BEFORE: Tonight's film looks to be a test of my endurance - it's 3 hours long! Other than "Ben-Hur" and "Titanic", should any film be 3 hours long? I'll probably have to watch 1/2 of it tonight and the other 1/2 tomorrow, since I was out for dinner earlier, at a beer dinner for Cinco de Mayo.
THE PLOT: What begins as a con game becomes one man's quest to rebuild civilization by resuming postal service.
AFTER: Made in 1997, and set in the far-off future of 2013, this film hints at some kind of breakdown in U.S. society, without getting too specific about what happened, possibly nuclear war, possibly environmental disaster and/or complete governmental bankruptcy?
The political vacuum seems to be filled by private militias, run by madmen, who shanghai their recruits, and pillage from towns as needed. Kevin Costner's unnamed character, a roving Shakespearean actor (with a mule and no talent), gets roped into the "Holeness", named after a shadowy figure (an author? a patriot? a motivational speaker?) named Nathan Hole. It's the kind of organization that people don't ever leave, because at some point they'll break one of the Commander's obscure rules and be put to death.
But our nameless hero finds a way out, and stumbles upon an old mail vehicle with a dead mailman, and a few bags of pre-disaster undelivered mail. With no other direction, he takes the mail and the uniform and delivers mail to an Oregon town, in exchange for food and a hot bath. He ends up fabricating news of the "restored government" in order to boost their spirits, and before long, news of the Postman and his tidings spreads across the state.
The Postman spins a yarn about the new President, one "Richard Starkey", and the new capital in Minneapolis, MN...and people are so in need of hope that the stories take on a life of their own, and the postal service is formed even when the Postman is out of commission. However, I debate whether a shadow government, formed on a fiction, is better than no government at all.
I have to take issue with the forced sentimentality of it all. The movie spends about half of its prodigious length breaking us down, so that it can get all weepy about what it means to believe in something, in hopes of building us back up. It all seems like a long way to go...
And I got very hopeful when I saw Tom Petty's name in the opening credits. He plays someone who "used to be famous" - possibly a rock star? And he really is criminally underused as an actor - I wish he could have had a bigger role.
I have to admit that I didn't see the ending coming - something like "Braveheart" crossed with "Dances With Wolves" with a "Princess Bride"-style showdown...pretty clever, actually. Anyone that lives by the sword can die by the sword, and those that make "rules" are beholden to them as well.
Also starring Larenz Tate (another cast member from the great ensemble seen on "Rescue Me"), Will Patton as the deranged General Bethlehem, Olivia Williams, Giovanni Ribisi, Peggy Lipton, Rex Linn (most famous as Det. Frank Tripp on "CSI: Miami") and Daniel Von Bargen (another of those character actors, he played Kruger, George Costanza's boss at Kruger Industrial Smoothing on "Seinfeld" and Commandant Spangler on "Malcolm in the Middle")
RATING: 6 out of 10 bowls of mule gruel (Yum!)
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