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June 10, 2006

"The Passenger" - 6

Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni (Eros) tells the story of an American reporter, David Locke (Jack Nicholson), who discovers a dead body in a hotel in Africa and decides to steal the man's identity. The story gets complicated when he discovers who the man he is suppose to be is, and he is constantly on the run from his past life. The film is the set up to the final lines and final scene of the film in which his wife says "I didn't know him" and his new lover says "I knew him." This is an interesting film about identity. David is wanting to be known, and discovers that honesty and vulnerability are the only ways to intimacy. And that ultimately, that it is a choice. A very well done film.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

huh. After your encounter with Antonioni's short in "Eros," I didn't think you'd pick him up again. There's still a few of his that I want to see, and this is one of them. Good to know that it's more respectful and just all-around a better film.

Paul

~greg said...

I'm going to step out on a limb here and say Eros is probably the exception.