American Beauty

American Beauty  is a story of the death ...and life of Lester Birnum.   It is a film about death and is told from the point of view of Lester who has just died.  It's also a film about beauty.  Death as a catalyst for waking up to the beauty of life.

It's not just about physical death.  Themes of metaphorical death run throughout American Beauty in one form or another.  Some subtle, others not.   We see the death of Lester's advertising career as he burns bridges at work and the death of his marriage along with his safe suburban lifestyle.  In general, with many of the characters we witness the breakdown of habitual ways of responding to common situations.  So this film is also about, metaphorically speaking, being asleep and waking up.

The character of Ricky Fitz is an interesting one.  He holds a primary key for handling the passage of death or what we might call successful bardo voyaging.   It's a key Lester realizes at the moment of his death and we are given this information as much through visual imagery as through anything that's explicitly said.  I won't say what that key is, that would spoil the fun, but I will say that it's symbolically reinforced several times through the course of the film.  To a Qabalist, American Beauty says it all in the title. The scene that clued me in to Ricky is the "dancing paper bag" one.

Ricky likes to videotape.  It helps him to remember.  He often tapes seemingly ordinary, everyday events.  One of his favorite subjects to videotape is death.  After telling his new girfriend, Jane –Lester's daughter about recording a homeless person who had just died she asks,
 "Why would you film that?
"Because it was amazing."
"What is amazing about it?"
"When you see something like that it's like God is looking right at you just for a second and if you're careful, you can look right back."
"And what do you see?"
"Beauty."

American Beauty has fun playing with the audiences' assumptions by presenting things out of context.  The most obvious example is the opening scene.  I found myself, more than once, expecting one thing to happen only to discover that I was making a habitual assumption.  This told me something about my psychology and how strongly I filter the world through conditioning and beliefs.  American Beauty underscores and dramatizes the illusory nature of appearances.

This happens not only to viewers but also to the character of Colonel Frank Fitz, Ricky's father, in a pivotal scene that ultimately holds grave consequences.  The lesson here is that jumping to conclusions and acting upon them can be dangerous to oneself and others.

Another recurring thematic image is roses.  The tape I rented has a close-up of a rose being held against someone's solar plexus.  An example of how this powerful symbol is subtly presented is given in a bit of apparently extraneous dialogue:
"I just love your roses.  How do you get them to flourish like this?"
"Well, I tell you, egg shells and miracle growth."

While some themes are understated others are explicitly given such as when Ricky comments, "Never underestimate the power of denial."  Many of the characters are in denial in American Beauty and much of the conflict has to do with this symptom of denial being confronted with reality.

The acting, all around, is exceptionally fresh and real.  It seems like circumstances conspired to somehow induce this cast outside of standard acting postures.  It appears that there was strong contact between the actors and their invocational characters.  The soundtrack is also top-notch.  Both the songs they chose and the haunting piano music that recurs throughout help to create a potent and resonant mood that underlines the story-line.

To this reporter, American Beauty and the American Book of the Dead go hand in hand. Because of the valuable key to bardo spaces it contains but also for other reasons less easy to verbalize and explain.  It helps if you see this film more than once.  This is one picture where knowing the ending can enrich and unravel meaning earlier on.

American Beauty hits very close to home.  The epiphany that Ricky expresses in the "dancing paper bag" scene happened to me when I simultaneously discovered the music of John Cage (when you discover his music you realize that it's not really his but belongs to everyone) and Dada art.  I've never been able to communicate it well but some sense of it is given in Lester's closing remarks.  I'll quote the words here but the delivery, mood and atmosphere surrounding them are just as important to the communication.  For that, you'll have to see it for yourself.

He says this moments after his death:

"I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me but it's hard to stay mad when there's so much beauty in the world.  Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once and there's too much.  My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst and then I remember to relax and stop trying to hold on to it and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life."

"You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure.
But don't worry, you will . . . someday."

Lester Birnum has this realization as a result of his death.  Ricky Fitz, who sees beauty in death had this realization in life but has to work to remember.  The choice is ours to make.

Reviewed by Mickey Fritz
 

"HOW TO SAY GOOD BYE," NEW RELEASE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND VIDEO PROGRAMS FOR FAMILIES

   "How to Say Good bye" is a long overdue video series, excellent for family members
caring for the terminally ill and for health professionals training to work with the
terminally ill.
     Produced in cooperation with Debra Wertheimer, MD, the director of the Baltimore VNA
Hospice program, this video series addresses many of the difficult emotional, practical
and ethical issues which arise at the end of life. The programs include the
perspectives of several individuals who have recently lost family members and those of
health care workers who  work with the terminally ill.
     How to Say Good bye includes three programs: (1) Being and Adult Child; (2) Being a
Professional Caregiver; and (3)  Saying Good bye. Ordering Information: Video Press - UMB 100
North Greene Street, Suite 300, Baltimore, MD 21201-1563 Fax: 410-706-8471,
phone:800-328-7450 E-mail: gbillups@umaryland.edu or visit web site at www.videopress.org
 

 
Living Fully Until Death
Videotape, 28 min

This is an inspirational tale of three people, faced with terminal illness, who find
new meaning in life and the courage to deal with the challenge of living fully. The
patients are Morrie Schwartz, a retired Brandeis University professor diagnosed
with ALS, Shirley Waring, mother of 4 adult children who has leukemia, and
William Meyer who has lung cancer. They are interviewed over a period of time to
convey their reactions to their immanent deaths. They are intelligent articulate
people determined to make the most of their terminal experience.

The terminal patients here are atypically intellectual. The tape would have benefitted
by inclusion of a different personality type. With that one reservation, this is a very
useful and illuminating tape. The voyagers maintain open minds, talking about the
difficult and frightening aspects of dying. Along the way they share their most
profound feelings.

This tape would be useful in training those who are going to work with the dying. It
would also provide a good basis for a discussion group.

The subjects earn our sympathy and compassion. The tape ends without letting us
know of their deaths, and in this way feels unfinished, but we would recommend it
for the reasons mentioned above.

This tape is part of The Doctor Is In series, available through: Department of Visual Media, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, (603) 643-7400 (Voice), (603) 643-7404 (Fax)