Being Human

Being Human is probably Bill Forsyth's "worst" film. And it got some of the LOUSIEST reviews ever when released. But Bill Forsyth's worst is still better than most people's best, and there was some positive reappraisal of it when the video came out. I think it's worth seeing, especially if you don't compare it to Forsyth's great films (Local Hero, Housekeeping, Gregory's Girl). Robin Williams is fine, as usual, as our anti-hero through time, and if the plot and running jokes wear more than a little thin by the end, the journey is still interesting.

In the first story a caveman's family is taken away by raiders despite he does his best for stopping them and she recommends him to take care of the children. In the second story Hector (Robin Williams) is a slave to the foolish Lucinnius (John Turturro) who loses his fortune and finds forced to kill himself, and Hector helps him in doing so but can't return to his family because he becomes slave to another man. In the third story Hector is a Spanish crusader that has to return to his family, but can't because he befriends a priest (Vincent D'Onofrio) and even wants to join him. In the fourth story he is a portuguese man in the Renaissance shipwrecked in Africa and his wife from the previous story here is his lover. In the fifth and final story Hector lives in the present New York and is helped by his wife and kids to find a good way in life since he is in sorrow for the mistakes he did in his past lives, and they too, deal with this.

BEING HUMAN is certainly not a movie for everyone, but it's one of the most original movies I have ever seen. The way the stories are connected is focused and it makes you think and ask the question if you might have been someone in another life in the past. Robin Williams gives one of his most straight performances of his career as the same man in different settings that has always different challenges connected to one thing. The need to return to his family. The supporting cast (Turturro, D'Onofrio, WIlliam Macy and a few others) are all pretty entertaining and the direction is very focused.

Overall, one of the most unique movies you can find and mostly recommended to folks who on occasion love seeing something different. I would also recommend to not think too much while watching, because your head might explode if you focus too much on the details and try to analyze them.

For some reason (one can only presume his ego got the better of him) Bill Forsyth actually made a big-budget art-house film here. If that isn't an error of judgement sufficient to end a career, I don't know what is.

It's hard to fathom how he thought it would be possible for such a film to be released commercially. And while the producers presumably forked out for it without actually studying the screenplay - somehow persuaded that they should all go to Morocco to shoot some scenes on a beach and some dunes - it boggles the mind how the director and the producers managed to remain so far out of alignment on their target market, right through to the film's completion.

In any case, Warner Bros understandably couldn't market it to mainstream cinema audiences, and in a desperate attempt to salvage something, cut it severely and added a narrative voice-over to dumb it down. If anything, the surgery only made it worse. Not only has it lost its artistic integrity, it has a slapped-on narration - presumably in imitation of a bed-time story - that crops up at meaningful moments to let us know that it's a meaningful moment. The narration adds nothing, only patronises. Worse, it is incongruously done in strident tones and a raw, modern American accident. It's hard to think of a more botched attempt to salvage a film.

It's not a difficult film, but it does require some indulgence. Certainly, mainstream cinema-going viewers will only be nonplussed at having to think about what they are watching, having to tease subtleties, ambiguities, and ironies from a series of slow moving, wistful, existential stories.

Forsyth's original screenplay demanded even more indulgence, trying to extract depths of meaning out of every moment. This obsession at painting emotion is what really sinks the film - it's more literary than cinematic, and little of the attempt successfully translates to the screen. Thus, when Hector in the first story sees the boats coming in, he stands there hesitantly in full view of them and there is little sense of the absolute terror the screenplay he tells us he feels - mainly he comes across as simple-minded.

There is plenty, though, to appeal to the intelligent viewer who likes to reflect on life. The historical scenarios (except for the last segment) are interesting choices - it is rare to be taken to those times and places - some of them fairly unique. The moral or practical challenges presented to Hector each time are never boring. We like him for being hapless and benign, and we come to care for his welfare. This is excellent and engaging - for the thinking viewer - and is all the better for the straightforward technique, without any of the manipulative technology-driven tricks of modern Hollywood.

However, it's hardly an unsung masterpiece. No consistent theme emerges. Nothing really coheres into a whole. The stories needed to be much cleverer for it all to come together into a frisson of satisfaction at the end - nothing really does come together. Two of the stories have hopeful endings (if not entirely happy), the others have sad, wistful, or ambiguous endings. If there was significance in the ending of each, it was too subtle to grasp. By the last story we (might) realise that footwear seems to be a theme, though quite what the moral is there in terms of the human condition, is obscure. Other symbols, such as the windmill and the cross, if symbols they are, don't work at all, as almost everyone will miss them completely.

Worse, Hector hardly stands for the whole human race, having evolved apparently into the fashionably-sensitive liberal, the banality of which is revealed in the last story, which serves up the biggest cliché of them all: father issues, presented here with dismal earnestness as Hector bonds with his estranged children. When Hector is told that his son only needs a hug to solve everything, and his early-teen daughter gives him a little lecture on meaningful moments, I'm not sure whether my howls were of excruciation, disbelief, or disappointment.

Fables were used in the past to tell stories to children. Here Hector (Robin Williams) and a woman story teller (Theresa Russel) whom we never see but only hear, weave several stories for Hector's children to explain his absence from their lives for several years. Each story attempts to explain figuratively what emotions he went through during the period.

An attentive viewer is amply rewarded by director Bill Forsyth--if you are a casual viewer you will wonder what is happening and consider the film to be disjointed and hence poor entertainment.

Non-linear narratives are not Forsyth's invention--such films have adorned French and Hungarian cinema for decades. "Being Human" is above average in that company merely because of fine performances from Williams, the beautiful Anna Galiena (Beatrice) an Italian actress, Hector Elizondo, John Turturro, William Macy, and Ewan McGregor to mention a few.

While the imaginative storytelling technique was impressive, Forsyth never explains who the lady narrator is. Are we expected to imagine it to be Hector's new love? The gradual jumps in time scales, gives us a socio-historical perspective into Hector's education in life, seen through the eyes of his children. Forsyth is interesting but not the best director using this technique. His film demands attention, both literally and figuratively.

I understand that the director disowns the film after the studios forced him to truncate the film by 40 minutes. Probably the director's cut is far superior to the present version and is likely to be more satisfying to a discerning viewer.

Unfortunately, many people who have seen and reviewed this movie have not taken the time to see its true meaning. Being Human is not the story of man's development over time, it is the story of one man (Robin Williams) and the stages his life has passed through. I watched this movie in an Advanced Cinematography class, and I hated it. But as I began to see the connections between water and shoes as symbols, I began to appreciate it even more. Perhaps I am giving it away, but to really "get" this movie, just look at the title. Forsyth's movie is about being a human being. Hector (Williams) is simply being human, and having a tough time of it. My advice in watching this movie is to pay careful attention to the last segment. It is the key to understanding Being Human.