Bringing out the Dead film review

certificate_18

BRINGING OUT THE DEAD

In perhaps Monty Python's finest movie hour - the quest for the Holy Grail - a large barrow piled with bodies is hauled up the muddy track between huts to the tune of a clanging bell and the cry "Bring out yer dead!"

And then, of course, there's the discussion over exactly how dead a person has to be before they can be chucked onto the cart - "Oh, go on, do us a favour."

As director Martin Scorsese returns to the darkened streets of New York City, it becomes rapidly - horribly - apparent that for emergency paramedics on duty throughout the night, the situation can seem very similar. Just without the laughs.

And we're invited to ride along with haggard ambulanceman Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) for two days and three traumatic nights in the life of the medical emergency services, and see it for ourselves.

Because Frank is on the point of collapse. The dead and dying meet him at every turn, the crushing responsibility of fighting to save lives becoming too much - it's a fight he keeps losing, and Frank is drowning in despair.

A glimmer of hope is offered in the shape of Mary Burke (Patricia Arquette), the daughter of a man whose life Frank may have saved, but she too is bruised and blunted by a world of pain and emotional baggage.

And as for Frank, in the consecutive company of three partners (John Goodman, Ving Rhames, Tom Sizemore), he's on a nose-dive into a personal hell that'll take some pulling up.

Adapted from the real experiences of former paramedic Joe Connolly by longtime Scorsese collaborator Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), this is a brutal and uncompromising but still very filmic script - no pseudo-documentary in these hands.

And although you might be left a bit hollow, Scorsese's mastery over the camera is once again evident and at the very least, it's a cracking picture to look at and appreciate from this viewpoint.

Cage too, looking more like a vampire as the nights wear on, is a captivating watch, and distinctively assisted by Goodman as pragmatic cynic Larry - who's just trying to keep his head above water - Rhames as the vociferously religious Marcus, and Sizemore going off the rails as borderline psycho Tom Walls.

It's tough stuff in places, but then, Scorsese rarely makes movies that don't challenge the viewer, and all human life is here - it's just that most of it's in a very bad way.