r/TrueFilm • u/Pure-Energy-9120 • 8d ago
Falling Down spoke to me.
Falling Down tells the story of William Foster (Michael Douglas) a disgruntled former defense worker who abandons his car in the middle of traffic and goes on a violent rampage trying to reach his family for his daughter's birthday. Martin Prendergast (Robert Duvall) a retiring police officer solves the puzzle to stop his rampage.
This film resonated with me on a personal level. There were times where I acted like Foster. I threw temper tantrums over the smallest of things, I was angry that I didn't have the things that I wanted in life. There were times where I felt like "If I don't have a car to drive safely, a girlfriend, an apartment, or another job, I'm going to remain stuck forever." Watching Falling Down was therapy for me, because it taught me that I shouldn't act like that. I'm more on the side of Prendergast, where he understands Foster's pain, even if it doesn't justify any of his crimes. To quote Mister Rogers "There are people in the world that are so sick and so angry, that they sometimes hurt other people. When we get sad and angry, we know what to do with our feelings, so we don't have to hurt other people."
Foster is 100% the bad guy because, he has this victim mentality where up until the end, he doesn't look at his own faults and perceives the whole world as being at fault, when it's actually him that's got a lot of faults. His mother lives in fear of him, and his ex-wife Elizabeth has a restraining order against him because of his inability to control his temper. He even blames his mother for the failure of his marriage to Elizabeth. There were times where I've had issues controlling my temper, but I learned to get it under control thanks to therapy. Foster didn't even get the help he needed for his mental illness. I love Prendergast because he's the complete opposite of Foster. He's someone that comes from a place of empathy and understanding. He even gets Foster to see that what he did was wrong. He didn't want to kill Foster, he just wanted to help him. But Foster decided to commit suicide-by-cop in hopes that his daughter would get his life insurance policy money, and so he can't go to jail.
I love how the movie is about both Foster and Prendergast, and how they each deal with their own struggles. Foster lost his child through a divorce/restraining order, and Prendergast lost his child to SIDS. But Prendergast was able to move on from the death of his daughter. I love the final scene where he sits in the front porch with Adele. He calls himself "Mud" and even decides to stay on the force.
Falling Down is one of those movies that really helped me be a better person. The film's writer, Ebbe Roe Smith, said in the 2009 DVD commentary that the film is about how people shut themselves and go into a negative area because they're unable to appreciate the point of view of another person or put themselves in their shoes. Going to UMSL, attending therapy, and getting a job at William Sonoma really helped me get better. While there are times where I still feel sad and frustrated (cause, you know, that's life) I still try. I'm autistic, but I still have those childlike qualities where I want to see the good in people. I was worried that I was going to become like William Foster but thank God I didn't.
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u/TheRealKuthooloo 8d ago
Zooming out further, it's a great film about the atomization of the American working class, the dangers of the individualism America holds as one of its core values, and the inevitable outcome of those values among the least well adjusted in this country.
We all feel like shit in America, that's the point of the contradictions. What ends up happening is you either internalize it or externalize it and that tends to sway how you move politically, but you're still at the mercy of the jar lid that was put in place generations before you and much like the tick who cannot leap higher than the rim of the glass, you too have your limits on your ability to revolt.
William Foster is one such individual case of that need for relief of pressure blowing a gasket and sending the man on his little spree. In the end, none of the issues he has with his country will be tended to and his death will have meant nothing. The machine goes on as it was designed to and the cruel neoliberal machine will remain indifferent to the bloodshed it fosters.