Twelve Monkeys: The underrated masterpiece

A few nights ago I was able to catch Twelve Monkeys on the tube, which I hadn't seen for quite some time and have always regarded it as a timeless classic in my all time great films list. It's been 22 years since I first saw this film and I would say at least two since I last saw it. The recent viewing of this week made me realize that as time passes, Twelve Monkeys keeps getting better and better. It made me elevate it to the status quo of masterpiece.

Like most masterpieces of cinema, Twelve Monkeys has everything going on for it. So let's go over the film's elements one by one, beginning with the characters:

Bruce Willis is at his very best here. A lot of fans will argue that his best dramatic performance is on The Sixth Sense -and I can partially agree with that affirmation-, however I give a slight nod to James Cole in Twelve Monkeys, because of his inner intensity that never drops, not even for a single second. Whether if it's internal or external, Bruce is able to portray James' never ending conflict within himself and the world that surrounds him -real or not-. One minute he's an action hero, the next minute he's a very fragile human being, the next minute he's trying to make sense of a mind-boggling time-travel situation. His many facets in the film would even rival what many consider Bruce's all-time best performance -John McClane in Die Hard-.

Madeleine Stowe is a pleasent and wondeful surprise. While you shouldn't compare her to Isabelle Adjani's Queen Margot or Meryl Streep's whatever movie Meryl Streep is in, her performance as Dr. Kathryn Railly is so natural, you basically forget you are even watching an actress playing someone and instead you take her for real on both her actions and her words. Bruce also accomplishes this fact, which is an incredibly tough feat to achieve on both your leads, who from the second act forward look like two random people who are stuck in an unbeliveable sequence of events that make them question their own existence.

However make no mistake: if both Bruce and Madeleine get lost within their characters, it is Brad Pitt the one who is completely impossible to recognize. This is Brad at his absolute peak right here -and yes, I mean he's even better than Tyler Durden-. Brad's screen time isn't long, however he steals the show every time he shows up. He's sort of a mixture between Heath Ledger's Joker, Anthony Hopkins's Dr. Lecter, and Benicio del Toro's Fenster, in the sense that's he's crazy (Joker), he's noticeable (Dr. Lecter), he's not essential to the main plot of the film (Fenster) and he leaves a mark in your mind (all three). Seriously, ask yourself: how much would Jeffrey Goines' absence would affect the film or the plot? Trust me, not that much. But, he's an unvaluable asset, because of the one single action he does that has a direct consequence on the events of the film -which is lead his father to believe that he is the one planning to attempt to steal the virus-. And why was this action triggered? Because of his brief stint with Cole back in 1990. Those are the small details that made me elevate Twelve Monkey to the status of masterpiece. From there and on, Jeffrey is just a huge misdirection tool to distract the audience -and the protagonists- from what is really taking place.

The structure of the film has drawn comparison to La Jettée and to another masterpiece you may have heard called Vertigo (many consider it the greatest movie of all time). I honestly believe that if Twelve Monkey had a bit more marketing, its status would keep growing stronger and eventually it could be mentioned in the same sentence as 2001. Like Scotty in Vertigo, I like how Cole's arc gradually goes from completely sane to completely insane, while Railly's arc goes from being completely sane to completely insane in a totally different way. Cole starts as sane believing in everything he has been told for his mission, but eventually becomes insane because he starts questioning reality and even doubts his own existence is real, to the point he starts believing in Railly's theory that he simply is just another crazy person living in the 1990s. On the other hand, Railly goes from being completely sane because she believes in everything she has studied as a scholar and a professional, to then becoming gradually insane because she starts believing in Cole's story and everything that surrounds and represents him. This juxtaposition of arcs of the main two characters in fascinating.

Then you have the little details. There are many key scenes, like the World War I scene, the spider scene, and the Railly at the Police station after being rescued scene; however one of the most memorable scenes is the one when Kathryn and Cole rent a room at a hotel for hookers. After paying the teller, he picks up the phone to ask if the pimp has a "new girl who is sort of shy." At first, it seems like this small piece of dialogue is a filler, but instead it is actually a setup for what follows next, which is Cole and Kathryn's intimate conversation being interrupted by the pimp showing up to confront them, which serves as setup for Cole taking off his teeth in the bathtub, hence serving as setup for the pimp then crying for help after being attacked by a woman and a crazy dentist.

Finally of course -or last but not least- we have the plot. I like how the time travel concept -which had been done by The Terminator, Back to the Future and La Jette- was handled, in the sense that they never attempted to fix or change the past or present to keep the timeline of the future intact. Instead, the time travel was just a resource to help people from the future. Hence no matter what Cole did or resist to do, things would develop exactly as they were supposed to, regardless of how hard you tried to change it. So many memorable moments affirm this, especially in the third act. My favorite one is after the voice message left by Kathryn, how she joyfully approaches James to celebrate that they're crazy, when in reality it's one of the first things we as the audience hear at the beginning of the movie.

In all, Twelve Monkeys is a collection of very well crafted scenes, supported by memorable performances by Willis, Stowe and Pitt, backed up by a superb direction by the master of illusion, Terry Giliam.

A++

The Case of United Airlines Flight 3411

Every now and then, huge corporations give us the opportunity to experience a rare incident in their daily operations, that require an immediate PR reaction. The most recent of these is the incident of United Airlines' Flight 3411.

As most of you may know by now -thanks to social media-, airport officers forcibly removed passenger Dr. David Dao from the aircraft, after he refused to give his seat away to United's crew because the flight was overbooked and the crew had to be at their destination for another flight. Passengers recorded the incident and the video went viral in a matter of hours, with the video showing an injured Dr. Dao being carried by two officers. The internet went nuts -as usual- with thousands vowing never to fly on United ever again, and others wishing the airline went bankrupt.

United CEO Oscar Muñoz, issued a very unsympathetic tweet, kind of apologizing for the overbooking, while sending an internal memo defending the actions of the crew. A following public statement was issued in which Muñoz apologized to the passenger and announced a review of the procedure.

So what can be said about what happened?

First things first: like it or not, the crew is in right to remove a passenger if he/she refuses to leave a flight. This is crystal clear in the contract suscribed within the United and yourself once you purchase an airline ticket from them. In general, as soon as you seet foot in a commercial aircraft on US soil, you are bound to obey any instruction delivered by the aircraft's Captain and his crew. It's federal law.

Second: the whole incident was poorly managed by United. They shouldn't have ever allowed passengers to board the plane, if they knew the flight was overbooked and another flight crew needed to board the aircraft. This issue should have been sorted before boarding.

Third: I'm quite sure almost everyone has experienced living through an overbooked flight in which the airline offers to compensate you if you give away your seat. I can remember at least six times when this has happened to me and I specifically remember having thought that if I was offered $1,000, I would have given my seat away. The opportunity hasn't happened yet though, because some people accept $200 or $400 offered by the airline. Maybe the issue would have been solved had United offered more money?

Four: As CEO, Muñoz was clearly caught off base with the incident. He clearly dismissed it with his initial tweet as something minor that wasn't too much of a big deal -and, objectively speaking, it is true: this is not a big deal-. He clearly underestimated the power of social media and the internet of things.

Five -and perhaps the most important-: calling for a United boycott or wishing a 90 year old business that has over 80,000 employees to go bankrupt, just because of an isolated incident that was poorly handled by a crew of what, 10 people, is complete non-sense. It doesn't make sense that more than 80,000 people lose their jobs, if United went bankrupt over this. I mean, it may be possible that perhaps at least 40,000 of those people would have handled the incident in a different way.

I've flown United several times and to me, their services are pretty much what I expect from them. I've flown several other airlines, with way worse customer treatment, yet I see no one calling to boycott them or wish them bankruptcy.

Even with the fact that the law favors United in this case, I believe that 1) a procedure review, 2) maybe some sort of penalty to the people involved for unnecessary excess use of force, and 3) a fair settlement with Dr. Dao, should leave United with a better image.