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The Passenger | Year: 1975 Directed: - Michelangelo Antonioni Actors/Actresses: - Jack Nicholson - Maria Schneider Antonioni As A Mature Auteur I still remember the first time I watched this film in a small art house in Taiwan ten years ago. It was an amazing experience. I came out into the warm and bright sunshine, shaking and totally thrilled. The daring eight-minute long take near the end really sums up the film, in which Antonioni asks a question that has been with us since the beginning of human existence: Is freedom nothing but an illusion? Antonioni, without a doubt, stands tall among the most honest, original, and skillful filmmakers such as Ozu, Tarkovsky, and Resnais. I thank God (if He is really up there) for giving us these artists. One of the best films ever made. Jack Nicholson plays David Locke, a successful but jaded reporter in a mid life crisis. His mixed up mid Atlantic origins, failing marriage and dissatisfaction with his work come to a head in a small hotel in an obscure town in a war torn African country. The only other guest is the enigmatic business man Mr Robertson who confesses to having no family or friends only a list of appointments. The mid-life crisis fantasy turns into reality for Locke when Robertson dies from a heart attack. Locke switches passport photos, assumes the other man's identity and heads off to keep the apointments. The list of apointments in the dead man's diary lead Locke on a journey across Europe. He is pursued by a team of assassins who, believing him to be the real Mr Robertson, want to kill the man selling guns to the rebels in their country. Also on the trail are the police together with his wife who is the only other person in the film to have realised the identity swap. Despite the state of her marriage, (she has taken a lover) she still cares about him and wants to warn about the danger that he faces. No mid life crisis film would be complete without the younger woman with beautiful eyes and no past herself who falls for the leading man. Maria Schneider plays this role very well providing both an innocent acceptance and a sophisticated understanding of Locke's game. Very few actors could have played the part of Locke as well as Nicholson. He brings an air of detachment to the part that fits in with the character's behaviour. He is taking part in another man's life but as a spectator. As well as the storyline, the film is shot with the artistic poise and exquisite technique that I always enjoy when I see the work of director Antonioni. From the scenes in the African dessert to the final moments in a small sun baked Spanish town, the film is a joy to view. At the end of the film comes one single camera shot that is quite magical. The scene starts in Nicholson's hotel room and slowly homes in on the barred window. We zoom towards the window and then fly out through the bars into the square outside. Then slowly, the camera, now clearly on the other side of the bars pans around the square before returning to view the window from the outside. At the time, this was the longest and technically the most demanding camera shot ever attempted. Objective Examination Of Identity and the Self In this highly formal excercise of cinema, Antonioni implements what is known as the, non-subjective or objective camera style, or as Antonioni refered to it, the "wandering camera." In the very first shot of the film, the camera pans across the rural African village and casually picks up Locke. We view Locke in a long shot as he pulls up in a jeep and exits to ask for directions, just then the camera resumes panning into an alleyway, away from the action and away from the protagonist. This technique is applied throughout the picture and raises philosophical and cinematic questions. Whose point of view are we observing? What does it mean to have the camera and the action function as separate entities? Antonioni, whom I never found to be a "sound concious" director, creatively manipulates sound in this picture. In a startling sequence involving, Locke and Robertson, Locke uses a tape recorder to play back a conversation between the two men while Locke is working on a passport photo. In a single take, the camera again begins to wander away from the recorder unto a patio where we are now physically seeing the two men continuing this conversation. The men enter the house (there is a cut to the door) to have a drink. The camera now pans away back to original table where Locke was seated and there he is, still working on the passport, with the recorder beside him playing the conversation. < This is my personal favorite Antonioni film and I regared it as his most important and one of the most important pieces of existentialist cinema. If you enjoyed this film try, Memories Of Underdevelopment by Thomas Alea. Buy The Passenger at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Passenger Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Passenger This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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