When my friend Dan and I went to the video store the other night in
anticipation of our long-planned media marathon, one of the movies he
ran past me was The Man Without a Face, the 1993 film that marked Mel Gibson‘s
directorial debut. He explained that he’d wanted to see it ever since
it hit movie theaters, and I agreed that it was best not to let this
particular dream be deferred any longer. So it was that we found
ourselves with bowls of buttery popcorn and icy cans of Pepsi at 3 in
the morning, ready to make this touching but unsettling film the
midpoint of our marathon.
The Man Without a Face stars
wide-eyed Nick Stahl as Chuck Norstadt, an angsty young teen who is
saddled with a learning disability, a dead dad, an irresponsible mother
(Margaret Whitton) and two half-sisters, each with a different father.
Ten-year-old Megan (Gaby Hoffman) idolizes her older brother, but her
hyper-intelligence annoys him. Meanwhile, teenage Gloria (Fay Masterson)
treats him with nothing but disdain.
All he wants is to get
away, to go to boarding school like the father whose background remains
shrouded in mystery. So desperate is he that when he finds out Justin
McLeod (Mel Gibson), a creepy, disfigured loner who lives in a mansion
on the outskirts of town with his intimidating German Shepherd, is a
teacher, he entreats the man to help him, never informing his mother
where he intends to spend his summer days. Reluctantly, McLeod agrees,
and so begins the slow process of healing two broken lives.
In many ways, this movie reminds me of Free Willy,
a previous Dan and Erin Movie Marathon selection. Both films came out
in 1993, and each deals with a very troubled boy with little adult
supervision who finds a kindred spirit in a similarly disturbed soul. In
Free Willy, that friend is a whale separated from his family and
forced into captivity, whereas here, it’s a man misunderstood by
society and scarred in a multitude of ways by a tragic accident.
Additionally, Free Willy
was a major vehicle for Michael Jackson, who wrote and performed the
film’s theme song, and unfortunately, as the release coincided with the
first murmurings of inappropriate contact between Michael and some of
his young fans, the title inspired a flood of crude jokes. It’s easy to
think of Michael as a “man without a face,” as his own handsome features
were so dramatically altered through a combination of scarring and
surgery, easy to compare him to a character who spends years in hiding
from a town full of people who find him freakish. And when accusations
of molestation enter into the movie, threatening to destroy all the good
that has been accomplished with this relationship, it’s almost
impossible not to think of Michael.
Stahl does an
excellent job of conveying the conflicted emotions of a boy who could be
headed for a dark future if someone doesn’t intervene, and Hoffman is
endearing as the sister who at least tries to understand. But it’s
Gibson who really kept me riveted. His complicated character starts out
as surly as Dr. House,
and in the beginning he seems to go out of his way to drive Chuck away.
Eventually, however, it’s clear that he enjoys the boy’s company and
relishes being able to make a difference in a young life. Whenever the
corners of his mouth flicker upward ever so slightly, it’s natural to
feel warmer toward this cranky bachelor. Incidentally, I love that the
moment that really cements their friendship involves him introducing
Chuck to the John Gillespie Magee, Jr. poem High Flight, which Ronald Reagan quoted in his speech commemorating those killed in the Challenger disaster.
Though this is in some respects a family film, there is a dark
undercurrent to it that makes it more appropriate for teenagers. While
not strictly a feel-good movie, The Man Without a Face is profoundly moving and highly recommended.
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