Ben_Cheshire Review of The Brave

The Brave (1997)

See it for Brando's five minutes (magic), but as a whole it fails.

[3/10 · 23 February 2004]

This is a very mixed-up movie, which just doesn't come off at the end. Its an unusual, dark, story about a man who decides to sell his life to a strange man (played by Brando in a very moving, electric five minute cameo, the only real reason to see this movie - its about twenty minutes in) in exchange for a sum of money which will be used to give shanty-town-dwelling family a better life. The people at Cannes, or some such film festival, went for it and gave it a prize - but i'm not so sure i agree. It takes risks, by being weird and unconventional, but it does so in an empty way. It sacrifices having a real emotional centre, and most of it simply doesn't follow. The character-motivations do not all link up. Like, if Depp's character gave his life for this money, why does he p*** it away on a widescreen TV and other niknaks which may make the audience go "wow, that's what money buys" but in terms of practicality for the poor girls who have to miss out on an education and a good home, i didn't think it made sense at all. I think Johnny Depp is a class act, a superb actor, made all the more great for the fact that he's not scared to play parts far removed from himself, and indulge in imitation and mimickry, something method actors are shy of, because there is little room to identify and feel your character, because the character is so different from yourself (how do you go about "feeling" the part of an invention with scissors for hands? Or Errol Flynn-cum-Keith Richards, or J.M Barrie? First, you have to be a sort of master-actor!). Having said all that, he's not especially good in this film. I think he was distracted by the worries of directing. Orson Welles' performances suffered for the same reasons in his Othello, Stranger and Lady from Shanghai. Its a tricky thing, directing yourself, and even a great director like Welles needed the perfect environment to be able to do it (such as Kane, Falstaff). With due respect to Johnny, and i think he knows it because he hasn't directed again, this should be his only directorial effort, like One Eyed Jacks for Brando.