Falling Down (5 Stars)

This is the second film I've watched this week in remembrance of Joel Schumacher, who died three days ago on 22nd June. This is the film I'll always remember him for. I just checked my (provisional) list of my top 100 films, and it's in the top 20. I shan't specify the exact place, in case I change my mind before I publish the full list.

Today is the first time I noticed the street signs above Bill Foster's head. When I watched the film in the past the name wasn't so relevant.

The film's casting is perfect, right down to minor characters, including Karina Arroyave as Angie.

The film's real hero is Robert Duvall as Sergeant Prendergast. Or is he? That depends on how you interpret the motivation of Bill Foster. He's obviously sick, he obviously needs help, but is he a killer? Prendergast thinks that he intends to kill his wife and daughter, but I disagree. Today is the first time that I listened to Michael Douglas' interview on the Blu-ray disc, and he agrees with me. He says that Bill Foster wouldn't have killed them.

The whole film is based on a series of tragic misunderstandings. Why did Bill's wife divorce him? She says that she thought he might become violent, but when questioned she admits that he never hit her. If she'd understood his problems better she could have helped him instead of sending him away.

I admit, it's easy to misunderstand Bill. In the fast food restaurant everyone thinks Bill wants to kill them, even though he means them no harm. Looking at him, I can understand their mistake.

The film has such power, from beginning to end. It doesn't let up for a minute. I'll finish by quoting Roger Ebert, one of the few film critics who fully understood the film:

"Some will find it racist, because the targets of the film's hero are African-American, Latino and Korean, with a few whites thrown in for balance. This is a facile reading of the film, which is actually about a great sadness which turns into madness, and which can afflict anyone who is told, after many years of hard work, that he is unnecessary and irrelevant. What is fascinating about the Douglas character, as written and played, is the core of sadness in his soul. Yes, by the time we meet him he has gone over the edge. But there is no exhilaration in his rampage, no release. He seems weary and confused, and in his actions he unconsciously follows scripts that he may have learned from the movies, or on the news, where other frustrated misfits vent their rage on innocent bystanders".

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P.S. I survived the Countdown app that I installed yesterday. I should have died in my sleep, but I woke up this morning, and the counter was down to zero. I uninstalled the app, confident that Ozhin has been defeated.