Paramount Pictures released Bringing Out the Dead on 22 October 1999.
Normally, I would have highlighted Lady Frankenstein (1971), but I’ve already written about it in depth.
I think Martin Scorsese is an excellent film director. But the way many film fans talk about him would make you think he had cured cancer. In that way, he’s a lot like Alfred Hitchcock — but with substantially more talent.
Bringing Out the Dead is his greatest film. Paul Schrader made Joe Connelly’s novel less metaphorical — more concrete. Beyond that, Scorsese’s crew fires on all cylinders. Unlike most of his films, this one doesn’t use a cinematic technique that doesn’t help the narrative.
I’m not religious but I was raised Catholic. And I find it a wonderfully creepy and horrific religion. Bringing Out the Dead plays into this. Frank lives in Purgatory. He tries to find redemption. And he ultimately does, even if it may only be temporary. And throughout the film, Frank and Mary are the most sane people — but also the most unhappy. So, you know, it’s realistic.
There are two lines from the film that stand out to me. I think of them both all the time:
“After a while, I grew to understand that my role was less about saving lives than about bearing witness. I was a grief mop. It was enough that I simply showed up.”
“What haunted me now was more savage. Spirits born half-finished. Homicides. Suicides. Overdoses. Accusing me of being there, witnessing a humiliation, which they could never forgive.”
Although it isn’t considered such, I think Bringing Out the Dead is a horror film. Rose’s face showing up everywhere is often frightening. But mostly, it’s just everything. His partners all lack empathy — something Frank has far too much of given his profession. He lives in a world that neither understands nor cares about him. And his only option is to hide away with someone as broken as he is.
I can’t embed the film here but it is available for free on Pluto. I highly recommend it!
Bringing Out the Dead poster via Wikipedia under Fair Use.
