Review of Fearless (1993) by Michael A — 10 Jun 2008

The film Fearless directed by Peter Weir follows the main character Max Kline, played by Jeff Bridges, as he deals with himself and others psychologically after he experiences a near death experience. This near death experience is himself and others survival of a horrendous plane crash. Bridges character leads the others to safety immediately after the crash and then disappears randomly to visit an old friend. When he returns to San Francisco and his family the viewer quickly realizes that there is something very wrong with Bridges as does things like slapping a psychologist in the face and walking through highway traffic. Throughout the most of the rest of the movie he is hostile towards his wife and children and distant from all others. He does however find a peculiar relationship with another survivor of the crash a Hispanic woman who lost her child in the crash. After he initially wakes her up from her shock induced depression they lead a very strange existence doing things such as buying presents for the dead at a mall all the while trying to recover and rejoin normal society. This however leads Bridgesâ?? character into trouble as it seems that he knows what to do to help all others but not how to help himself and he does many irrational things including contemplating jumping of a roof while standing on the edge. For both of these characters it takes dramatic measures to snap them out of their state. Bridges crashes his car into a concrete wall to prove to Carla that she could not have held her baby under the circumstances of the crash and Bridges needs another near death experience involving a food allergy to awake him. The movie centers on his relationships with others and his struggle to regain his identity after a traumatic event.

Fearless is a deeply moving film that touches the very core of our being as humans and our relationships with others and with fear. Broadly this film makes a societal comment regarding the reality that right after he comes home from surviving this crash he is immediately bombarded by lawyers and the press all who want him solely for his value to them as a story or a payout. This, the movie is saying, is morally incorrect and his reluctance and hesitation to grant interviews and more importantly lie for the sake of a settlement in a lawsuit illustrate this. It is right after Bridges is asked to lie about his partnerâ??s death that he has his episode on the roof and before standing on the ledge sits in the corner of the roof showing how he feels cornered by society and those around him who do not understand him and what he is going through. This misunderstanding leads him to seek a relationship with one of the only people he feels drawn to his fellow survivor Carla. He is also drawn to her because he knows that what heâ??s doing for her is what he needs to be done to him to help him. Another underlying theme stems from this that he always knows what can be done to help others but not to help him. Bridges character is also quite cynical after the accident and when Carla brings him to her catholic church he snickers at the very thought of religion. He goes on to reject morality in general making the observation that if God is really â??in chargeâ?? it doesnâ??t matter what we as individuals do He will smite us as he sees fit. This mantra leads him to his highway crossing and laughing in the face of death yelling that God wants to kill him but canâ??t. This mindset also leads him to become more distant from his family and twice during the movie his wife talks to just his silhouette symbolizing him as just silhouette of the man he was before the crash.

Bridgesâ?? character proves that to live completely without fear is unhealthy and self-destructive making some fear a good thing. The main question that ran through my mind during the course of the movie was that of the fear that people do let in, is the fear of death and fear of God a good or bad thing? This is a very complicated and not easily answered but it is central to this movie and can be applied explicitly to Bridgesâ?? problems and their solutions. This question will not be answered anytime soon but it is definitely beneficial to the viewer to have this question floating around their head during the entirety of the movie.