Bringing Out the Dead

Just as Raging Bull probably didn’t fill many with enthusiasm for boxing or The Aviator for flying, Bringing Out the Dead won’t swell the ranks of people interested in medicine. Scorsese shows the saving of lives in all its squalidness. After the aesthetically refined, nearly bloodless Kundun, he probably needed to get his hands a little bit dirty again. Frank doesn’t have much time to think about why he is doing this disgusting and thankless job, but he feels that he can't have a fulfilling life with anything else. Like a shark that can’t stop moving, like an untreated addict who needs a steady supply of adrenaline, he navigates through night-time New York three times, accompanied by three different partners whose behaviour reflects Frank’s confused train of thought (from rapprochement to the desire to kill some patients). Relatively monotonous in his expressions, Cage was the perfect choice for the role, as most of his states, whether excited or totally lethargic, are expressed by other characters, sharp cuts, gliding camera movements and eye-catching lighting (due to overexposed scenes, characters dressed in light-coloured clothing look like ghosts in the dark). If the film is reminiscent of a psychedelic rock music video in places, it is not (for the most part) a matter of the director, editor or cameraman running wild, but rather a way to present to us the protagonist's precipitous perception of what’s going on around him without long bits of soul-searching dialogue. Frank’s returns to his messy apartment are too brief for him to replenish his energy. He’s always on the move. He runs away from the feelings of guilt that took on the form of an eighteen-year-old girl. He runs away from death, whose inevitability he is reminded of on a daily basis, in spite of which he refuses to reconcile himself with it. He tries to find absolution and solace in Mary (the Madonna), to whom he finds his way only after he relieves her father of his earthly suffering and replaces him through his actions. On a more general level, Bringing Out the Dead is a variation of the eternal story of the conflict between false prophets and messengers of the end of the world with a handful of persistent individuals who, even at the cost of their own self-destruction, try to keep the world from becoming unbearable. The intoxicating possibility of being God for a moment is stronger than the awareness of the inevitability of the end and the impossibility of changing the course of things (the recurring situations with Noel or Mr. Oh). Once a saviour, always a saviour. You won’t find a better drug on the streets. Like Frank, we are also overwhelmed by the rapid verbal exchanges, ambiguous images, the roar of the streets and loud music (which completes the acid-trip atmosphere while commenting on what’s happening). Thanks to the constant supply of audio-visual material, our minds are kept busy and the film goes by devilishly fast, leaving us astonished by the strangeness we have just witnessed over the past two hours (did a white horse really appear in that one shot?). Bring Out the Dead offers variations on some situations in Taxi Driver, but it is not merely an addendum to the latter film. The protagonist no longer stands opposite the despised creatures of the night. He has no choice but to live with them. Though he understands that fighting doesn’t make sense, he doesn’t stop trying. Pure Scorsese. 80% (01/14/2021) (less) (more)