Speaking Through Weapon

Dead Man (1996)

Written and Directed By Jim Jarmusch

Cast: Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, Robert Mitchum, Mili Avital, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina

Editing by Jay Rabinowitz

Cinematography: Robby Muller

Music by Neil Young

Running Time: 121 Minutes


“Some Are Born to Endless Night” – William Blake

“Your poetry will be written with blood” – Nobody

Strange is the first thing burst into your mind after watching Jim Jarmusch’s Dead Man. An eccentric western fabulously filmed in black and white.
William Blake (Johnny Depp) is an accountant who is looking for a job in the western town of Machine. When he arrives in Machine he learned that his would-be employer, John Dickinson (Robert Mitchum) has filled the position. Dickinson is the owner of Dickinson Metal Works. He is a man with a gun always stuck in his hands and yelling at a stuffed bear most of the times.
Blake, now without job, money and hope, ends up with a former prostitute, named Thel, in bed. Later Thel’s Former lover, who happens to be Dickinson’s son, came to her house and after some skirmishes, after young Dickinson killed Thel, Blake guns down him and runs away.
Dickinson hires three Savage bounty hunters to bring Blake, dead or alive, back. Meanwhile Blake befriends an Indian named Nobody. From here to the end, the movie shows us the chasing of Blake and Nobody by three bounty hunters.
***
The movie is full of scenes of killing and shooting, still totally different with new violent movies. Jarmusch portrays savagery suffered by Indians in America, but never over-sentimentalized their depiction. Jarmusch’s mirror-like representation of the town of Machine and where Indians live, unlike his story telling, is full of details.
***
At the beginning of the Blake’s journey, where he sits in the train, a man asks him where he is going. He answers “town of Machine”. “That is the end of the line.” replies back the man. Does Jarmusch mean as machines dominates the life of human beings, their lives are coming closer to an end?
Dead Man is the story of a lost innocence. It shows how a simple man who even does not know how to use a gun, learns how to speak through a gun. That’s where bullet replaces tongue, metal replaces humans.
***
Robby Muller’s black and white cinematography is distinctive. Neil Young’s enigmatic score is pleasant and a good companion to the movie. Cast’s, specially Depp’s, performance is impressive.
***
Jarmusch is one of the most notable figures of American independent cinema. Jonathan Rosenbaum, American critic, describes him as a more citizen of the world rather than an ordinary American director. Dead Man is probably his best feature.