Dead Man-Film Review

Dead man
Dead man is a 1995 black and white western directed by Jim Jarmusch. It stars Johnny Depp as William Blake a young disciplined man seeking a job, and Garry Farmer as Nobody, a well educated Indian, Billy Bob Thornton, Robert Michum and many others. The outstanding soundtrack which plays a great role in conveying the whole essence of the movie is improvised by Neil Young.
The film is shown in black and white which makes one able to understand the dichotomy of life and death which prevails the whole movie. The monotonous three note music sounds so amazingly matched with the plot that one would miss half the story if there was no such sound track.
19th century west America has a lot to reveal in this movie. The movie starts with William Blake sitting in a neat suit in a train wagon, nodding off every now and then. Every time he wakes up he sees people retrogress in terms of their appearance and behavior. It seems as though there is a direct relationship between the people inside the train and the scenes outside. As they get closer to the end, the number of women decreases and men who mostly carry guns with them appear to dominate the wagon. Blake looks afraid and sees himself in a situation where there’s no hope to what’s going to happen outside and to the fellow travelers who throw unfriendly looks at him and his bizarre outfit. Almost to the end of the trip the fireman comes and warns him about where his going. William explains that he’s got a letter from Mr. Dickinson which offered him to be the accountant of the Dickinson Metal Works. Along their conversation the viewer gets to know that Blake has lost his parents and his girlfriend in Cleveland. They finally arrive at Machine which is the end of the line and according to the fire man: the hell.
The town seems very awkward and uncivilized; Blake is eyed by every one of the residents of the town. He manages to get to the Metal Works, where he finds out that his job has been given to another person two months ago. Desperate and tired he goes to a bar where he meets Thel, a flower maker. Thel is a young prostitute and offers to take Blake home; in the morning Thel’s fiancé, Charlie, who happens to be Mr. Dickinson’s son as well finds them together. He tries to shoot William but Thel throws herself in front of him and is killed, the bullet passes through her chest and plants in William’s. William angered and nervous shoots at Charlie three times and finally his third bullet hits he target. He dresses up and hurriedly jumps out of the window and runs away with a horse stamping on all the paper flowers made by Thel.
He fells unconscious and when he wakes up he sees an Indian delving into his chest and trying to get the bullet out. The Indian is named Nobody and from this point of the movie he accompanies William who he thinks is “William Blake” the poet. On the other hand Mr. Dickinson hires three professional murderers to find William and his horse which seems to be of greater importance to him.
On their way William is obliged to kill many others and gets severely wounded. Nobody takes him to a village and promises to get him a canoe which would take him to the spiritual world where all spirits come from and should go back to. In the final scene William is put into a decorated canoe and sent into the vast ocean. Noboby waves to him and is shot by the last murderer who killed the other two; he shoots back and they both fall dead.
The train of life takes William Blake to the purgatory where he could either stay amongst the sinners and go to hell or promote himself to a position where he can be sent to a better place. He seems to have passed everything including his parents, his girl friend and his fortune in his life and started this trip. The letter seems like a weak explanation for his trip; if it had been the true reason to his trip he should have head for Machine two months before. In the wagon he keeps looking at the squeaking light above his head; it seems as though he’s trying to find a source of light in that dark sinister world. The city is filled with the atmosphere of death with skeletons all over it; even the factory itself seems futile and dead. The only person in the city who was not to stay in that purgatory and by losing her life to save Blake’s proceeded to the next level was Thel. She made flowers from paper which were something not even seen once in that wilderness. When she dies a shooting star fades into the dark sky. She’s portrayed once again in the movie when William encounters a deerlet shot on the same place as Thel. William feels so attached to it that he mingles his blood with hers and makes a mark on his forehead.
The presence of ancient Greek elements in the movie are seen by the appearance of the fireman in the train as the muses. He forecasts what is going to happen to Blake and even portrays his death scene where he looks at the sky and it seems as though it’s the sky which is moving not him. The repetition of the word tobacco must have a connotation; in my view the film illustrated two usages of tobacco. First was by the white men who used it as an addiction, and second by Nobody and Thel. Thel wanted it to get ready for her trip but Nobody wanted it to prepare William for his trip.
In addition Nobody’s intentional misrecognition of “William Blake” and the fact that he takes away Blake’s eyeglasses and sells them all remind us of the attributions related to “William Blake “ the poet. William Blake was known as a visionary and a mystic; the same which happens to Blake, he sees trees as eyes watching him. It is also said that “William Blake” was not known until his death, in a scene towards the end of the film Nobody cries out a sentence which brings to mind the same concept. He says now everyone will know William Blake, and William Blake is going to be a legend.
The film successfully manages to portrait Indians and their rituals, and the diverse ways of life they tend to choose. And it was one of the rare movies in which a white director was so successful in looking at the reality and violence of the west at that time.
There are lots of other elements especially ritual and religious ones in the film. But in my view point which is similar to a group of other film reviewers Jim Jamusch did not intend to have a meaning behind all of these symbols.
I recommend this film to anyone who’s ready to watch a film not merely as an entertainment but as a portion of reality and philosophy.