Jeff Bridges, one of our most brilliant actors, gives such a stellar performance in Fearless, Peter Weir’s new film, that he almost overcomes the trappings of a narrative that is not particularly well-structured.
For the past two decades, Bridges has been showing his good looks and skillful versatility in film after film, with such highlights as The Last Picture Show (1971), for which he won his first Oscar nomination, and this year’s American Heart, a small indie about a father-son relationship that very few viewers saw.
Bridges is cast as Max Klein, a middle-aged, happily married (his wife is played by Isabella Rossellini) San Francisco architect who survives a terrific airplane crash.
Screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, who adapted his own novel, doesn’t shy away from dealing with the most existential issues: fear of death–and of life itself in the face of tragedy. It’s the kind of theme that very few American movies would even try to portray.
(The screenwriter was inspired to write the tale after going through a car accident himself.)
Peter Weir is the perfect director for such issues. Weir has shown his penchant for life’s mysteries and Gothic horror stories from his 1974 debut, The Cars That Ate Paris, through his masterpiece Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), a haunting tale of a turn-of-the-century picnic that turns tragic after stirring the repressed sexuality of girls in a rigid boarding school.
I would rather not mention Weir’s 1990 frivolous comedy, Green Card, or even the more successful if also sentimental, Dead Poets Society, which shares some common themes with Fearless.
In fact, most of Weir’s movies (The Last Wave, Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness) are situated in societies or places that appear to be calm and stable but are actually about to collapse as a result of both internal human fears and external events over which their residents have little or no control.
The first 15 minutes of Fearless are so striking in their use of visual and sound effects that they set the right tone and scary tension for a saga of a man who believes he had actually died and is now on the brink of madness.
The film depicts one of the most horrifying plane crashes to be seen in a Hollywood movie, and it deals with the issue the arbitrariness of survival, namely, how arbitrary (or random) are the positions of those who survive and those who do not.
Max is surrounded–and contrasted–with his wife and little boy, and two women. The first is played by Rosie Perez, who renders a truly heartbreaking performance as Carla, a young mother who loses her baby during the crash. The other woman is the wife of Bridges’ partner, who died in the accident.
And in the background, there are corrupt lawyers trying to make the most out of this tragic accident, hungry journalists for sensationalistic stories, suspicious insurance companies, etc.
The second part of Fearless resorts to melodramatic devices, including a powerful sequence that depicts the exorcism of Perez’s Carla’s guilt over her failure to save her toddler.
The resolution, in which life is reclaimed and reaffirmed by Max, also negates the serious atmosphere and honest intentions of the writer and director in the first hour of the film.
Though not entirely satisfying, Fearless is one of the few studio films that actually makes you think. Fearless is also likely to leave some strong imprint on you when the experience is over.
Unlike most Hollywood disaster movies, which are schlocky and offer facile entertainment with their all-star casts, Fearless is one of the best disaster movies or rather best movies about disaster.
Spoiler Alert: Movie Ending
Brillstein arrives at the Klein home to celebrate the airline’s settlement offer, bringing a fruit basket. Max eats one of the strawberries, but this time, he experiences allergic reaction. Resuscitated by Laura, he survives, and recovers his emotional connection to his family, to the world, and to the reality of yet another chance at life.
The film’s soundtrack features the first movement of Henryk Górecki’s Symphony No. 3, subtitled “Symphony of Sorrowful Songs.”
A book containing Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The Ascent into the Empyrean is shown on screen. It is said that the dying go into the light of heaven “naked and alone.” Near the finale as Max relives his moving from the fuselage of the aircraft, and for a moment he looks towards the tunnel of light, modeled on the painting.
Cast
Jeff Bridges as Max Klein
Isabella Rossellini as Laura Klein
Rosie Perez as Carla Rodrigo
Tom Hulce as Steven Brillstein
John Turturro as Dr. Bill Perlman
Benicio del Toro as Manny Rodrigo
Deirdre O’Connell as Nan Gordon
John de Lancie as Jeff Gordon
Debra Monk as Alison
William Newman as Elderly Man
