Sitting in a boiling hot car in a traffic jam, a man known through most of the film only as D-Fens stews, growing increasingly frustrated. Eventually he leaves his car in the traffic jam and takes his frustration on a journey across town by foot, leaving a path of destruction in his wake.
Falling Down is quite a scary film, in the sense, that as you watch Michael Douglas' character growing more and more insane along his path, you wonder what he will do. I was scared for his ex-wife and his daughter, and what he might do if and when he reached them. I was scared for all the people he met along the way that tried to stand in his path. At the same time, the power of it was that on some level, it was possible to understand at least part of his anger and frustration, without ever condoning his actions.
The acting in Falling Down is brilliant across the board, with each character bringing his point and purpose to life, from the main characters down to the man in the traffic jam that first meets D-Fens. The plot is equally excellent, even in its simplicity. We watch the policeman that starts to piece things together from disparate reports, and we watch D-Fens wandering through town, dealing with people in his path. The two threads coalesce excellently, in a brilliant ending that is as fantastic as it is inevitable.
The dialogue and plot are likewise brilliant, and while I couldn't tell you a lot about the cinematography, it was a visually very effective film. I think the filming achieved a lot with camera angles and the right view at the right time. A particular example would be the opening shots of the movie, as we watch the man in the car sweating, staring at the things around him in quick, distinct shots of various items that he can see. The first thing we hear is his breathing, and then the incredible noise of the traffic jam breaks through and we see him in his car-prison.
As I've already alluded, a lot of the power was in the amount of compassion that I had for the lead character, even in his worst moments. Society had not been at its best when dealing with him, and I felt for him because of that. I felt that some of the things he was rebelling against did need to be rebelled against, although preferably not in so violent and dramatic a fashion.
As with so many films that I enjoyed, I am finding it difficult to come up with negative points to balance out my own enthusiastic opinions, which makes it difficult to give a balanced review. However, as I'm only doing this for fun anyway, I'm going to stick with that... Falling Down was a brilliant film, and I think it will stand the test of time well, if not as well as other things. It's another not-for-the-faint-hearted film, but I think it was definitely worth watching.
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