ironhorse_iv
We've all had bad days. And oftentimes, a day that starts out horrible just keeps getting worse, snowballing into a really awful day. This is how 1993's crime thriller, 'Falling Down' begins. Directed by Joel Schumacher & taken place on, one of the hottest days in Los Angeles, California's history; the film written by Ebbe Roe Smith, the film tells the story of an defense worker, William Foster (Michael Douglas) trying to get home for his daughter's birthday party, only to get frustrated with the various flaws he sees in society, which starts to unravel him, until he suffer from a major to psychotically and violently unstable mental breakdown. Without spoiling the movie, too much, I have to say, that, the English Hard Rock Band, Iron Maiden got it right with this man. He was truly on the edge, with each step gets closer to losing his head. Even if, we can't condone his extreme actions, as least, some of us, can relate to the issues, he had to deal with. Everybody, at least, had one of these days. If you can't relate to his struggles, as least, you can understand, the frustrations that Det. Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall), had to deal with on his last day on the force on figuring out the mystery, who is this madman, is all about. Both of these character's stories, make 'Falling Down', a very intriguing, yet challenging movie, worth watching. Added to that, is the wonderful use of music by James Newton Howard that set the mood, and powerful visual cinematography from Andrzej Bartkowiak under Schumacher's direction. Sunny LA has never look, so bleak and hopeless, before. Great use of desaturated and low tech camera-work and shooting at rundown locations. Also great use of symbolism and metaphors throughout the film, like the running use of the lyrics of 'London Bridge' & others. However, I do have to say, the film isn't with some faults & I'm not talking about the minor nitpicking goofs. I'm talking about how the film was notorious criticize by critics at the time, for its treatment of minorities; mostly with how they show Korean and Latino Americans as thugs. It got so bad, that Warner Brothers canceled the release of 'Falling Down' in South Korea & certain Latin America countries following boycott threats. In my opinion, while I can understand the reasons, why minorities groups like Korean & Latino American Coalition got anger. After all, the film was made, during and released just after the 1992 Los Angeles Riot where Koreans and Latinos were targeted by police and looters. In truth, there was plenty of positive, Hispanic & Asian Americans characters in the film, like Detective Brian (Steve Park) & Detective Sandra Torres (Rachel Ticotin). Both characters were played by Korean and Latina performers. If anything, if you look at the majority of negatively characters, throughout the film. Most of them, were portray with white actors. Plus, as a minority, the portrayal weren't as bad, as people back then, make it out to be. Compare to other films back then, it's pretty tame. I just think, these groups are just missing the point. The film is trying to tackle the struggles, of trying to get along, despite cultural differences, language as well, as the economic conditions, in which, many of us, Americans, lived under. Honestly, if there is any real faults for this film, it wouldn't be their use of harsh-language & violence; if anything, it would be, due to the fact, that the film couldn't stop itself, being label as the negative 'angry white racism man' movie. While, on the surface, the film might look like the stereotypically disproportionally portrayal of an older White Americans, having animosity toward minorities; in truth, the film is nothing like that. We sees, throughout the film, William Foster getting along with a number of minorities. Some good examples are the 'Under Construction' scene, where a young unnamed black kid (Valentino Harrison) teach him, how to use a bazooka and the scene with the not economically viable man (Vondie Curtis-Hall). There is even, a scene where Foster disagree with a Neo-Nazi Surplus Store Owner (Frederic Forrest) about race. Because of that, I can't say, Foster is a racism character, nor can I say the movie glorifies lawbreaking. Of course, we see many elements of our society that contributed to his madness. However, the movie never condones his actions as the right thing to do. He's never the hero. If anything, Robert Duvall's character, is. Despite that, I do have to say, portrayal Foster is probably the best role, Michael Douglas has done, since 1987's 'Wall Street'. You really do see, the unbalance nature of his character, trying to figure out, what is right and what is wrong in a world that he views is upside down. You see his alienation, disgust and mounting rage against what he perceives to be an increasingly unfair and depersonalized world. However, I can't say, the same with Robert Duvall's character. His performance was a bit, too similar to the role, he played in 1988's 'Colors'; still interesting, but in the end, he really didn't stand out as much as Douglas does. After all, Douglas's character inspired the creation of the one-episode character Frank Grimes from The Simpsons 23th episode "Homer's Enemy," on Season 8 and received a parodic homage song in Foo Fighters' video for "Walk". In the end, the dark comedy of this movie really does payoff; both tragedy and humorous. Either way, it's a film that inspires quite a bit of discussion and debate. That's one thing, I love about this movie. It makes you think. Depending on who you ask, this film is either social commentary on the dangers of capitalism, and the ignorance of the citizen under it or the call to arms for conservatism against the dangers of liberalism. All these arguments have merit and it could be any of this. That's why, this is one movie that is worth seeing.
