FILM REVIEW: Dead Man

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A Film Review: Dead Man

Dead man, a Miramax film, was released in 1995 in US. The director and the screenwriter of this 121-min movie is Jim Jarmusch who his famous for his appeal for western genre. Because of exhibiting raw violence and some sexual scenes, the movie’s MPAA rating is R. Johnny Depp(as William Blake), Gary Farmer(as Nobody), Robert Mitchum (as John Dickenson), Lance Henrikson ( as Cole Wilson), and Mili Avital (as Thel) form the main cast and Neil Young contributes to the film as the composer.

The movie begins showing William Blake on a train. He is an accountant that has left his homeland (that is Cleveland) to go after a job in the town of Machine in west. John Dickenson, who is the owner of the factory Blake hoped to work in, has filled the vacancy with another accountant because Blake arrives too late. The newly orphaned accountant, William Blake, has spent all he had for his trip to the city and now feels so lonely and helpless as he find out that all his hopes to have better opportunities here, were in vain. With the last money in his pocket he goes to a bar and buys some drink. There he meets Thel, maybe a former prostitute, and accompanies her to her house and decides to spend the night with her. Thel’s former fiancé who comes to Thel with a gift shots her in the chest and kills her; the same bullet penetrating Blake’s chest. That’s when Blake commits the first killing; something so unfit to his innocent and naive looking face. The rest of the film actually is the result of this single action. On his way to escape he meets an indian, who calls himself Nobody. He believes Blake is dead because of the bullet in his chest close to his heart. Later when he hears the name of the man, he mistakes him for the Poet William Blake. He got familiar with his poems when he was sent to Britain and joined a whites’ school. As he loves William Blake’s poetry, and as he thinks that this is the spirit of William Blake that he has met, he decides to guide him to the land of spirits where he is in eternal peace. As the two start their journey together, many bounty hunters and 3 professional killers hired by John Dickenson are tracing Blake. In this journey the Naïve Blake becomes a skilled killer due to circumstances in which he has to defend himself. Nobody who believes a boat is needed for Blake’s trip to spirit land goes to an indian tribe and obtains a rowboat from them. He puts Blake into it and leaves him to the sea. While the boat is distancing from the shore, Cole Wilson, one of the hired killers, the one who killed the other two killers beforehand, finally gets to them and shots Nobody in the back. Before falling down, Nobody also kills Wilson and at the same time it seems that Blake’s soul finally leaves his body; The three men dying at the same time.The movie presents America in nearly late 19^th century, a period of swift changes in the lives of Americans. The technological advancements and industrial developments, contacts and conflicts with indians, migration from villages to cities and rise of violence in the cities, and a change in people’s lifestyle due to new conditions of work and living are among the main features of this period. A time when carrying a gun was a norm, even for a woman like Thel. The black and white cinematography adds the nature of these features to the film in the best way. The break between the episode and the fade-out are just in line with the uncertainty of the time. The film’s protagonist, William Blake, also is an excellent manifestation of the era; shaky, uncertain and paradoxical, with possibilities of corruption. A comparison between Blake’s appearance and that of the people of Machine, tells a great deal about the differences between the culture of the west and the culture of east. Even the kind of language they use is different sometimes. As a man from the East, he never smokes while people that appear in his way always ask him” if he has any tobacco!” .actually the word “tobacco” is one of the words that is repeated so many times in the film. Another repeated word or better to say phrase is “stupid white man”, which is used by Nobody to call Blake. This depicts anther intention of Jarmusch, that of presenting the conflict between whites and indians. One of the strange things about it is that this time it’s a white man who is called stupid and not an indian. Nobody is somehow more knowledgeable that Blake but still as the beautiful metaphor of his name suggests, he is considered nobody in the world of whites. Therefore we are encouraged that in this film the director sides with indians and not whites. He shows the indian villages that burn in fire thus pity among us. Industry and its developments and the consequent problem form another major concern of Jarmusch. He tries to show how industry ruined the lives of people and how actually it deprived Americans of their colorful lives and turned it into black and white. As Blake is told, in the city of the Machine (again another metaphorical name) the only work is to make coffins, things that are of no use for a live man and that only suit a “dead man”. Morality is not saved from all these ruins. As it is implied prostitution and immoralities have spread among people and they feel not ashamed of it. Killing is considered as common and ordinary task, easily done, basically with a gun, a product of technology and industry. So it seems that Jarmusch is ironically criticizing technology and its consequences.

The film was made in 1995 when America had recently been engaged in wars abroad (with Somalia, Panama and Iraq). This gives us a clue that may be the film is bringing into concentration the previous consequences of violence and force so that we take good lessons out of it and not to wish them happen again. Besides, the film suggests that Americans should not consider non-Americans as “nobody” anymore.