Movie Review: The Brave One
http://www.thejournalofstudentministries.com/articles/112/1/Movie-Review-The-Brave-One/Page1.html
Dave Urbanski
Dave Urbanski is author of The Man Comes Around: The Spiritual Journey of Johnny Cash (Relevant Books), senior developmental editor for Youth Specialties, and writes about music, film, and culture for several publications. By Dave Urbanski
Published on 03/24/2008
A tale of a pistol-packing journalist who records city sounds and turns them into audio essays for a high-brow Manhattan radio station by day and kills bad guys at night probably isn't first on your students' must-see movie lists (though it did capture the top moneymaking spot in its opening weekend, taking $14 million at the box office). But as is the case with most movies Jodie Foster is behind, The Brave One is indeed one of those flicks that pays dividends down the line with plenty of discussion-worthy content that you can use with your students.
R, 122 min.
A tale of a pistol-packing journalist who records city sounds and turns them into audio essays for a high-brow Manhattan radio station by day and kills bad guys at night probably isn't first on your students' must-see movie lists (though it did capture the top moneymaking spot in its opening weekend, taking $14 million at the box office). But as is the case with most movies Jodie Foster is behind, The Brave One is indeed one of those flicks that pays dividends down the line with plenty of discussion-worthy content that you can use with your students.
Taking big cues from granddaddy vigilante movies such as Death Wish and Taxi Driver-the latter of which stars a teenage Foster playing a hooker opposite Robert De Nero-here we find Foster in the role of the brutally victimized Erica Bain whose idyllic world is stolen from her in a matter of moments after a tiny gang of thugs attacks her and her fiancé in a city park after dark. After three weeks in coma, Bain awakens to learn that her husband-to-be is dead. When police fail to deliver answers (or much of a sense of security or noticeable concern), the traumatized Bain buys a gun from a street hustler in a desperate grab for self-protection. While her first kill is legitimately in self defense, Bain undergoes a disturbing metamorphosis in which she begins seeking dangerous situations so she can off evildoers. Chillingly she starts to record the audio of her killings with her day-job tape-recording equipment so she can listen to the murderous sounds in the privacy of her apartment. In the midst of her inner turmoil, she befriends Sean Mercer (played by the riveting Terence Howard), a police detective who begins to suspect Bain is the vigilante-and yet doesn't fully disagree with what she's doing. The plot culminates with a break in Bain's case and some information that opens the door for her to enact ultimate revenge on her attackers-and perhaps die in the process. That is, if Mercer doesn't intervene in time.
The Brave One is nothing particularly new. Its script is basically Death Wish Revisited with Foster in Charles Bronson's iconic role, and director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) even tips a big hand to Foster's thespian past by dropping in Taxi Driver-esque orchestral flourishes on the heels of Bain's kills. Where The Brave One breaks with rote themes is with Bain's psychological transformation and Mercer's empathetic treatment of her, even as an emerging suspect. In response, deep, dark questions are raised: Is taking the law into your own hands ever justified? How can peaceful people best confront evil in the world? What measurable effects does taking revenge have on those who take it? Why does God insist that we leave vengeance in his hands? How might God view taking human life when it's in carried out in self-defense? A discussion or Bible study with a DVD clip of The Brave One to kick it off would be quite interesting indeed. (As you might expect, be prepared to navigate around graphic violence, language, adult situations, and a brief scene of partial nudity and implied sexuality.)
Taking big cues from granddaddy vigilante movies such as Death Wish and Taxi Driver-the latter of which stars a teenage Foster playing a hooker opposite Robert De Nero-here we find Foster in the role of the brutally victimized Erica Bain whose idyllic world is stolen from her in a matter of moments after a tiny gang of thugs attacks her and her fiancé in a city park after dark. After three weeks in coma, Bain awakens to learn that her husband-to-be is dead. When police fail to deliver answers (or much of a sense of security or noticeable concern), the traumatized Bain buys a gun from a street hustler in a desperate grab for self-protection. While her first kill is legitimately in self defense, Bain undergoes a disturbing metamorphosis in which she begins seeking dangerous situations so she can off evildoers. Chillingly she starts to record the audio of her killings with her day-job tape-recording equipment so she can listen to the murderous sounds in the privacy of her apartment. In the midst of her inner turmoil, she befriends Sean Mercer (played by the riveting Terence Howard), a police detective who begins to suspect Bain is the vigilante-and yet doesn't fully disagree with what she's doing. The plot culminates with a break in Bain's case and some information that opens the door for her to enact ultimate revenge on her attackers-and perhaps die in the process. That is, if Mercer doesn't intervene in time.
The Brave One is nothing particularly new. Its script is basically Death Wish Revisited with Foster in Charles Bronson's iconic role, and director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) even tips a big hand to Foster's thespian past by dropping in Taxi Driver-esque orchestral flourishes on the heels of Bain's kills. Where The Brave One breaks with rote themes is with Bain's psychological transformation and Mercer's empathetic treatment of her, even as an emerging suspect. In response, deep, dark questions are raised: Is taking the law into your own hands ever justified? How can peaceful people best confront evil in the world? What measurable effects does taking revenge have on those who take it? Why does God insist that we leave vengeance in his hands? How might God view taking human life when it's in carried out in self-defense? A discussion or Bible study with a DVD clip of The Brave One to kick it off would be quite interesting indeed. (As you might expect, be prepared to navigate around graphic violence, language, adult situations, and a brief scene of partial nudity and implied sexuality.)