late again he would be fired. It's a no go. He won't walk away from the job which defines his life, especially over the two hours course of the film, and he won't be dismissed either. This is parralleled in a late vignette in which he is dispatched to a section of NY that looks like Hell on a bad day to deal with an attempted suicide. The self inflicted lacerations to the wrists are shallow and cross-wise as opposed to length-wise. Cage encourages the suicidal vagrant to take his knife and slice deeply lengthiwise if he really wants to die. Cage screams at him that he is selfish to go living when he wants to die and many good people who want to live are ruthlessly murdered every day. The old bum runs in fear of Cage. Cage can't walk away from his job anymore than someone can walk away from their life when they really don't want to go. I'm not saying people can keep themselves alive through pure force of will. What I am saying is that people are in control of what they want with their lives. The bum does want to live and Cage does want to work EMS. This may help him see that. In a crack-house Cage and his partner end up delivering two babies, twins. One is still born, the other a healthy boy. The dichotomies of life and death, joy and sorrow, are brought to a head here with Cage. It is a sort of turning point, a balance, from which he can begin to find ground to heal his grief. In another vignette, the friendly community oriented drug dealer who gave Cage the pill to have his drug-induced nightmare is found impaled on a 14th balconies' guard rail after a drugged out kid shot two of his friends. The drug dealer has lost everything, but maintains the will to live. He looks out over NY as paramedics work to blowtorch through the wrought iron railing to free him, and comments on the cities beauty. Once free, the drug dealer almost plummets if not for Cage being able to hold on to him. Later at the hospital, Cage is told, "You saved my life." After that point in the film, Cage is able to take the old man's life he saved in the first vignette. The old man is flatlining throughout the film, and Cage has been hearing him requesting release from life. He is finally released. The dead are brought of life. When Cage goes to tell the old man's daughter that he passed away, he sees the young girl he lost in her face. This isn't surprising since he's been seeing her face everywhere like Homer seeing Moes' after having his "Flaming Homer" ripped off. Nicholas Cage tells the girl he is sorry. She tells him he doesn't have to feel sorry and that she never wanted him too but taking the blame for her death and grieving were his ideas. The End
There, all nice and tidy. Great. I like the film, but for my money it lacks daring. There is nothing even close to as dangerous in the ending of this movie as there is in Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Raging Bull or even After Hours. Nicholas Cage is redeemed. Is that it? Now, he no longer feels the pain of life and death, especially considering the closeness his job brings him to them? It's not that easy. It can't be. It isn't for anyone else, but the note the movie goes out on implies everything will be okay for Mr. cage from here on out. Hooray!! |