Statutory Warning:**This movie would engross only the one who has studied William Blake poetry and simultaenously loves movies with meaning and of spiritual value. The ones who go to watch this one for a’Saturday night action’ kick or a Friday evening Horror Show would be unpleasantly bored and confused.
*I had no clue about the movie but when I stumbled upon its DVD I knew I had to watch it because the title said Dead Man and the casting said Johnny Depp. It started out a little slow I might say as William Blake(Johnny Depp), a meek accountant from Cleveland, Ohio, rides by train to the frontier company town of Machine to assume a promised job with the company "Dickinson Metalworks".
Well soon enough the plot witnessed Blake on the run for 2 murders. If you are expecting at this point that Blake would now have to clear his name in front of the authorities in some way, you are grossly mistaken. Plotted in the early wild west, he soon has to learn the ways to survive.
After being shot at once, he gradually starts losing conciousness and energy from time to time and often looks like he is in a trance like state.At this point, he meets a strange Red Indian who calls himself "No Body " who who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world.
Please do not get confused between the legendary poet William Blake and the character of the movie of the same name. They are not the same person and the movie is not the poet’s life story.
I would discuss the ending of the movie in the next paragraph, so if you dont want to know it, kindly skip to the next one to that. The reason I do this is because without that, it is not possible for me to correctly say why inspite of the apparant bore of a movie to a lay man could be an amaising piece of art of a movie.
In my view, after being on the run and also being shot at, this movie gradually goes into a mythical realm, akin to dream, rather than in any actual historical period, although it is obvious that generally the period is the latter half of the nineteenth century, an age in which, Becker maintains, religion and philosophy begin to be once more obsessed with ideas surrounding death and the after-life. The Blake of the film is the equivalent of Blake the poet’s Spectre, the nineteenth-century doppleganger, whom Blake the poet identifies with rationalism. William Blake is a form of anti-hero and Dead Manis concerned with a preparation for death.
*References to William Blake
I feel that William Blake(1757-1827), an english artist, mystic and poet’s work has been a major source of inspiration for the movie and his mystic ways have been leveraged to form the character of the same name.
There are multiple references in the film to the poetry of William Blake. Nobody recites from several Blake poems, including Auguries of Innocence, *The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and The Everlasting Gospel. When bounty hunter Cole warns his companions against drinking from standing water, it references the Proverb of Hell(from the aforementioned Marriage), "Expect poison from standing water". Thel’s name is also a reference to Blake’s The Book of Thel.
Written and directed by Jim Jarmusch, this movie dealt with mixed reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film one-and-a-half stars(out of four stars maximum), noting "Jim Jarmusch is trying to get at something here, and I don’t have a clue what it is". Greil Marcus, however, mounted a spirited defense of the film, titling his review "Dead Again: Here are 10 reasons why’Dead Man’ is the best movie of the end of the 20th century". Johnny Depp gave absolute mindblowing performance as always.
Overall I give this movie 3 stars. This movie is deep, intelligent and very intense. Not a cup of tea for everyone. But dont take my word for it, watch it and find out for yourself. But I would suggest be a little more familiar with William Blake before you do so.
Not for people below 18 anyway.