Matthew Bettencourt

Professor Sarah E. S. Sinwell

Film 6350

October 20th, 2020

Bringing out the Dead and Auteur Theory 

    Martin Scorsese’s Bringing out the Dead has fallen off the radar since its 1999 release. Possibly due to a poor marketing campaign, the film was a box office bomb and confused audiences who were expecting another action-extravaganza from the (at the time) incredibly famous Nicolas Cage. Further, it has yet to be upgraded from DVD and is rarely discussed in the same light as some of Scorsese’s most celebrated works. Despite this general dismissal, the film has generated a cult following through the years and viewers are beginning to recognize it as essential viewing in understanding Scorsese as an auteur. Bringing out the Dead contains several of his stylistic and thematic signatures, most notably the use of dynamic camera movements and fast-paced editing. It also holds several themes that Scorsese has repeatedly explored, such as loneliness, guilt, and redemption.

While the concept of the director as the author of a film can be traced back to France in the 1940s, it was popularized when Andrew Sarris wrote about it in his essay “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962”. Sarris was a director-oriented critic and felt there were several ways to identify a director as auteur. One of the premises he proposed was that a director must exhibit a distinguishable personality through recurrent characteristics of style: “The way a film looks and moves should have some relationship to the way a director thinks and feels.” (Sarris 562) 

Bringing out the Dead is about a New York City ambulance paramedic named Frank who drifts in and out of sanity during a three-day stretch. Several scenes take place at an overcrowded and understaffed emergency room. Scorsese’s technical brilliance is on full display in these scenes. As the doctor is explaining to Frank just how packed the hospital is, the camera swish-pans to each of the occupied rooms and the film cuts during the pan to reveal the patient. It is a frenetic technique, and it matches the hospital’s chaotic atmosphere. Additionally, the film uses time-lapse editing to illustrate Frank’s instability and his unhealthy addiction to saving people. In a scene when Frank hallucinates the young woman who he failed to save, he drives the ambulance at high speeds in a deranged state. The adrenaline rush is brought to life through the quick cuts and manipulation of time. Scorsese has worked with editor Themla Schoonmaker in every one of his films since Raging Bull (1980). In an interview from 1993, Scoonmaker explains how they often enjoy making the audience aware of the editing to make them think about shots in a new way. (Scoonmaker Talks Scorsese) In Goodfellas (1990), after Henry and Karen get married and the groom steps on the glass, the editing jumps around and becomes jagged to accentuate the violence of breaking the glass. Similarly in Bringing out the Dead, the editing becomes jagged to reflect Frank’s volatility as he’s driving through the streets of New York City.    

In several of Scorsese’s films, we see examples of the camera participating in the action rather than passively observing. In Raging Bull, the camera is placed in the boxing ring and moves alongside the fighters. In Mean Streets (1973), the camera slowly tracks with the characters as they interact in the nightclub, most significantly when we are first introduced to Robert De Niro as Johnny Boy. In Bringing out the Dead, the camera dollies along with Frank as he carries Mary out of the drug dealer’s house. By using a long take, we are further drawn into the film world. Scorsese does this in the Copacabana scene in Goodfellas (1990), often considered one of the most famous long-takes in movie history. In addition, one of Scorsese’s classic stylistic signatures is having the camera quickly dolly towards the characters. We see this in Bringing out the Dead with the hospital police officer. He is the man in charge, and his words are intimidating. By having the camera move closer to him, we get a sense of his supremacy over others. We also see this in the opening scene of Goodfellas after Henry Hill closes the car trunk. Combined with voice-over, the technique captures the essence of a commanding character.   

Another premise Sarris presents concerns interior meaning: that which sets one director apart from another. () Scorsese’s individual worldview thematically shapes how the stories are brought to life. His Catholic background is an integral part of his life (he once considered becoming a priest), and the characters of his films often wrestle with guilt and seek redemption in a hellish environment. In both Taxi Driver (1976) and Bringing out the Dead, the protagonists are isolated men trying to cope with the consequences of their thoughts and actions. Travis Bickle becomes increasingly alienated from the city and the people in it. As a cab driver, Travis sees society for what it is, and that vision deeply disturbs him. Frank is similarly exposed to a world full of misery as an ambulance driver. Both characters are haunted by this Dantesque underground. Yet they refuse to take responsibility for the self-imposed prison they put themselves in. Their mental states deteriorate as they try to find a way out. For Travis, that catharsis involves violence and death. For Frank, it involves confronting the ghosts of his past and forgiving himself.

Despite having collaborated with different screenwriters and cinematographers, Martin Scorsese is able to consistently translate his unique vision onto the screen. For Sarris, this is a key attribute of an auteur: a director should be able to express his or her personality through the visual treatment of the story. From his first feature, Who’s That Knocking on My Door? (1967), to his most recent film, The Irishman (2019), several common stylistic and thematic attributes can be detected. He’s an example of how cinema at its best is a means for personal expression. Like a pen for the novelist, the camera becomes a creative instrument used by filmmakers to communicate their idiosyncratic perceptions.        

Works Cited

Bringing out the Dead. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performances by Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, Ving Rhames, Paramount Pictures, 1999.

Goodfellas. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performances by Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Warner Bros, 1990.

Mean Streets. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performances by Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, Warner Bros, 1973.

Raging Bull. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performances by Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, United Artists, 1980.

Sarris, Andrew. “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962,” in Film Theory and Criticism, eds., Leo Braudy and Marshall Cohen (NY and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 561-565.

Taxi Driver. Directed by Martin Scorsese, performances by Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Columbia Pictures, 1976.“Thelma Schoonmaker talks Scorsese.” YouTube, uploaded by Eyes On Cinema, 6 December 2014, https://youtu.be/K6hCKyJruJo.