The Postman (1997)

nTitle: The Postman (1997)

nDirector: Kevin Costner

nCast: Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Olivia Williams, LorenznTate, Giovanni Ribisi

nReview:

nTo me, The Postman is the Gone with the Wind (1939) of postnapocalyptic movies, and that’s probably not a popular opinion but I stand bynit. Normally, seeing a post-apocalyptic film equals watching a low budget,nbadly written/acted film. The big budget post apocalyptic film that is shotnlike an A-film, with A-list actors is not the norm. They exist, but they arennot in the majority. This was a huge production, it cost 80 million dollars to make. It was shot innbeautiful locations all over the United States, it has a great cast, it’s basednon an award winning book yet for some reason, critics decided to lambast it as “worstnmovie of the year” It was even nominated for various Razzie awards. The problemnis that sometimes, once an important reviewer or critic decides a film is bad likensay Roger Ebert for example, then the rest of the world has to agree, simplynout of fear of appearing stupid. Thennsuddenly everyone believes a film is terrible just because of one or twonprominent people thought so, this to me is what causes the death of some films.nMaybe the themes and ideas are to liberal and so all conservatives and thenmedia gang up to give it a bad reputation? Whatever the case, I personallynthough this movie was all kinds of good. Maybe a little repetitive with itsnthemes and maybe a tad bit too long, but in no way would I say this was a badnmovie!

nA man and his donkey

nIn The Postman we meet a lonely, nameless nomad who wandersnacross a post apocalyptic wasteland America living his life in peace,ntraveling across the country with his trusty mule ‘Bill’. They go from town tontown performing Shakespeare for the entertainment hungry survivors of thenapocalypse. One day, while performing in one of these towns, the nomad getsnpicked up by a group called ‘The Holnists’, a military group looking to grow innsize so they can take over the country and start a new tyrannical form ofngovernment. But the nomad, whom everyone now calls ‘Shakespeare’ doesn’t wantnto become a part of this army, so he escapes and takes his chances out in thenworld, on his own, the way he’s always done. On his travels he stumbles upon anmail truck, with the mail man dead inside. The only thing that remains is thenmail mans skeleton, the mail mans uniform (which Shakespeare quicklynappropriates to shelter from the cold rain) and a bag of old letters. The nomadnthen takes the post man’s uniform and the bag of old letters and travels to annearby town, posing as a postman who comes to bring mail. He tells them he is anrepresentative of the United States Government and that the government isnre-establishing itself, that they have a new president called ‘PresidentnRichard Starkey’ and he tells them that things are getting better and better. Henlies to them because he wants to give them hope. In this post apocalypticnworld, The Postman becomes a symbol of hope to those who have none.

nSo this would mark the third time that Kevin Costner worked inna post apocalyptic film. The first was a film called Testament (1983), a filmnthat took place within a typical American suburb and how the community reactsnto a nuclear attack. I’m sure this film must have been specially chilling tonwatch during the 80’s when a lot of people lived in constant fear of dying in annuclear holocaust. The film’s a pretty realistic portrayal, not over the top,nnot comic-bookish. In contrast to the realism of Testament, the second Costnernpost-apocalyptic film was Waterworld (1995), a comic book of a movie whichnportrayed Costner as a loner surviving in a world in which the ice caps havenmelted. Most of the land is buried under water and so, a society that survivesnin man made atolls is the only thing that remains. He plays something of anselfish asshole that only cares about his own survival, yet ends up learning tonhelp others anyways. I enjoyed Waterworld for various reasons, all of which I’llnbe getting into on my upcoming review for it. Then comes The Postman (1997),nwhich Costner made shortly after Waterworld, and maybe that’s partially whatnhurt it a bit. Both films have many similarities. They are bothnpost-apocalyptic, their both about a loner, and like Dances with Wolves (1990)nand Waterworld, this loner comes to aid a group of people against a tyrannical formnof government. It seems like for a while there and maybe without realizing it (ornmaybe entirely on purpose?) Costner made a series of films with extremelynsimilar situations and themes. So by the time The Postman rolled in, it feltnlike he was being redundant. This in my opinion might be the only thing thatnbrings The Postman down a bit.

nIn all other departments The Postman feels epic, well acted,nwell shot. It’s a beautiful film to look at, sometimes too beautiful for anpost-apocalyptic film. At times it actually feels like a western. At heart, it’sna film that speaks about the best and worst things in human nature. What makes America,nAmerica?nIs American what we want it to be? This is the kind of film, like many othersnbefore it that criticizes certain elements we still see in the modern world:nwar, tyranny, greed and complete Disregard for human life. Why treat others asnless because of their skin color? Why try to dominate man for your own selfishnpurposes? Why can’t we all just live in peace in this world? Is this just idealisticnthinking? Perhaps, but the world would definitely be a better place if we allnstrived for happiness, peace and understanding and that’s why I enjoyed thisnfilm, it strives to remind us that even though we live in a messed up world similarnto the post apocalyptic world of The Postman, there’s still hope. We can stillnstrive to make society and the world better, yeah, I got faith in humanity thatnway. Why should a film be castigated for promoting peace?

nMaybe this film got heat because its main character doesn’t wantnto be part of the army? The Postman tells a military leader “a fighter is thenlast thing I will be” Same as Chaplin’s character in The Great Dictator (1940)nThe Postman cares nothing for war and killing, he just wants to fall in love,nto sing and dance. Some of the warmest scenes involve just that. By the way,nThe Great Dictator, one of Charlie Chaplin’s masterpieces (dare I say his mostnimportant one) is an equally subversive and controversial film because of thenanti-military message it puts across. One of my favorite lines in The Postman isn“wouldn’t it be great if wars could be fought just by the assholes who startednthem?” Now there’s an idea! But no, during war the ones that die are thenpeople, not their leaders.

nSome might get the idea that because of its pacifist messagenThe Postman is an anti-American film; which is probably why it had a tough timenat the box office, but it isn’t. It’s a film that wants a better America, anbetter country to live in, a better form of government, and lets not keep things centered only around America, this film simply wants a better world period. Not a tyrannical one,nnot one centered on war. This is probably the reason why in the film, they makena new American flag and on its white lines it reads “The Restored United Statesnof America” At one point, the villain tells The Postman “you don’t care aboutnanything! You value nothing! You don’t believe in anything! That’s what makesnme better!” and The Postman answers “I believe in the United States!” letting us knownthat yes, this is a film that cares for its country; it simply wants a betternone. One of the main characters in the film is looking for a better place fornher child to be born in, cause this place they are currently living in simply isn’tnit. Society as we know needs to improve, evolve and become something better. Itnneeds to achieve its full potential. So what we have here is a film strivingnfor a better world. War isn’t it. Being part of the military isn’t it either, in this film, the good guys, the peaceful men fight only because they are forced to. Younask the filmmakers behind The Postman and they’ll tell you: peace is where it’snat.

nRating: 4 out of 4