I couldn't agree more with the title of this review.

A film from 1999 directed by Martin Scorcese, Bringing out The Dead could be one of Nic's most undersung performances?

I am yet to read the novel,  must remedy that!

Bringing Out the Dead (1999) was Written by Paul Schrader (based on the excellent novel by Joe Connelly) and Directed by Martin Scorsese.

The film follows the life of New York City Paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) over a short period of days and nights (but mostly nights) while he struggles through his hellish job in a semi-paralyzed dream-like state of insomnia, depression and alcoholism. As Frank becomes increasingly unstable from a lack of sleep and a deteriorating state of mind, he is haunted by the ghost of a young woman he failed to save, through no fault of his own, and the lines between life and death, good and bad, real and false become blurred for Frank on each more taxing work shift. His only hope at rescuing himself from certain self-destruction is through an unlikely bond he forms with the similarly damaged daughter (Patricia Arquette) of a patient he seemingly brings back from the dead after the man suffers cardiac arrest.

In making Bringing Out the Dead, Martin Scorsese produced a film that not only confirmed his brilliance as a versatile director, capable of incorporating almost any visual style of filming and storytelling into his work, but he also proved to his critics once again that he has no boundary to stay within other than his own creative vision. This is not Goodfellas or Casino, both films which while also brilliant and brutal do have a distinct amount of accessibility; it’s hard not to be enthralled by the characters in both films no matter how disturbing, brutal or destructive their actions are and both also have a strong and methodical plot. Bringing Out the Dead is more an observation of New York City and it’s collective mind-bending nighttime chaos than it is of any one human character, which is kind of a departure for a Director who so loves to explore the mind of very solidly developed characters, and definitely a departure for him in terms of plot because this film has little if any structure beyond our observation of Frank and all those he sees or comes into contact with. As the film itself proves though, there is little need for strong plot structure when in the midst of such chaotic and burnt-out surroundings, especially when seen through the eyes of characters such as these. We are just passengers in Frank’s Ambulance, observing the chaos of events we know take place outside in the real world every day, but that we also choose not to dream about or experience ourselves.

Nicolas Cage’s Frank Pierce should be, and in some cases is, the poster boy for any disaffected man who suffers from insomnia, or any kind of regularly suffered sleep related problem. As someone who has and does suffer from such problems, albeit far less extremely, it’s shockingly easy to draw parallels with Frank’s long-drawn out and developing state of altered reality, forced into his being by the lack of repair, comfort, refreshment and escape that sleep offers. Nicolas Cage is absolutely outstanding in the portrayal of his character and his casting is all the more perfect for his ability to display not only the mental strain but also the physical strain on his being. Cage becomes much more noticeably detached as the film develops, portraying his growing confusion at what may be a warped reality coupled with a longing for and fascination towards Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette) that most of us may recognize from similar dreams of our own, longings or fantasies about people we seek a connection with, regardless of whether that connection is for love or friendship. For Frank and his despaired state of mind, I think it is a little of both.

The relationship or bond or connection, or whatever it is (can we often define our encounters with people accurately?) that exists between Frank and Mary is also pleasingly left at times to our own interpretation. There are moments in the film that to me seem to suggest that perhaps Mary is not even real at all, possibly an imagined figure of Frank’s desires to appease his loneliness and feelings of disconnect; there is one scene in particular where Mary almost seems to be talking over Frank’s mumbling while he attempts to comfort her at the hospital, suggesting perhaps that he is accidentally eavesdropping on or recycling the words of one of many grieving family members, and there is another scene where Frank rides in the back of the Ambulance with Mary while both sit in complete silence, Frank looking as if he may already be asleep and fantasizing with eyes still open while an almost inappropriately cheesy song plays. Further evidence to suggest this theory is also presented when Mary mentions that perhaps Frank was once sent to assist her when she had overdosed in the past - did he bury her in the back of his sub-conscious on one such visit? Regardless of the true nature of her character, Patricia Arquette is also outstanding in her role. Emphasizing her delicate, almost hypnotic, but also morbidly ethereal attractiveness, she speaks softly and in one tone which again adds to the overall dreaminess of the scenes she graces.

It would be unfair while praising Nicolas Cage and Patricia Arquette so highly to not also appreciate the better-than-fine performances also delivered by the supporting cast, especially in the cases of Tom Sizemore, Jon Goodman and Ving Rhames - each with their own distinctive “on board” personalities which is a term I would use to describe the behavior that is forced out their beings by suffering the effects of the maddening duty that they perform on the streets of New York City. Tom Sizemore is perhaps the most mesmerizing, and I’ll go out on a limb (but not much of one really) to say that he was most likely stoned or deep into a bottle when he filmed most of his scenes. This seemingly chemically-altered performance perfectly coincides with the erratic, explosive and randomly violent outbursts of his character. Jon Goodman is as impressive as always, and his character is a man on the edge of his tolerance for the work, but luckily for him he seems to be the most mentally stable of the group of Paramedics depicted. I imagine that the burden and responsibility of the family and children he mentions are an important escape tool for his psyche as it seems he is more disturbed by the physical duties and experiences of the job (i.e the personal hygiene of patients, and the requirement to clean up after them) than the emotional effect it can have. I think it is his life outside of his work that prevents him walking the same path as Frank, who’s work dominates his life in the absence of any other credible substance or presence. Ving Rhames’ character’s re-born Christianity provides him with the will and motivation to believe in and take meaning from his work, and he is also the source of the scarce but not completely dark humor that the film contains.

In closing, Bringing Out the Dead is very much a film that I would recommend to any person who has an interest in cinema and it’s many forms. It is not a popcorn film, nor one that will guarantee you an undisturbed night’s sleep - but it does have the potential to enthrall you, because behind it’s often pitch black darkness and disturbing subject matter is an equally career best performance from Nicolas Cage, who proves that Leaving Las Vegas was not a one off and that his talent is disguised only by poor role choices, but it also to me seals the notion that Martin Scorsese is truly a master of the art form with an ability to make a movie dictated by the material itself, and not by the machine that Hollywood so often is at the highest level.

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