Bringing Out The Dead (1999) : Ambulance Driver [Mike’s Review]
Today on Cage Club we try to save lives without very much luck in “Bringing Out the Dead”. We close out the millennium with a movie quite unlike any other film we will see at Cage Club. Directed by Martin Scorsese, this film is a visceral and intense look at the life of an EMS working the graveyard shift in one of the worst parts of New York City at the dawn of the 90’s. This movie takes place before the “Disney-fication” of Times Square and the major “clean up” that was instituted during the reign of Mayor Giuliani. Scorsese is interested in showing the dark side of the city, the lives that are mostly ignored or forgotten, the lost souls that roam the streets. He also has a story that calls for a certain amount of religious subtext that he is proficient in. There is a lot in common with his film “Taxi Driver” in the way he portrays the city with the camera to some shared themes like sanity and redemption.
The movie stars Cage as Frank, the EMS (Emergency Medical Services) guy who hasn’t saved a life in months and it’s really starting to get to him. Saving lives is like a drug and the high can last a good while, but if you haven’t saved someone recently then the side effects are just like a junkie without his fix, and Frank is starting to come apart at the seams. When we meet him he is already five years on the job and it doesn’t seem like things can get any worse for the guy as we follow him over the course of a three day shift on the weekend of a full moon. Each night gets repeatedly worse and more intense. Thursday night he and his partner, Larry (Cage Club welcomes back John Goodman) take a call and meet Mary played by actual wife of Cage at the time Patrica Arquette. Her father is dying and it’s up to Cage to save him. He resuscitate the Dad and brings him to the Hospital where it looks like all hell is breaking loose all the time. Mary’s father will remain on life support throughout the movie paralleling Frank’s journey through the city as he barely holds on to life as well. Friday, Frank is teamed up with Marcus, a religious enthusiast that let the God Complex get to him a bit too much played by three time Cage Club actor Ving Rhames. Frank explained the feeling of reviving someone and how you feel touched by God, or as if you are him in the moment, but Marcus is owing this persona to the max. The revive a junkie and save a baby, all in a night’s work, but Frank can’t see the positive side to any of it and dwells on the loss and suffering he sees. He’s especially haunted by the ghost of Rose, a girl he tired to save while chasing the high of saving lives. She is his subconscious trauma that he can’t get past. Because of her, something has changed inside Frank and he feels like there may be no turning back to the person he used to be. Saturday night Frank is partnered with Tom (Tom Sizemore), his original riding buddy and we get to see how he rolled in the old days. The movie shifts into overdrive and the camera works becomes even more aggressive to match the intensity of Frank and Tom themselves. It seems like there is no end in sight and the nights will go on forever as Frank tries overcome the grief and guilt of the ghosts that haunt him, hoping to find peace again.
The film is based on the novel by Joe Connelly and about his real life experience working as an EMS in NYC. It’s an autobiographical account of one man’s mission to save as many people as possible, and riding that rush all the way. You really get the sense of just how crazy it must have been out there on the street at night and it’s hard to tell what is an embellishment and what actually occurred. What is clear is the struggle for everyone to maintain their sanity while doing this job. Even Marcus and Tom who have found their coping methods in Religion and Aggression are only masking their true feelings and hiding from the truth that Frank is trying to get to. They are content to pretend that everything is okay and they cal let things roll off their back, but each of his partners has their breaking point too. Frank’s search for redemption helps him find peace both mentally and physically. It was interesting to see Cage and Arquette acting to gather like so many acting couples throughout the years. They pull it off better than most but I tend to believe the character of Mary was a little underwritten to begin with. Arquette definitely makes the most of the Mary character which is a little underwritten compared to the richness of Franks EMS partners or even the nurses in the hospital. I do however believe the couple looks nature and comfortable on screen together and would have liked to see them work to gather more.
Next up on Cage Club we come out of retirement to save our brother’s life by getting the gang back together so we can boost 50 cars in 3 days. We get “Gone in 60sec.” next time on Cage Club, so don’t forget to buckle-up !!!
Mike
@the_mikestir
