"Stuck between dying and dead.."

Resource paper for film panel on
BRINGING OUT THE DEAD
Boston Faith & Film Festival

February 10, 2001

Rose Pacatte, fsp
Director
Pauline Center for Media Studies
mediastudies@pauline.org
www.pauline.org

 

Introductory remarks

When I first viewed Bringing Out the Dead, I just let my reactions and responses freely associate, and this is what I wrote down:

  • Too much death

  • Guilt

  • Saving lives

  • Bearing witness

  • Primal urges

  • Pulse of life

  • Heart

  • Hell

  • No where to run, no where to hide

  • One dies and one lives

  • Makes the program ER look like a ride through Disney World

  • Women as desirable but always flawed

  • Pierced

  • Pieta'

  • Misery

  • Mercy

Film noir, road movie, religious drama, even a little horror.. Any and all of these genres contribute to a description of Martin Scorsese's 1999, modestly successful film (it made under $17 million in about six weeks of general release in 1999 according to the issues of Variety that I consulted), Bringing Out the Dead, though no one genre entirely captures its essence.

Nicholas Cage plays Frank Pierce with the face of a "distressed El Greco painting" of the Christ, wrote Kevin Jackson in Sight and Sound (January 2000, p. 44). Using the high art metaphor, I would add that if Pierce has the face of an El Greco, his persona is placed on one long-playing Caravaggio canvas because the film is so dark.

Frank Pierce seems to be an older, disillusioned version of Travis Bickle, the protagonist of Scorsese's 1976 Taxi Driver: both characters cruise the streets of New York City hell and are idealistic: one is young, angry and violent who tries to right wrongs the wrong way, the other a burnt out martyr who keeps trying to give the cup of sorrow back to his supervisor. Both struggle with hope as they try to change the inevitable into something good.

Pierce is an EMS driver in Hells Kitchen, New York City, riddled with guilt and tired of too much dying, of taking death and grief too much to heart. Worse yet, the ghosts won't let him alone. Early on, writer Paul Schrader has Frank saying in a voice over:

"These spirits were part of the job. It was impossible to pass a building that didn't hold a ghost of something: the eyes of a corpse, the screams of a loved one. All the bodies leave their mark. You cannot be near the newly dead without feeling it."
(2000, Faber and Faber, London, page 17).

Martin Scorsese, for better or worse, is a Catholic filmmaker. "I'm a lapsed Catholic. But I am Roman Catholic - there's no way out of it" (quoted in After Image: The Incredible Catholic Imagination of Six Catholic American Filmmakers, Robert A. Blake, Loyola Press, 2000, p. 25). Robert A. Blake, SJ, of Boston College describes Scorsese's dominant ideology thus: "As a filmmaker, he is less interested in the world of concept and language, the realm of the theologian, than with the world of senses, feelings, and photographic images" (op cit. page 27). Of these, Bringing Out the Dead is full.

While the film visuals are Scorsese's, the words belong to Paul Schrader (though the script is based on a Joseph Connelly's 1998 autobiographical novel), a lapsed Calvinist (or former member of the Dutch Reformed Church). Here he once again (Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ) collaborates with Scorsese and we get a glimpse of mankind's complete depravity, along with a hint of the irresistibility of grace; it's like a struggle with predestination or inevitability. Like Scorsese, Schrader seems unable to escape the mark of his formative faith.

It's not easy for a terminally optimistic person to contemplate a film such as Bringing Out the Dead, never mind try to critically examine its on-screen representations try to make sense of death.

It is not easy for a woman to watch Bringing Out the Dead because Catholic filmmakers create and operate in a man's world (think of the films of John Ford, Coppola, Hitchcock and even Frank Capra). At times women do not do well in films made by Catholic men, however lapsed (cf. Blake) We can think of Hitchcock's Marnie or De Palma's Carrie. In Bringing Out the Dead, Mary, played by Patricia Arquette, needs redemption and at the same time she is a giver of solace - an interesting ambiguity (or dual role) that exists in the Frank Pierce character, Cy Coates and even Mr. Burke as well.

If anything, Bringing Out the Dead is an interesting film, which for me is not the highest of compliments. John Steinbeck once wrote of New York City: Once you've lived there, no other place is quite good enough. I lived in New York for almost thirteen years and I loved it. Bringing Out the Dead (and Taxi Driver) seem to give the message that the seven capital sins are alive and well, that Manhattan's glass is permanently half empty, rather than half full; that it's glass is smudged and you'll wear yourself out trying to see through it looking for the works of mercy and a tiny bit of beatitude. At one point, Frank says,

"You learn to sort of block it out, you know, like cops fence off a crime scene. But then something good will happen and everything will just glow" (Schrader, page 54).

Is this latest Scorsese-Schrader collaboration successful in terms of our theme of rebirth and resurrection? Are the characters reborn and resurrected? I think it depends on the lenses we bring to the film and the bar we set for ourselves for what makes a meaningful religious film, or a film that deals successfully with religious themes. Like other Scorsese films I have seen, this is a man's film and I wonder if it would take a masculine vision, even a masculine religious vision, to see through the darkness to find resurrection.

Taking a different approach, we can see the framework of the Apostle's Creed in the film: the descent into hell and after three days, a kind of resurrection that is rest and sleep. We, the viewers, accompany Frank through three days of hell, and by the end of the movie, we, too, are ready for rest and resurrection. In Bringing Out the Dead, the human experience and divine life are constantly visited.

I corresponded with Jim Wall, the Christian film critic from Chicago, about his take on Bringing Out the Dead, and here's what he said:

"One of the most winning religiously oriented films in recent years. Pierce wants to have the cup removed, 'fire me', but his boss says, 'maybe tomorrow, but tonight I need you out there.' Can't be more specific than that."

Now it's up to you to sit back, relax if you can, absorb the sights and sounds and decide for yourself. Ladies and gentlemen, may I present Bringing Out the Dead.

Panel Commentary

"Stuck between dying and dead."

In this brief commentary on Bringing Out the Dead, I would like to focus on the following points:

  • Fallen Away: how the traces of falling away from their original faith communities influenced Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader in this film

  • Sacramentality and the Word

  • Catholic Christian Beliefs about Resurrection

  • Rose: Symbol of Innocence or Cinematic Device?

  • Afterlife

Just the other night I was watching Dawson's Creek (!). Dawson was visiting an older man on life support in the hospital and he commented that his friend was "stuck between dying and dead." This seems to me to be a most fitting description of Frank Pierce and the people he interacts with in Bringing Out the Dead. Certainly we are all ultimately terminal but hopefully few of us experience being stuck in the same degree as Frank Pierce in the existential abyss that seems to be of his own choosing.

"I realized that my training was useful in less than ten per cent of the calls and saving someone's life was rarer than that, as the years went by I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than bearing witness, I was a grief mop and much of my job was to remove, if even for a short time, the grief starter of the grief product, it was enough that I simply showed up" (Schrader, p. 56).

Fallen Away

I would like to return to the idea of religious 'after image' that Richard A. Blake, SJ takes as his theme in his 2000 book of the same title. Blake, like Robert K. Johnston in Reel Spirituality, also published last year (Baker Book House, Grand Rapids) both engage with Scorsese's and Schrader's approach to religion and film. Scorsese is a lapsed Catholic and Schrader is a fallen away Calvinist (or former Dutch Reformed). To tell you the truth, when I initially watched Bringing Out the Dead, I was intrigued by the writing and began to research Paul Schrader. I have not yet seen his autobiographical film Hardcore, but it's on my list.

After discovering something of Schrader as an individual and his religious biography I began to look at him as a collaborator with Martin Scorsese. How did these two come together, first on Taxi Driver, then The Last Temptation of Christ, and Bringing Out the Dead? Blake deals extensively with the Scorsese-Schrader partnership (and I recommend Blake's book to you) but Jim Wall summed it up well when he wrote to me:

"I think Schrader and Scorsese meshed artistically because both were raised in strict religious traditions, rebelled, but have never lost that early mark."

Craig Detweiller, a Hollywood screenwriter with evangelical roots, wrote the following to me on February 9, 2000, about the Scorsese-Schrader team:

"Shrader is certainly among the most complex writer/directors working out of a 'haunting' faith tradition. 

Despite his best efforts to abandon his roots, they infuse almost every frame of his films.   His UCLA film school thesis, TRANSCENDENTAL STYLE IN FILM, was an effort to understand how 'spiritual' film can be. He found Ozu, Dreyer, and Bresson as his three shining examples.

He's tried to remake Bresson films with varying degrees of success. AMERICAN GIGOLO is a retelling of Bresson's PICKPOCKET. It's amazingly spiritual and graceful despite it's slick, superficial sheen.

TAXI DRIVER is all about a trip to hell--New York City--with
all the sin and cesspool he experienced moving there.   The
bloody, sacrificial ending was certainly an effort to cleanse
his (and Scorsese's) sins.   They both became very dangerous,
scary addicts--Scorsese to cocaine, Schrader to alcohol (I believe).

His later work, since LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, has tried to reconcile with his past.

AFFLICTION and LIGHTSLEEPER were both strong, powerful, painful personal films, that nobody saw.   

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD returned to all his themes, with the beautiful poetic ending taken from THE PIETA.   Basically, it's a two hour trip through hell for one minute and moment of grace at the end."

Sacramentality and the Word

One fascinating thing about their partnership is, as I noted in the introduction, the Catholic sacramentality of image that Scorsese contributes and Schrader's haunting script that seems to struggle with salvation only for the elect (one twin dies, another lives; Frank is able to save so few people that he can hardly go on living himself; Frank, in a God-Christ like way, stands in for Mr. Burke by taking upon himself the life support with the power to let him go in peace); the depravity of humankind (who is a good and free person in this film? Are any of the characters truly free?)

Scorsese wants to create feeling in the audience through image (and sound). 'Sacramentality' means that the outward image represents the inner or unseen reality. So all of the 'Catholic' images are not just decoration. If one is familiar with the images, then one kind of implicitly understands the meaning without thinking. One feels the meaning.

Schrader seems to want to explore the inner angst of the main character in particular and he does this through the 'word', or dialogue, which at times is heart rending to us because our feeling s are being layered by the visuals, and then the distress, the sorrow, the helplessness, the guilt are so evident in the words, especially the voice-overs.

While Scorsese revels in rich imagery, Schrader in sparse dialogue, these two POV's are not antagonistic in the film, but neither does their interface seem to blend. It's like there's this Catholic thing trying to figure out this Calvinist thing, and visa versa, side by side. For example, we get all this Catholic imagery, statues, the name of the hospital, and then we get a Protestant-style prayer service. We might ask: does this film reflect our ecumenical similarities, our differences and our attempts at walking together toward our final goal: God?

Whatever feelings may be evoked, Bringing Out the Dead is not a peaceful film. At best, to me, it is interesting and has led me to want to explore the films of Paul Schrader more, to look for his identifying stamp on his work, to see if he is, in fact, an auteur. My sneaking suspicion is that he is, however troubled.

Catholic Christian Beliefs about Resurrection

The belief in the resurrection of the dead, the whole human person, is central to the Christian faith (1 Cor 15; Apostle's Creed) and grounded in the Resurrection of Jesus. "Our hope for eternal life is not based on the inherent immorality of the human soul, but on the life giving Spirit of God, who alone is immortal and raises the dead.. Resurrection of the body does not mean the survival of a matrix of particular atoms, but identity and continuity of persons who live in a process of final transformation" (McBrian, Richard, Ed., Encyclopedia of Catholicism, Harper, New York, 1995, pp. 1110-1111).

Against the backdrop of this 'definition' and the religious backgrounds of Scorsese and Schrader (and most certainly Joseph Connelly), Bringing Out the Dead begins to make more sense.

Finally, we have a matrix for understanding the film.. The human person is not two separate entities, but a whole, body and soul and we will continue, even beyond death.

Sleep is a recurring theme in the film: the need to sleep, to be rid of the guilt, to rise refreshed and new. The final scene has Frank falling asleep in Mary's arms, referencing the Pieta'. Both Frank's and Mr. Burke's weariness, and Mary's to a lesser degree, are palpable. The film shows this continuity of life and the ghosts that haunt Frank remind us that life continues beyond death. Frank's Christ-like 'look', the way he controls life and death for Mr. Burke, his life as a failure but the sometimes hope that glows. can all be interpreted in Christian terms.

Rose: Symbol of Innocence or Cinematic Device?

Rose is an innocent who dies from an asthma attack according to the script. Why does her death bother Frank so much? Is it because she has been chosen, that she is the symbol of innocence and never should have died? Why is his burden of guilt so great? Frank seems to react to Rose's 'haunting' in fear and sorrow. Why is Rose the recurring ghost and not someone else? Frank knows Rose was good. Is this Scorsese's and Schrader's way of showing the grace of womanhood? Even so, she, the righteous one, still dies. Or is Frank's guilt a kind of projection of Scorsese's guilt, perhaps? Sometimes Frank seems to be 'savior', at other times the one needing forgiveness and salvation. Jim Wall included the following in his letter to me:

"I saw an interview with Scorsese once in which he said he is afraid to go to hell because of the life he has lived. He seems to have forgotten confession and absolution."

Martin Scorsese had a through Catholic education, even spending his high school freshman year at Cathedral Prep, a 'minor seminary' in New York City. His parish priest introduced him to movies, and Scorsese said once "My whole life has been religion and movies. Nothing else" (quoted by Blake, page 25). Perhaps Bringing Out the Dead is more autobiographical than one would initially think. After all, Scorsese once said, "There is no way out of [Catholicism].." Perhaps we can expand this by saying that there is no escape from the Divine, or borrowing the imagery of Francis Thompson, the relentless pursuit of the Hound of Heaven.

Another more simple reading is that Rose's character is a way to move the film along, making use of repetition to emphasize the difference between grace and hell. Just as simply, Rose can fulfill all the above.

Afterlife

If we are stuck between dying and death and then we die and are reborn, what are we reborn into? Bringing Out the Dead does not satisfactorily answer this question but rather leaves it as a question, almost prompting a sequel in order to respond.

I get the impression that neither Scorsese nor Schrader know what comes next, except hell. They "do" hell exceedingly well. I am not sure I'd want Scorsese and Schrader to make a movie about eternal happiness. Sleep and rest are not enough for me.

Conclusion

Scorsese and Schrader have transformed a work of non-fiction into a sleepless midnight nightmare saga of life and death, guilt and hope. How their particular points of view, experiences and ideologies color this film can be interpreted in many ways. Ultimately however, despite it's bleak, wet, lonely existence, everlasting life transcends hell and beckons us all.

We are all terminal and God is present and persistent. God will be there when we die and on the last day, we will be brought forth with all the dead, and we pray with all those who have died in the peace of Christ, including Scorsese and Schrader.

".As time went by I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than bearing witness. It was enough that I simply showed up" (Schrader, p. 56).

We will not die alone but I would have wished for a 'lighter' way to express the truth that we 'live' between dying and death, rather than just being 'stuck' in the inevitable downward trek to a midnight death on a Manhattan street. I would have liked to have been given more of a glimpse of heaven than sleep, though at times, in this earthly life, getting enough sleep seems like a taste of heaven.

BIBLIOGRPAHY

Blake, Richard A. (2000) After Image: The Indelible Catholic Imagination of Six

American Filmmakers. Loyola Press: Chicago

Burr, Ty, Graveyard Shift, Entertainment Weekly, pp. 80-81, October 29, 1999

Jackson, Kevin, Bringing Out the Dead, Sight and Sound, pp. 45-46, January 2000

Johnston, Robert K. (2000) Reel Spirituality: Theology and Film in Dialogue: Baker Book House: Grand Rapids

McBrian, Richard P. Ed., (1995) Encyclopedia of Catholicism. Harper: New York

Schrader, Paul (1999) Bringing Out the Dead. Faber and Faber: London

Stone, Bryan (2000) Faith and Film: Theological Themes at the Cinema. Chalice Press: St. Louis