Bringing Out the Dead

He has been called the greatest living director by multiple critics and even Steven Spielberg. With accolades like this, I sought out Bringing Out the Dead eagerly. After viewing, however, it's hard to claim that Scorsese's brilliance was shown consistently during Bringing Out the Dead.

Bringing Out the Dead is a visually stimulating journey. Like Kubrick and most other noteworthy directors, he relies on the image much more than the dialogue. More can be said with a devastating image than a narrative about a disaster. Scorsese's reliance on the effects of the image is very evident. Editing by fade, or quick morph shots, or shots that are sped up, so as to create a frantic kinetic energy are used repeatedly throughout, enhancing the pace of the film.

The color red, like so many recent movies, is given extra life. Eyes Wide Shut highlighted the reds on the Christmas trees of New York, American Beauty highlighted the reds of the beautiful roses, and Bringing Out the Dead highlights the reds of the traffic lights and the ambulance. Interesting film saturation techniques are used to convey some sort of meaning, with the red and white of Nicolas Cage's uniform being overexposed. I don't exactly know what this is supposed to convey, or which emotion it is suppposed to resonate with the audience, but it's used to an interesting visual effect.

The movie covers three days of nightlife in downtown New York City. One patient's daughter gets much screen time, yet the film doesn't really explain her importance. She provides a link to getting over the trauma of his experience. The scriptwriter, while the dialogue was sharp and witty, doesn't provide much character development. The plot seems very contrived, and because of the lack of interesting characters, the movie drags on way too long.

Nicolas Cage plays a burn-out paramedic who is haunted by a girl he couldn't save. He does provide a very good performance and because of this he is the highlight of the film.

I was hoping for a little more from one of the most accomplished directors of our time. Bringing Out the Dead is little more than boring, and is definitely not the type of wizardry you expect from Scorsese.

On a scale of 1 to 10 drunk paramedics: 5