Review of Bringing Out the Dead (1999) by Emeka W — 22 Jun 2011

Bringing Out the Dead is not one of Scorsese's best films, although it is perhaps his strangest. And, in some ways, one of his most important.

The film stars Nicolas Cage as Frank Pierce, a paramedic who seems to be barely holding on to his sanity. Frank has seen some awful stuff as a paramedic, and each night he is haunted by a woman who he once failed to save. This, combined with night after night of grueling drug overdoses, gunshot wounds and car accidents, causes Frank to slip in and out of emotional breakdowns and hallucinations. Each night Frank desperately tries to get his boss to fire him, and each night his boss says he'll fire him tomorrow.

This film is, stylistically, very similar to Taxi Driver, one of Scorsese's several masterpieces. Like Taxi Driver, Bringing Out the Dead concerns a man who drives through New York City each night, observing nothing but death and despair. Unlike that film, however, Bringing Out the Dead has no real plot to latch onto. There isn't much of a character arch, and none of Frank's relationships seem to go anywhere. It's just night after night of misery and depression. In this sense, it is more like life.

The second difference is in the soundtrack. Bringing Out the Dead lacks Taxi Driver's haunting score. Instead, the film is peppered with upbeat classic and punk rock songs by the likes of Van Morrison, The Clash, R.E.M., and The Who. I'm not really sure why this stylistic choice was made. It may be to try and alienate the audience from Frank's world. To keep us from experiencing Frank's depression. Or maybe just to keep us awake during this slow-paced, seemingly aimless film.

There really isn't a lot I want to say about this movie. I could praise Nicholas Cage's wonderful performance, Paul Schrader's biting script, the excellent supporting cast, or I could just go into detail about all the little moments that make this film work. However, this is a film people need to see for themselves. It truly is a one-of-a-kind experience that people won't necessarily enjoy (I know I didn't). But in a lot of ways it's something that people need to see. There really hasn't been a film like it that shows the gritty realism of the streets in a way that is so like life. Violent, depressing, aimless, and seemingly never ending.