Fearless (1993)

None of us can view a movie objectively apart from the sum of who we are. Having a classical music background, I am always keyed into a film's use of music. Fearless reminds me that the combination of music and film is an art form which has been sadly neglected in modern culture and trashed by MTV. This movie is high art. The final sequence is emotionally and spiritually a transcending experience, illustrating the bittersweet reality of human existence. An experience not available through words, music, or images on their own. I cried like a baby. Movies tend to be built upon a setup and a payoff. Tension and release are the common currency for most art. I have never seen a better cinematic payoff than the one Fearless provides. And that's because the setup is flawless. There is endless brilliance here in the telling of the story. Don't miss the use of light. Light flashing across Max's face when death is at the door; in the plane and the car scene with Carla.(If possible, Fearless might have been even more effective in black and white.) The subtle transition to slow motion during the scene with Carla and the baby at the mall. Jeff Bridges is irresistible in this performance. His character has been translated out of the realm of corporeal perspective.(As demonstrated through his allergy to strawberries.) When he walks through the plane and assures the passengers that everything will be fine, I believed him. His appearance is almost a religious experience. But his serenity cannot last. He must be reborn into the frailties of human existence or he will be estranged from the world. And that is the payoff. The glorious payoff in which death in an airplane crash becomes a poetic vision of the human experience. We live, we die, but we imbue the universe with a greater purpose even if there is no god to acknowledge it. I hope history will judge this movie to be a classic, unappreciated in it's time. This is Peter Weir's masterpiece. It's hard for me to believe that he could follow this effort with the extremely banal and uninspiring "Truman Show" But I suppose even Mozart had off days.

Fmovies: This is an incredible film! Peter Weir once again proves that he is a genius director. The cast is also brilliant. I can't believe that the film didn't get any recognition for its achievements. If you like this film watch other movies directed by Weir like, "The Truman Show", "Dead Poet's Society", "Mosquito Coast", or "Green Card".

Fearless is a fascinating movie about the thin line between fear and rationality. Fear is so much more difficult to overpower, or even sometimes be conscious of, than reason that when we do overpower fear, it is not necessarily replaced by reason, but by exhilarating mania. Jeff Bridges, in one of his best performances, covers a lot of ground in his character, a survivor of a plane crash. Many die, including his business partner. The catastrophe metamorphoses his whole life thereafter. He enters an enhanced perceptive condition, believing he is dead, beginning to rethink life, death, God and the afterlife.

Bridges becomes addicted to walking a tightrope over death because it makes him feel as alive and enlightened as he possibly can. But this also dwindles his connection to his family and his life. He begins to have difficulty recognizing the limits of mortality, in some way perceiving himself as more than mere flesh and blood. Rosie Perez, however, in a performance equaling Bridges' in personal reconciliation with her role, plays another survivor, whose baby son she failed to protect from death by the crash. In her own aftermath, she is the unmistakable foil to Bridges' expansive superman complex as a mother who loses all will to live.

The two find themselves bonding, sharing a connection that transcends the love we tend to understand, or that Isabella Rossellini, as Bridges' wife, and Benicio Del Toro, as Perez's husband, tend to understand. And as Bridges begins to reach the dangerous peak of his high on existence, Perez is forced to make amends with the world, taking control of shaping herself. The film is a boundless interpretation of an all-encompassingly utilitarian philosophy, a kind of precept that amalgamates the black and white duality of unflappable idealism and hopeless despair.

There are peripheral nebbishy professionals played in bit parts by a gregarious Tom Hulce and John Turturro who has as a virtually futile psychologist-for-hire a sort of ironic missionary zeal. We hear Gorecki's beautiful major string orchestra sound. But the film would not have the same kind of clarity, or perhaps even the same themes, without the articulately detailed cinematic expression of Rafael Yglesias' material by the director, Peter Weir.

Fearless fmovies. When I first saw "Fearless" in a movie theater, I believe there were about 20 to 30 other moviegoers in the theater on a weekday afternoon. It was in it's second week in theaters. After the credits rolled, I heard a lot of weeping from the small but vocal audience.

Maybe the film flopped because some people expected a 1970's-style disaster flick with cardboard characters, laughable dialog and unknown extras & doubles performing dangerous stunts.

It's been almost eight years since watching "Fearless" for the first time. This is one of only 5 movies I actually own in my very small tape library.

Director Peter Weir amazes me. With a few exceptions (I didn't like "Dead Poets Society" and I haven't seen "Green Card"), he has always walked on a tightrope when it comes to telling a story. It might not result in a "satisfying" ending but when you think about what was presented two hours earlier, it makes a lot of sense. It's a logical and very fascinating progression.

I believe that Jeff Bridges can (almost) do no wrong. His character may not be very likable but put yourself in his character's shoes and you may understand the reasons why he believes that he is "fearless".

I haven't seen Isabella Rossellini's performance in "Blue Velvet" but it makes me wonder if her performance in that film beats her role as the caring but very confused wife of Jeff Bridges' character. She's definitely the heart of "Fearless". I cared for her. I felt empathy; her confusion of what her husband was doing to himself, her family and herself. She's on the outside trying her best to understand what it was like to survive a plane crash. But at the same time, not totally understanding what it was like to be on the ill-fated flight. Rossellini gave a glowing performance.

Rosie Perez's performance as the distraught woman who lost her young son in the crash was incredible. Unlike some people in this world, I do like Perez (thick Spanish accent and all). What really impressed me was how she captured the depth of losing her child. There have been some films & TV movies that have captured the effects of a family losing a spouse or adult child. There haven't been as many to deal with the loss of a child as well as "Fearless" did. Perez hasn't had a role with this much depth in a long time. I was pleasantly surprised when she received an Oscar nomination for Supporting Actress, the movie's only nomination.

The unrequited bond between Bridges' and Perez's characters was fascinating to watch. They survived something that their love ones will never understand. In the end, the two need to understand that despite their losses, they are still alive in this world and somehow they need to find a way to get back to reality.

Screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, who wrote the novel, captured the complexity of crash survivors almost flawlessly. One weak link: John Turturro had the thankless job of playing the underwritten role of the psychiatrist.

When a film like "Fearless" even inspires a music video (Brian McKnight's "Back At One"), then you know that this movie will have a lasting effect and with cable, VHS & DVD, it'll never be forgotten. I certainly haven't forgotten it.

This was a superb film. The actors were uniformly excellent. Jeff Bridges delivers one of his many outstanding, understated performances and should have had an Oscar nomination for this role. While I truly enjoy and respect Tom Hanks, Bridges' performance far surpassed Hanks' that year and Philadelphia was a mediocre movie at best.

The screenplay for Fearless was imaginative and original. I have never seen a story like it. Every scene in the film felt natural and real. The psychological thru-lines were utterly believable and no moment was over played or exploited. Every scene played as the most logical event based on the actions that came before it.

The characters, down to the smallest bit parts, were real and sympathetic. There were no good guys and bad guys. Each character, even the lawyer, had depth, multiple dimensions and valid reasons for their behavior. This was not the shallow Hollywood blockbuster designed to bring in the biggest box office possible. It was a thoughtful, often painful and sometimes exhilarating examination of normal people reacting to the most extreme of circumstances.

One technical note. The soundtrack on my disc was very muddy. I had to turn the sound up much higher than I usually do and yet there were still some lines of dialog that I could not make out. Still this was an outstanding under-appreciated film that deserves to be seen and experienced by a wide audience.

Someone told me once that this film was supposed to be about post-traumatic stress syndrome. That's like saying that 2001 was about how to eat in space.

This is a movie about the most intimate moment a person can ever share with others: The moment of his death. The character Max (played by Bridges) is confronted with it, and his experience is ours.

This movie, for me, is best viewed alone, with no distractions whatsoever. One of the more powerful sublime moments in the film for me is when Max is merely sitting next to his rental car in the desert, making mud from his own spit. He sees it in a new way. And thus he sees the world. To a degree, so did I.