Man on Fire
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
Man On Fire is the latest in a series of “lone gunman (or swordwoman) gets justice� films released over the last several months. Last fall it was Mystic River and Kill Bill Vol. 1. This month alone has seen Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Punisher, Walking Tall, and now this. The difference between Man On Fire and most of the others listed is that it strives to be a character study in addition to an action piece. However, the central premise is the same: An injustice is committed, so the hero seeks revenge, which usually means several other people die. In the end, the hero either goes down fighting or walks off into the sunset, wounded perhaps, but content that justice has been served.
That pretty much sums up the plot of Man On Fire. In this case, the hero is John Creasy (Denzel Washington), a Jack Daniels-addicted former soldier of fortune who lands a job protecting a ten-year-old girl, Pita, in Mexico City. Just as her friendship starts to thaw out this hardened loner, Pita is abducted, and Creasy is nearly killed trying to save her. When he comes to a few days later, he learns the ransom payment went bad and Pita has been killed. That’s when the payback begins. As Creasy’s former comrade-in-arms Rayburn (Christopher Walken) says (without a hint of irony), “Every man is an artist… Creasy’s art is death. And he’s about to paint his masterpiece.� Whether Creasy survives the bloodbath or succumbs in the process is something I’ll leave for you to discover.
What makes this film work is Washington’s powerful portrayal of Creasy as a man who has pretty much given up on himself. Early in the film, he asks Rayburn if he thinks God will ever forgive them for what they’ve done. Rayburn responds with a rather matter-of-fact “no,� and then moves on to the next topic. Forgiveness doesn’t seem to matter much to Rayburn, but Creasy is another story. Staggering under the burden of his guilt, he drinks constantly, whether to kill the pain or to work up the courage to finally kill himself, we’re not sure. But it looks like pure agony, and we’re just rooting for him to find release.
Creasy seems to have a fairly good understanding of the Bible, enough to complete Romans 12:21 (“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good�) when Sister Ana, a nun at Pita’s school, quotes it to him. However, like many people today, Creasy knows only enough to realize he’s in trouble when his turn comes to stand before God. As he says to Sister Ana, “I’m one of the lost sheep.� Unfortunately, Creasy is either ignorant of God’s plan of forgiveness through Jesus Christ or he believes he doesn’t deserve it. Either way, he sees God as his enemy, not his friend. Have you ever felt like you’ve sinned beyond the point of forgiveness? Would you like to talk about it?
During Creasy’s brief interaction with Sister Ana, she also asks him if he’s ever seen the hand of God in his life. Creasy says, no. But shortly afterwards, his life is spared miraculously. Thus begins a conversion experience similar to that of Jules in Pulp Fiction. Perhaps there’s still hope for Creasy after all. God must have had a reason for sparing his life. Now it’s up to Creasy to find out why.
Pita’s mother also finds herself turning to God after her daughter is abducted. As she says to Creasy, “Go figure: Last week all I was worried about was which disco to go to. Now I’m reading the Bible.� This is a good example of how we tend to automatically reach out to a higher power during a crisis, whether we’re normally religious or not. Have you ever done this? Did it help?
A question many critics have raised about this film is why A-list actors and directors like Denzel Washington and Tony Scott are lending their considerable talents to what used to be considered B movie material. After all, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood or Sylvester Stallone playing roles like this, not Academy Award winning actors like Denzel Washington. There was a time, however, when Westerns attracted the best talents in the biz. And if you think about it, Man On Fire and similar films have all the same elements as the classic Western, which are themselves reinterpretations of still more ancient stories of justice and revenge. So I think it’s only natural for big names to be attracted to such archetypal stories.
A secondary question is why such “person gets revenge� films remain so popular. Could it have something to do with people’s growing sense of injustice in the world? Perhaps we all feel like it’s high time for a little payback. Or maybe we feel powerless as individuals to affect real change in an increasingly depersonalized society, so we enjoy rooting for people who do, even if they do so in ways we never would. I know I felt more than a little gratified when Creasy vowed to kill whoever was responsible for Pita’s death. And I don’t think I was the only one.
However, as I observed Creasy’s transformation from sensitive loner to hardened killer, I began to wonder what made him different from the people he was hunting. Sure, they had abducted and killed a defenseless little girl, which was reprehensible. But Creasy was systematically torturing and killing them in return. His actions may have seemed justified in light of what the others had done, but were they any less horrifying? It made me wonder how often we try to justify our own actions like this—both as individuals and as a nation. If our motives are right, does that mean we can use any means necessary to achieve our ends? And at what point do we cross the line from righteous avenger to ruthless tyrant? Are we even capable of making such a decision? What do you think?
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
Man On Fire is the latest in a series of “lone gunman (or swordwoman) gets justice� films released over the last several months. Last fall it was Mystic River and Kill Bill Vol. 1. This month alone has seen Kill Bill Vol. 2, The Punisher, Walking Tall, and now this. The difference between Man On Fire and most of the others listed is that it strives to be a character study in addition to an action piece. However, the central premise is the same: An injustice is committed, so the hero seeks revenge, which usually means several other people die. In the end, the hero either goes down fighting or walks off into the sunset, wounded perhaps, but content that justice has been served.
That pretty much sums up the plot of Man On Fire. In this case, the hero is John Creasy (Denzel Washington), a Jack Daniels-addicted former soldier of fortune who lands a job protecting a ten-year-old girl, Pita, in Mexico City. Just as her friendship starts to thaw out this hardened loner, Pita is abducted, and Creasy is nearly killed trying to save her. When he comes to a few days later, he learns the ransom payment went bad and Pita has been killed. That’s when the payback begins. As Creasy’s former comrade-in-arms Rayburn (Christopher Walken) says (without a hint of irony), “Every man is an artist… Creasy’s art is death. And he’s about to paint his masterpiece.� Whether Creasy survives the bloodbath or succumbs in the process is something I’ll leave for you to discover.
What makes this film work is Washington’s powerful portrayal of Creasy as a man who has pretty much given up on himself. Early in the film, he asks Rayburn if he thinks God will ever forgive them for what they’ve done. Rayburn responds with a rather matter-of-fact “no,� and then moves on to the next topic. Forgiveness doesn’t seem to matter much to Rayburn, but Creasy is another story. Staggering under the burden of his guilt, he drinks constantly, whether to kill the pain or to work up the courage to finally kill himself, we’re not sure. But it looks like pure agony, and we’re just rooting for him to find release.
Creasy seems to have a fairly good understanding of the Bible, enough to complete Romans 12:21 (“Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good�) when Sister Ana, a nun at Pita’s school, quotes it to him. However, like many people today, Creasy knows only enough to realize he’s in trouble when his turn comes to stand before God. As he says to Sister Ana, “I’m one of the lost sheep.� Unfortunately, Creasy is either ignorant of God’s plan of forgiveness through Jesus Christ or he believes he doesn’t deserve it. Either way, he sees God as his enemy, not his friend. Have you ever felt like you’ve sinned beyond the point of forgiveness? Would you like to talk about it?During Creasy’s brief interaction with Sister Ana, she also asks him if he’s ever seen the hand of God in his life. Creasy says, no. But shortly afterwards, his life is spared miraculously. Thus begins a conversion experience similar to that of Jules in Pulp Fiction. Perhaps there’s still hope for Creasy after all. God must have had a reason for sparing his life. Now it’s up to Creasy to find out why.
Pita’s mother also finds herself turning to God after her daughter is abducted. As she says to Creasy, “Go figure: Last week all I was worried about was which disco to go to. Now I’m reading the Bible.� This is a good example of how we tend to automatically reach out to a higher power during a crisis, whether we’re normally religious or not. Have you ever done this? Did it help?
A question many critics have raised about this film is why A-list actors and directors like Denzel Washington and Tony Scott are lending their considerable talents to what used to be considered B movie material. After all, in the 1970s and 1980s, it was Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood or Sylvester Stallone playing roles like this, not Academy Award winning actors like Denzel Washington. There was a time, however, when Westerns attracted the best talents in the biz. And if you think about it, Man On Fire and similar films have all the same elements as the classic Western, which are themselves reinterpretations of still more ancient stories of justice and revenge. So I think it’s only natural for big names to be attracted to such archetypal stories.
A secondary question is why such “person gets revenge� films remain so popular. Could it have something to do with people’s growing sense of injustice in the world? Perhaps we all feel like it’s high time for a little payback. Or maybe we feel powerless as individuals to affect real change in an increasingly depersonalized society, so we enjoy rooting for people who do, even if they do so in ways we never would. I know I felt more than a little gratified when Creasy vowed to kill whoever was responsible for Pita’s death. And I don’t think I was the only one.However, as I observed Creasy’s transformation from sensitive loner to hardened killer, I began to wonder what made him different from the people he was hunting. Sure, they had abducted and killed a defenseless little girl, which was reprehensible. But Creasy was systematically torturing and killing them in return. His actions may have seemed justified in light of what the others had done, but were they any less horrifying? It made me wonder how often we try to justify our own actions like this—both as individuals and as a nation. If our motives are right, does that mean we can use any means necessary to achieve our ends? And at what point do we cross the line from righteous avenger to ruthless tyrant? Are we even capable of making such a decision? What do you think?
LINKS
—Overview
—Trailers, Photos
—About this Film
—Spiritual Connections
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