Fearless

A man who survived a plane crash with only a scratch begins to take risks with his life, while a young mother whose baby died in the crash cannot get past her grief.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 1-JUN-2004
Media Type: DVD

When Max Klein (Jeff Bridges) finds himself facing imminent death as his plane hurls toward the ground, he finds inner calm and release from fear in his acceptance of his own unavoidable end. His panic erased, he helps other passengers to relax, and when he survives the impact, to escape. What follows is his difficult and complex journey back to emotional and spiritual equilibrium. Along the way he helps Carla (Rosie Perez), a woman smashed by the belief that her infant son's death in the accident was the direct result of her inability to hold him tightly enough, and alienates his wife, Laura (Isabella Rossellini), who tries desperately to understand what he's experiencing. Peter Weir's film is emotionally intense in an absolutely unsentimental way (very rare), and the complexity of the protagonist's experience is refreshing (if you don't mind feeling deeply). The handling of the crash sequences is chilling in an unsensational way, and the directing in general is a triumph of story-serving restraint. Not the usual Hollywood fare, but intensely rewarding for those who are tired of mind candy. --James McGrath