I left the screening of NOISE knowing I had seen a film made with consummate skill and acted superbly, but still somewhat bemused and not sure how I felt about it.
The hero of NOISE is a policeman played by Brendan Cowell with an engaging amalgam of all the best things about those great Antipodean actors Russell Crowe, Colin Friels and David Field. He not only oozes charisma from every pore but is thoroughly believable throughout the film. But then the entire cast put in flawless performances with wonderfully natural ensemble acting. The tarnished reputation of the Victorian Police Force must have been given a makeover by all involved with this film.
So why was my response so muted? Probably because I just did not get it.
It was not until I read Chris Hedge's book, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning" a few days later that I gained a foothold on the task of interpreting what might have been going on.
Everyone knows that Freud said that EROS, or sex is the key to understanding most of our actions. But Freud also promulgated an equal and opposite force that affects our behaviour THANATOS. That is the term that describes the meaning and energizing function that the contemplation of death and suffering gives to lives left empty by a surfeit of the pleasures that are generally associated with the conventional notions of happiness. Not surprisingly, the THANATOS thing never really caught on it is much more fun thinking about sex.
But Hedges suggests we ignore THANATOS at our peril. I think the hero cop of NOISE is guilty of doing just that. When he suffers from tinnitus, or ringing in his ears, he sees it as a means of getting some stress leave from his duties.
But Matthew Saville's script and direction may well be suggesting that it is a warning sign. It may be a response to the anxiety and stress produced by his failure to acknowledge and engage with the razor thin line between the kind of civilized and compassionate behaviour he is charged with upholding and the exhilarating lust for violence and mayhem the entire population carry around with them in their innermost beings. If you find that notion unconvincing ask yourself why symbolic war games such as football matches are so popular. And why the war and police film genres are such staples of literature, art and cinema. Love and hate, Eros and Thanatos that's pretty well all that is on offer ever since man began expressing himself.
The hero cop's lover is miffed when she discovers he has hidden his problems from her. But she shows him how to deal with the noises in his head. He should think of the ringing as the opposite of all that he really is. She likens it to the negative yellow, green, cyan that are the opposites of the red, green, blue colours in a photograph. The thanatos as opposed to the eros. She shows him how to nullify the ringing by superimposing a countervailing sound 180 degrees out of phase with the ringing sound by acknowledging the thanatos and taking steps to combat it.
Hedges sums up that erotic therapy rather neatly...
We are tempted to reduce life to a simple search for happiness. Happiness, however, withers if there is no meaning. The other temptation is to disavow the search for happiness in order to be faithful to that which provides meaning. But to live only for meaning indifferent to all happiness makes as fanatic, self-righteous, and cold. It leaves us cut off from our own humanity and the humanity of others. We most hope for grace, for our lives to be sustained by moments of meaning and happiness, both equally worthy of human communion.
The killer in NOISE has found a way to deal with these drives by acts of violence. But the cop is so devoted to avoiding these issues that he does not even recognise the killer when he is talking to him. And he pays the price for his dissembling in the final cataclysmic encounter of the film. But the sustaining support of his lover has changed him. He reveals the true nature of her plight to the sole witness to the killings when no one else will. He has learned to acknowledge and confront the dark aspects of human nature. The ringing in his ears has stopped.
The hero of NOISE is a policeman played by Brendan Cowell with an engaging amalgam of all the best things about those great Antipodean actors Russell Crowe, Colin Friels and David Field. He not only oozes charisma from every pore but is thoroughly believable throughout the film. But then the entire cast put in flawless performances with wonderfully natural ensemble acting. The tarnished reputation of the Victorian Police Force must have been given a makeover by all involved with this film.
So why was my response so muted? Probably because I just did not get it.
It was not until I read Chris Hedge's book, "War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning" a few days later that I gained a foothold on the task of interpreting what might have been going on.
Everyone knows that Freud said that EROS, or sex is the key to understanding most of our actions. But Freud also promulgated an equal and opposite force that affects our behaviour THANATOS. That is the term that describes the meaning and energizing function that the contemplation of death and suffering gives to lives left empty by a surfeit of the pleasures that are generally associated with the conventional notions of happiness. Not surprisingly, the THANATOS thing never really caught on it is much more fun thinking about sex.
But Hedges suggests we ignore THANATOS at our peril. I think the hero cop of NOISE is guilty of doing just that. When he suffers from tinnitus, or ringing in his ears, he sees it as a means of getting some stress leave from his duties.
But Matthew Saville's script and direction may well be suggesting that it is a warning sign. It may be a response to the anxiety and stress produced by his failure to acknowledge and engage with the razor thin line between the kind of civilized and compassionate behaviour he is charged with upholding and the exhilarating lust for violence and mayhem the entire population carry around with them in their innermost beings. If you find that notion unconvincing ask yourself why symbolic war games such as football matches are so popular. And why the war and police film genres are such staples of literature, art and cinema. Love and hate, Eros and Thanatos that's pretty well all that is on offer ever since man began expressing himself.
The hero cop's lover is miffed when she discovers he has hidden his problems from her. But she shows him how to deal with the noises in his head. He should think of the ringing as the opposite of all that he really is. She likens it to the negative yellow, green, cyan that are the opposites of the red, green, blue colours in a photograph. The thanatos as opposed to the eros. She shows him how to nullify the ringing by superimposing a countervailing sound 180 degrees out of phase with the ringing sound by acknowledging the thanatos and taking steps to combat it.
Hedges sums up that erotic therapy rather neatly...
We are tempted to reduce life to a simple search for happiness. Happiness, however, withers if there is no meaning. The other temptation is to disavow the search for happiness in order to be faithful to that which provides meaning. But to live only for meaning indifferent to all happiness makes as fanatic, self-righteous, and cold. It leaves us cut off from our own humanity and the humanity of others. We most hope for grace, for our lives to be sustained by moments of meaning and happiness, both equally worthy of human communion.
The killer in NOISE has found a way to deal with these drives by acts of violence. But the cop is so devoted to avoiding these issues that he does not even recognise the killer when he is talking to him. And he pays the price for his dissembling in the final cataclysmic encounter of the film. But the sustaining support of his lover has changed him. He reveals the true nature of her plight to the sole witness to the killings when no one else will. He has learned to acknowledge and confront the dark aspects of human nature. The ringing in his ears has stopped.