Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) is a paramedic, probably one of the most grueling jobs out there. They work mostly late nights and live around death and pain. Every call a paramedic receives is never happy. It's all about trying to help somebody survive. Most the time it's physically, but some need the paramedics mentally too. Frank hasn't saved a life in months. He's helped people get better, but when so many of the victims have no pulse when he arrives, he's not going to save the already dead. His brain is fried and worked to exhaustion (through what he sees and what he imagines). Frank arrives at a cardiac arrest call where a family watches the father limp and dead lying on the bed. He's had no pulse for ten minutes which means his brain is fast becoming useless. He suggests playing music the father liked (Sinatra in this case) to help him recover. They get a pulse but no other signs of life, so they bring him to the hospital. The daughter Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette) is in and out of the hospital looking for information on her father. Frank takes a liking to her, but it's not love. It's about Frank wanting to help save some one (as a paramedic would) and in turn she'll help him over come his demons.
Frank spends three nearly sleepless nights working with three different partners as her makes rounds around NYC. His first partner is Larry (John Goodman) somebody who has food on his mind all the time. It's his way of dealing with the job (he gets mad when he realizes he may have the same meal twice in two days). The second night is Marcus (Ving Rhames), a gospel spewing man who believes that Jesus is saving the men and the paramedics are just his hands. There is a truly humorous scene where they arrive at a scene of a OD'd rockstar. Marcus has all the punk rockers take hands and pray for a miracle, when the rock star by the name of "I.B Bangin" (no joke) is revived. Marcus lights up and thanks the lord enthusiastically. This movie is actually quite funny, some of it morbid but others just plain funny. You'll be laughing one minute and feeling despair the other, the mix is is brilliantly done. Such as a scene where two abandon house squatters call in Frank. The man says his girlfriend is having a heart attack, but she's in labor. He say's thats impossible "we're both virgins"... well maybe one of you is. However once the babies actually start coming (you know it won't be simple) the movie is back to solemn and reflecting. The third partner and third night (being reborn like Jesus) is with Walls (Tom Sizemore), a man who's coming apart at the havoc NYC shows, so he moves with it rather than against it.
I said this film is metaphorical because NYC might as well be Hell. The people there are almost always vile, cruel, angered beyond reason, love violence and exploit there bodies through a series of means. Junkies roam the city looking for a angry fix and will do anything for it. The whores walk outside without a care for themselves or the world. Crime is rampart and unyielding. It is a cruel place Frank works and it's killing him. He is not living a life much better. He see's a woman Rose who he could not save, and she haunts him (Her death flashback is a marvelous scene). Frank is one of the few men out there who walks into work wanting to get fired, but doesn't for odd reasons. He asks for time off, he can't get it, so he tries to get fired. He won't quit because he knows deep down this job is a part of him. The feeling of saving a life is the greatest high one can get. Frank says it feels like being God. Mary is a woman with problems too. Saying only the strong can deal with addiction. The strong don't need addiction and don't divulge into the evil's the cities offer in the first place. NYC is a very dirty place and it's the only place Frank sees as home.
This a phenomenal film. It can affect you in many ways. Some will be delighted by it's dark humor ("Don't make me take off my sunglasses" should be a classic line) and others will reflect on the pain Frank has. Nicholas Cage is a on and off actor. "The Wicker Man", "Ghost Rider", "National Treasure 2: The Book of Secrets"among other others show he is a ridiculous actor with little skill. "Leaving Las Vegas", "Adaptation" and "Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call - New Orleans" show his talent and put him at the foremost of actors in the world. "Bringing Out The Dead" shows his talent once again. His painful eyes and descent into madness is masterful acting. This is a throwback to "Taxi Driver " for Scorsese and in my mind still his masterpiece. So I was bound to like this film as well. I've read from two critics and some people that this film is the balancing out point to "Fight Club" in 1999. Where "Fight Club" promoted mindless violence and at least turning off your brain to the problems in the world. "Bringing Out The Dead" shows the world's it's problems and doesn't shy away, but tries to impact the audience. It wants the people watching to understand and then to disregard violence. I got to agree with them there. I love "Fight Club" and always will, but it's a sound argument against it (you can look up more details online). However "Bringing Out The Dead" is a first rate film that will take through hell and back, a masterpiece.
10/10
Recommendation: All around it's very enjoyable. A style kind of like "Fight Club", humor like "Pulp Fiction", grittiness like "Taxi Driver". This is one hell of a movie. Not the strongest 10/10 I've given, but I don't saw a flaw or anything to take it down in rating.
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