BPL Movie Review: "Bringing Out the Dead"
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| "In light of today’s medical circumstances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Bringing Out the Dead also made me realize that there are only a handful of films that explore the relentless chaos that comes with being an EMT or a paramedic. They are society’s heroes right now, and they should be."-From Movie Review by William Anthony of Central Library Citizens Services Department |
By William Anthony, Citizens Services Department|Central Library
Bringing Out the Dead involves an unlikely collaboration. Legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese directs the eccentric, typically over-the-top Nicolas Cage in this movie about a sleepless, fed-up paramedic who must endure the continuous, demanding stress of his job. In fact, this is the only time that Scorsese and Cage have worked together on a film.
As an actor, Cage is notorious for overacting or just not hesitating to go completely insane. However, his role as Frank Pierce actually helps him to restrain his standard intensity and absorb the non-stop work as a paramedic. He bursts out into random fits of madness only when it is appropriate or even reasonable to behave in this manner.
Whenever Frank drives his ambulance through the grimy streets of Manhattan, he hallucinates the ghosts of all the patients that died while he tried to save them. These past failings haunt him as he attempts to rescue several victims of suicide, homicide or drug overdoses. Frank tries to find peace of mind in a city that appears void of tranquility.
Its muted cinematography makes Bringing Out the Dead all the more unnerving from one night shift to the next one. This is why an unsettling darkness effortlessly pervades this supernatural, psychological drama.
Frank and his three different co-drivers tend to the patients’ fatal wounds and deal with the strange, psychotic episodes of a few people that they encounter regularly. These three co-drivers are all portrayed by the always dependable character actors: John Goodman, Ving Rhames, and Tom Sizemore. His co-drivers share their unique and even contrasting outlooks on this job not meant for everybody who may not be used to witnessing someone else die or at least near-death experiences.
This ambulance paramedic even befriends Patricia Arquette’s Mary Burke after he attempts to save her father. Some scenes feel like that they cave in on you, especially when Frank speeds down a street to a rock and roll soundtrack or when he helps
deliver a woman’s baby in a grungy, rundown apartment. He even crashes his ambulance at one point in the movie.
Bringing Out the Dead is ultimately a story of redemption, which is a recurring theme in some of Scorsese’s other films such as Silence and The Last Temptation of Christ. Such a unique movie went largely unnoticed in theaters back in 1999, and it deserves more recognition.
In light of today’s medical circumstances amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Bringing Out the Dead also made me realize that there are only a handful of films that explore the relentless chaos that comes with being an EMT or a paramedic. They are society’s heroes right now, and they should be. This is why Bringing Out the Dead is worth revisiting so that other films can build upon these emergencies from this time period’s perspective.
Bringing Out the Dead is available to stream on Kanopy. Bringing Out the Dead is also available to borrow on DVD in the Jefferson County Library Cooperative, which includes all 18 BPL locations.
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