The Enlightened Face Of Death (05.01.2002)
Roger Ebert writes, “Fearless is like a short story that shines a bright light, briefly, into a corner where you usually do not look. It makes you realize how routine life an become: how it is actually possible to be bored despite the fact that a universe has evolved for eons in order to provide us with the five senses by which we perceive it. If we ever really fully perceived the cosmic situation we are in, we would drop unconscious, I imagine, form shock.” What the filmmaker, Peter Wier, is attempting to make a statement about, is that we (1) cannot live our lives in boredom of life in general and its monotony because there are far to many wonderful things that go unnoticed, and (2) that we also cannot live our lives in fear of dying from flying on a plane or not engaging in a sport due to the risk of injury.
Fearless accomplishes this sense of amazement and wonder in several ways, the most prominent of which are the actions of Max Klein. The earliest of examples to that end occurs when Max drives the car to see his friend in the beginning of the film. ON the way he stops out in the middle of nowhere and sits against his car on the side of the road, rubbing dirt between his fingers. This is a demonstration of Max's intrigue with something as ordinary as dirt on the side of the road, a gratitude and appreciation for the basics of what makes up all of life on earth. In addition, Max finds a new love for strawberries, partially newly discovered excitement in simplicity and partially as a test of his state of being.
After all, Max is allergic to strawberries prior to the plane crash. He is also absorbed with work and caught up in the monotony of everyday life, until he experiences such a traumatic event. Max is also afraid to fly, and goes on this flight against his so called better judgment. The incident of the crash transforms Max Klein into an individual with a changed view of life. It is a realization that he, or anyone for that matter, may die at any given moment, and this realization also makes him take initiative in doing something which he always meant to do. Max had planned but never got around to going and visiting his old friend. This would fall into the category of important things that ultimately matter more than the trivialities we classify as problems each day, yet never actually motivate ourselves into taking care of them. Since Max is made aware of his inevitably mortal disposition, he does indeed follow up on his intention to make this visit.
To take it further, the message here is a testimony in opposition to worrying. The film demonstrates the type of worrying that goes on in everyday life about nothings. The example of Jeff’s wife and the lawyer squabbling over the insurance money owed them from Jeff’s death in the crash is an instance of such an absolute triviality in the scope of things as far as Max is concerned. In all actuality, most things that are made a big deal of in everyday life, being late for class, an average grade on an assignment as opposed to the highest, whether to buy this shirt or that, are all empty inconsequentialities in the grand workings of the universe. In reconsideration, it can be seen that most of what is worrisome at present, will be entirely and completely forgotten in the future of five, ten, or twenty years. Thus, as the Dalai Lama was once heard saying, “Why worry? If you can change a thing, then do it and you need not worry. But if you cannot change a thing, then worrying is not going to make a difference!”
And so, Peter Wier conveys several notions in Fearless that are implicit at initial glance, but can be made explicit upon further consideration of the matters therein. A small segment of these implicit notions has been taken here and made more explicit in retrospect to our beginning. It is now apparent to some degree that the filmmaker is attempting to draw our attention to the idea that life must not be seen as boring and mundane in light of all that is consisting of this universe and cannot be thus. Wonder is present at every corner in our lives and all that is required of us is to stop and smell the roses. Furthermore, we cannot live our lives in fear of all that may endanger it, as the possibilities of death are far greater than could ever be comprehended by our minds, yet the show must go on. Life continues, and so it must, but not without an appreciation and gratitude for it in our enjoyment of it. For Max Kline, these concepts are made clear in the face of death. For the rest of us, however, it is hoped that need not try to survive a plane crash in order to see the same thing. Hopefully we can attain such a state of mind in reflection on our own lives.
