MEL GIBSON
ICONIC FILMMAKER BRINGS MASTERPIECES TO LIFE
By PETER THOMAS BUSCH
The daring opening scenes create atmosphere to captivate the audience at first instance. The tone then gradually and subtly seeps into the narrative to influence the perspective of the viewers, compelling the audience to follow the rest of the narrative as part of a more immersive suspension of disbelief.
Filmmaker George Miller cast Mel Gibson as the iconic post-apocalyptic hero Max Rockatansky in the Mad Max franchise films.
Mad Max is not mad. The character is instead the only rational person able to measure actions with temperance in a barren dystopian wasteland run by rogue street gangs searching for stores of fuel to run the machines.
Miller uses atmosphere, tone and suspense more than dialogue and action, and in doing so, creates a tension in the scenes that transforms theatres into post-apocalyptic time capsules.
The handsome, talented Gibson had such on screen charisma from a young age that quickly enabled him to move forward as a world-wide marque player. Gibson found security with this fame through the Mad Max franchise films and then also through the Lethal Weapon franchise films.
The Lethal Weapon narratives involve two undercover Los Angeles police detectives using unconventional methods to resolve exceptional crime dilemmas. Gibson plays the troubled single workaholic police officer living in a trailer along the California coastline.
Danny Glover co-stars with Gibson as the more conventional, stay out of trouble and follow the rule book police detective constantly ensnared in the chaos caused by his partner.
Glover and Gibson oscillate performing serious action scenes with comedic scenes.
This road to becoming one of Hollywood’s great marque actors brought Gibson to an early crescendo as one of cinema’s most iconic film directors.
Braveheart (1995) is a biopic historical drama about the formation of Scotland in opposition to the King of England.
One of the most iconic films produced begins with the paternal love of a young child helplessly watching his father and the uncertainty of the family marching off to a clan war.
Ten Oscar nominations and one of the most popular lead actors on the marque signaled that the film about Scottish independence would be long remembered as one of the great redemption films.
Gibson stars in and directs this iconic film that went on to win five Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematographer and Best Effects, Sounds Effects and Best Makeup.
The heart wrenching story of William Wallace is told with the intertwining narratives of fatherhood, kinship, love and freedom.
The film narrative is a compelling story of humanism and the struggle experienced by individuals navigating through the various vices and virtues of the rich and of the poor.
Gibson juxtaposes the corruptible power of authority against the strengths of individual freedom.
Braveheart is less about Scotland than the struggles of people to overcome their own weaknesses so as to stand strong against the injustices forced upon them by the state.
Gibson had become a promising director, but he then spent the next few years acting for other directors, such as Ron Howard, in the suspense thriller, Ransom (1996), costarring Rene Russo, and then in another suspense thriller, Conspiracy Theory (1997), costarring Julia Roberts.
Rene Russo also costars with Gibson in Lethal Weapon 4 (1998). Russo plays a police detective compelled to offer assistance amid the chaos created by the Gibson character.
Gibson then plays a gangster seeking vengeance after being betrayed by his partner, in the action adventure comedy, Payback (1999), costarring Gregg Harvey, Maria Bello and Lucy Liu.
Gibson’s acting career finds iconic form again when cast in the historical war drama, The Patriot (2000).
The Patriot has the same sophistication and reach into humanism as Braveheart. The historical drama also has the big ensemble of talented actors in supporting roles.
The plot twists and turns and becomes unraveled by the lead character, while he sparingly layers on a bit of that humor that has by now become expected of a Mel Gibson character.
The American Revolutionary War provides a linear narrative interwoven with the challenges of maintaining families during a brutal militia war with the English.
Again, the betrayal of friends and neighbors illustrates the limits of community and the need for individuality to defend against a self-righteous state.
The lead character is the hero, but American farmer Benjamin Martin’s family and neighbours are also heroes fighting to stay whole and moral as much as fight for independence against the foreign occupiers.
Gibson then goes back to directing with one of the most remarkable interpretation of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ since the Sword and Sandal Biblical Epics, such as Richard Burton in The Robe (1953) and Charlton Heston in Ben Hur (1959).
The audience is compelled into the narrative by an atmosphere created in the opening scenes with Jesus hiding in the misty woods with the disciples, spirits, and the serpent by his side.
Gibson directs Jesus in this battle with the darkness.
Jim Caviezel plays Jesus, beginning with the betrayed of Jesus by Judas. Monica Bellucci plays Mary Magdalen, a follower of Jesus who witnessed his crucifixion, burial and resurrection.
The Passion of the Christ (2004) is somewhat disturbing with graphic scenes of violence, depicting the Roman brutality used to control the rebellious populations in Judea.
Gibson shows the Romans as merciless rulers taking pleasure in the torture of a spiritual leader professing to be the Son of God.
The dialogue is in Hebrew and Aramaic with English subtitles. This language choice adds to the atmosphere of an unknown time long ago that people have read about through Christian scripture.
Gibson dramatizes the scenes of brutality as the Romans sentence Jesus despite suspecting he may be innocent in comparison to the corrupt temple priests. Jesus clearly suffers for the people’s sins.
The iconic film about the central figure of Christianity is another Mel Gibson masterpiece.
Gibson returns once more to filmmaking after a long sabbatical from Hollywood with the graphically violent World War II drama, Hacksaw Ridge (2016).
Andrew Garfield plays the lead biopic character about Desmond Doss, a conscientious objector who volunteered for the army but refused to carry a rifle. Doss instead became an army medic rescuing wounded soldiers during live fire on the Japanese occupied island of Okinawa.
Garfield received an Oscar nomination for his performance as the Medal of Honor recipient. The film won the Oscar for Best Achievement in Film editing. And Gibson was nominated for Directing, while the film was nominated for Best Picture.
That same year, Garfield was cast in the Christian biopic about the Jesuit Priests in Japan. Garfield co-stars with talented actor, Adam Driver, in the Silence (2016).
The iconic filmmaker leaves his acting credits behind for the new generation of acting stars as Gibson transitions from marque actor to successful director of masterpieces and then finally to that of a mentor for the next stage of world cinema.
Braveheart, The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ and Hacksaw Ridge rely on imagery so vivid the photography in each scene almost becomes as rich as the iconic paintings on the walls of prestigious art galleries around the world.
Gibson unpacks the emotions embedded in iconic art as actor and as director. Film scenes are painted with the graphic detail of emotive devices.
The complicated emotions found in great art are revealed one layer at a time on screen until the audience becomes entangled personally with the unfolding drama. Love and loss is followed by betrayal, violence, fear and vengeance.
In Braveheart, Gibson’s character returns home to start a family with a childhood sweetheart after several years of travelling and learning with his elders.
The love is soon lost, though, plunging the character into a dark path of vengeance. The director depicts the rebellion against the state as being limited by the human frailties of community and individuality that inevitably lead to betrayal and further consequential acts of vengeance.
In the Patriot, Gibson’s character is portrayed as a benevolent father of a large family on an American farm. Benjamin Martin’s world is soon turned upside down when his young son is murdered by a ruthless British cavalry officer.
In the Passion of the Christ, the compassionate Jesus passively resists the sentencing and torture by the soldiers of the oppressive state.
In Hacksaw Ridge, a love story and peaceful acts of bravery are sharply contrasted with the violence and futility of war.
Whether acting or directing, Gibson’s films are complicated examinations of human nature set in motion by the various machinations of the state.
People have learned of these vices and virtues through art. And Gibson brings his perspective and his knowledge of humanity and art to the screen through the use of that brutal realism and action suspense that only cinema can provide.
