Jan 18, 2006 07:43 PM
2685 Views
(Updated Jun 15, 2006 02:09 PM)
Fight Club deserves a ten-star rating.
Some movies raise the bar. The Fight Club is one of them. The concept, the story, the execution, the small-small stories inside the main story.... everything is absolutely unique and a little sacred for anyone who digs originality.
But, first, the story.
Edward Norton suffers from insomnia. A suggestion from a doctor leads him to a support group for testicular cancer. There he discovers, that only when he cries is he able to sleep. Attending support groups becomes an obsession. Until he meets Brad Pitt (Tyler) in an aeroplane. Brad Pitt is somewhat of an enigma. A man with a definitve purpose behind everything and a mindset devoid of frivoloities of life. A waiter, a soap seller, a movie projectionist, and a man who believes that self mutilation is the way to redemption. Edward follows him on this path and they mutually start a fight club where men wallop each other to feel better, become re-aware of their masculinity by feeling the testosterone pumping their minds. Violence becomes therapy. Little by little, the club becomes a popular concept spreading to other cities. The groups' activities also become more nefarious, moving from self-infliction to mayhem project- random acts of vandalism to a well-planned destruction of all credit card companies.
However, there ensues a power struggle between Edward Norton and Brad Pitt. What was the club originally meant to be and what has it eventually turned into? Why have they shifted so radically from their original premise? Who is the leader? The climax is as thrilling as can be. Revealing it would kill the entire movie.
The movie is about so many other important concepts that add up to the storyline. The movie asks intuitive questions like- why does a weak person automatically latch on to a stronger person? Why are we so obsessed with earning possessions that we don't really need?Or life-altering questions- if we were to die tomorrow, what is the one thing we would want to do or regret not doing? Or why are we afraid of death? Are we so used to living in fear, that we dont even realize it anymore? Why are we afraid to live?
The movie also, has a slight hint of the Atlas Shrugged concept as its basic premise. Destroy the world as is now to create a world where one can breathe freely, live freely.
