The best movies are more than the sum of their parts, a dictum that is certainly true of Falling Down (1993). On the surface, this is a rather simply constructed story of a man who cracks on a hot day in Los Angeles and wreaks havoc in the city. However, there are layers upon layers to this scenario, and its larger allegory points toward modern life in America as something a bit past ripe, rotting from the inside out.
Michael Douglas portrays a very frustrated everyman who is identified by name only in the movie’s last act. Before that he is known to viewers as the enigmatic license plate of his abandoned car, “D-FENS.” Director Joel Schumacher firmly establishes the connection between his protagonist and the audience in the opening scene set in D-FENS’ stifling hot car, stuck in one of those traffic jams that seems insane while one is in it. We know exactly how he feels because we’ve all been there and his escape is our escape.
We are totally with D-FENS as he begins his long walk home, when he is hassled by a variety of people for no discernible reason and when his frustration bursts into violence. The film’s real brilliance is that as it gradually turns evident that the guy is just not very stable, we’re still with him. The connection is as solid as steel, which makes the film’s final act so powerful.
Schumacher paints this particular torrid Los Angeles day as a typical one, populated by people who don’t want contact with others and a heavy atmosphere ominous with the potential for violence. His broad strokes depict urban strife and racial intolerance, yet his technique emphasizes the details that mean so much — the graffitied landscape, the artificial cheerfulness of the Whammyburger staff, the quiet stares of the children waiting for something to occur, the jostling at the bus stop, the annoyed cops too narrow-minded to properly investigate D-FENS’ rampage.
Robert Duvall is the retiring cop who sees a pattern nobody else sees and who does his best to prevent domestic tragedy. Barbara Hershey is D-FENS’ ex-wife, who is rightly afraid of her ex-husband’s explosive temper.
As a character study of a man pushed over the edge of reason, Falling Down is an excellent movie. As an allegory regarding the moral decay of our society and its inevitable consequences, it’s a great one. My rating: ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆. (9:1).