Man Without a Face
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Product details
Actor: Mel GibsonEdition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
Running Time: 115 minutes
Release Date: 1995-02-21
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Studio: Warner Home Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Man Without a Face
Movie Review: Gibson hits a home run, as director and actor
Summary: 5 Stars
REVIEW OF THE FILM, NOT THIS PARTICULAR EDITION: The story behind the story is that Mel Gibson, who directed this movie, was not his own first choice to play the lead. The rumor I heard was that he wanted William Hurt to play it. While I'm sure that William Hurt would have been a fine choice, it's hard to imagine anyone doing it any better than Mel Gibson did. With this movie, Gibson proved himself a good director and a good dramatic actor.
"The Man Without A Face" tells the story of a young boy, played finely by Nick Stahl, who lives in a highly dysfunctional family. His mother is well-meaning but totally incompetent as a mother, and she spends most of her time trying to find the right man for her. The boy's father, whom the boy has idolized and idealized, is absent, and the boy is left to raise himself. The family spends its summers on an island off the coast of Maine, where they own or rent a small cottage. The boy's goal is to attend the military school that his father attended and, as the story opens, the family is arriving on the island and the boy has dedicated himself to spending this summer in preparing for the entrance exam for the military school. Meanwhile, Mel Gibson is a mysterious recluse living in a huge house overlooking the ocean. Rumors abound about his past, and all anybody really knows is that half of his face is badly burned and he seldom leaves his home.
As one rumor has it that the recluse was once a teacher, the boy tries to engage the recluse as a tutor. The recluse rejects the idea, but the boy is persistent. The recluse relents and becomes a strict taskmaster and excellent teacher. Somewhere along the line, the two realize that a friendship has been created.
I won't give away any more of the story, but it has several twists and turns, related to the tragic past of the recluse. This is a wonderful movie to watch with your children from ages ten and up. Issues related to determination, goal-setting, the value of work, dealing with rumors, prejudice, and how to accurately judge people are addressed. The acting is first-rate, and I'm glad that Mr. Hurt (or whomever it was) was unavailable and/or uninterested in taking the part. Whomever it was might be kicking himself now, though.
Movie Review: Gibson's first jab at directing works well
Summary: 5 Stars
It's not an easy dance - directing a movie while acting in it, but Gibson proved that even with one butt, you can dance at two weddings. Gibson plays Justin McLeod, a former teacher with a dark past - now a recluse, half of his face disfigured with terrible burns. The locals in his small town refer to him as "Hamburger Head" and otherwise spin spiteful gossip about him, even though none of them know what they're talking about. A local Ma & Pa grocer opens for a few hours at night each week, just so he can shop in privacy without people staring or calling him names, but he otherwise keeps to himself and his books.Nick Stahl fabulously portrays Chuck Norstadt, a young kid in a dysfunctional home and with no father. He is naturally curious about McLeod and pesters the former teacher relentlessly until he agrees to tutor him. McLeod has a soft side, but for the most part, he's all business and is usually brusk with Chuck.
Despite the lack of warm fuzzies from McLeod, Chuck prefers his consistent normalcy than his self-centered, bed-hopping mother who says to him, "I'm just not cut out for this mothering racket." Charming, heh?
Chuck proves himself to McLeod by studying his butt off. He works hard and excells in his studies and the two develop respect for each other and a true friendship - and for a time, although it is never openly acknowledged by either of them, Chuck has a a father and McLeod has a son - together they are more of a family than either of them has apart from each other.
The local yokels are suspicious about Chuck's relationship with McLeod and suspect that McLeod has less than honorable intentions. Driven by gossip, fear, prejudice and hate, they threaten to ruin the time they have together.
The "man without a face" is the father Chuck never got to know - the man with half a face and a full heart is the one he grows to admire and who he aspires to emulate and to make proud.
This is a sweet, emotion-filled movie - it is quite amazing that Nick Stahl did not get tons of movie offers after this incredible debut in a major film. It was good to finally see him again in "Terminator 3" where he did another fine job.
Family safe, but perhaps too intense and too involved for younger kids, this is a good film to watch together as a family to discuss prejudice and to discuss how hurtful words and gossip can be to other people, irregardless of how tempting gossip tends to be.
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