25th Hour

25th Hour is one of my favorite movies of all time. That does not mean, however, that it is one of the best of all time. But, the film speak to me in a way that I understand. It speaks my language, and, most prominently, what it has to say is what I love to hear. We open in darkness, the sounds of an angry dog yelping against the following backdrops of MGM or whoever the hell distributes movies these days. We meet Monty, a drug dealer who is so amicable and loving as he saves the dog. "A real tough son of a bitch" who deserves Monty's time. There is so much humanism within Monty (played by the unmatchable Edward Norton), he has friends who aren't as shady as he is, and a beautiful girlfriend: Naturelle (Rosario Dawson). He's about to go to hell though. That sounds extremist, but Monty is about to go to NYC Prison after being busted by the cops. He has to turn himself in in 24 hours, as he sits on a bench looking over the shore and what might wash into his life next. A junkie approaches him begging for goods, but Monty tells him to "fuck off". Monty will soon be in the desperation of the junkie. Monty goes through his day finalizing his life. His life is over when he enters the prison. If he is not killed, he won't be worth two shits when he comes out. His friends, his girlfriend, his father will have moved on. There are two great scenes in 25th Hour that I cherish. The first is where Monty blames the world for his troubles while looking in the mirror. This anger is one that I feel we have all suffered through, and one that ends with little satisfaction. The second great scene is where Monty's father pleads his son to run away. This would mean that he would never see anyone he loves again, but that he would live. It's so beautiful a scene, so representative of a life and what that means (everything that goes with it), that I have seen it 5 times (meaning I've seen the film that many times). There is not a film in existence that I will remember with such passion. I haven't even mentioned how in technical terms it's gorgeous, but 25th Hour represents what it is to be human. Even though it's through the life of lowlife Monty, he's a man I could imagine many people becoming. Such evil breaks at people so bad in this film, it's their reactions that I see in the faces of people every day. It's realism.