Under the Volcano

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source: Under the Volcano

Don't be fooled by the dark glasses in the cover of its DVD box or its poster, this John Huston film is not about a hipster's feel-good adventure and Finney is no Hercule Poirot here (although he does reunite with his co-star Bisset from MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS 1974, 9/10), the truth is, it is adapted from Malcolm Lowry's classic but "unadaptable" novel with the same title. Set in 1939, Mexico, starts on the eve of the Day of the Dead, it focuses on a former British consul's life in one-day span, plagued by incorrigible alcoholism and blindsided by his ex-wife's return with an attempt to rekindle their new life together, he begins to realize he is a lost cause which is beyond any succor, and the finale is both stalely traumatizing and embarrassingly contrived. But one sure thing is that Finney devotes fully to the role and evokes wondrous affections from the very beginning, he is a genuine force of self-destruction, a damaged soul would be a nuisance to others, but underneath his portly and alcohol-soaked figure, he represents one state-of-mind can virtually remind us how fragile and pathologically determined one can be, even it heads to a doom. His two co-stars, Bisset and Andrews, come on board also pretty strikingly with their different nature of temperaments, Bisset is the glamorous ex-wife who balks at her further step as we do watch her hemming in the quandary, Andrews is a pleasant matador, his side of the story should have been more explored, clearly he knows what had happened between the couple, but nobody cares to shed a light here, as the horrible coda lurks, the movie only manages to exert all its energy to an irksome case of xenophobia without giving any justice to its cause and effect. So undeniably Houston's later career wanes harshly in quality, still, a notable mention should be addressed to the legendary composer Alex North (grabs his last Oscar nomination out of a total 15 nominations without a win except an Honorary award in 1986), whose eerie opening score of the variegated skull show does set a high bar to what this anti-climax film would actually offer, sad to say but this is another John Huston work I dare not to advocate (after THE MAN WHO COULD BE KING 1975, 5/10 and PRIZZI'S HONOR 1985, 5/10).

As said in the summary, Under The Volcano is the only film I know, which topped the before-read (and really sufficiently impressing) novel. This is certainly the achievement of Albert Finney, Jacqueline Bisset and the other actors, not to forget the venerable direction of John Huston! Further comments would be of no use; one simply must watch the movie!

I completely agree with Doc's review above, but I'll venture to suggest that the primary reason that the public has avoided this film is due solely to the film's very strong dose of basic human reality. Its one of my favorite films and I'm sad that its public "sales status" will prevent it from being re-released on DVD.

When so many people say a movie is worthwhile, you have to figure your own simplistically negative opinion isn't valuable. But I imagine there are a few others who always find alcoholics uninteresting and unsympathetic. When the subject is alcoholism itself, the film can be excellent -- The Lost Weekend and, to a lesser extent, Days of Wine and Roses. But to watch someone wander around in a stupor, sounding off drunkenly about this and that, and all of it with large pretensions...well, you can keep it. Good God man, your wife is Jacqueline Bisset. Isn't that enough to hold any man's interest!?

It is the finale of this film that redeems any possible weakness of the story one may entertain in one's mind as one views this film. The ending is so overwhelming, I had to watch it again at once. I then rewatched parts of the film just to luxuriate in the brilliant acting of Albert Finney. This is truly a masterpiece. There have been some criticisms of Ms. Bisset's acting etc, but this is small potatoes compared to the sheer genius of this story and its' realization. The music in the opening credits sets the tone and immediately draws you into the film. You know something profound will happen in the film and to you as you watch this film. Highly Recommended.

Under the Volcano could have made as just another 'Lost Weekend' film if not for the attention to a simple narrative (though one that has a lot underneath the surface), and a performance to compellingly take us through the unbalanced emotional state of its protagonist. From what I've read about what the novel became by this adaptation, Huston took out the big poetic bits that made it such an unclassifiable (and as many claimed unadaptable) work and made it into a tale of a man's downfall from grace and good times. The story is as such: Geoffrey Firmin (Finney) is a recently retired consul in Mexico who has that big, admirable personality that comes with those who have lived- or boasted to live- quite a life, and have taken now to mass consumptions of alcohol. It's not even about the enjoyment of it, but a compulsion for 'balance' to drink just to get sober, as it might be. He's also divorced, recently, but his wife (Bisset) comes to him again, wanting once more to patch things up. This is set in the backdrop of the 'Day of the Dead' festival, and on the brink of world war 2, but these things are, however brilliantly and as a kind of delicate lining around, a backdrop for the emotional and mental and, it should be noted, spiritual struggle of Firmin. Huston never preaches about this man's rotting addiction, and there's no easy sympathy either. We see his emotional state rock from happy and hopeful to the pits of despair following the bullfight his half-brother Hugh (Andrews) takes part in, where he can't basically grasp his own reality anymore. Underneath this surface of the film though, where we're given this proud, unstable character, there's chaos riling about, attached in a way to the mood around, with rumored Nazi collaborators in the midst of things, a near-murdered body on the side of the road, the matter-of-fact metaphors of the symbols of death that (as Huston makes in one of the most Gothic openings to a movie I've ever seen) opens the film with marionette skeletons to an eerie Alex North score. But lest to say that all credit should go to Huston for his storytelling. It's an interesting film for the first three quarters, though in a way feels like it has to be building for something; here and there, even as we're with these character wandering in a state of mind of disarray (will Firmin and Yvonne stay together, split apart, who will run away are the basic questions, as well as how Andrews might have something to do with it on either side), it starts to feel like it could become meandering. In that last quarter, however, Huston lays on a feeling of dread, maybe not entirely with coincidence, that hasn't been seen since Treasure of the Sierra Madre- something bad just HAS to happen, and it will come out through the worst devils of the protagonist's nature. There is that for Huston, the power of that brothel sequence, the terror and even the dark humor. The best reason above all else, even as it's one of Huston's most challenging films, is that Finney is so terrific in the role. It's a startling work of an actor taking down his guard, making himself vulnerable and naked, so to speak, to the discord booze has brought to his mind. He gets depth to a guy that should be just another Hemingway figure, of the sorrow that really lies in every little moment and gesture and inflection. It also goes without saying he's one of the top three or four convincing drinkers in modern film. And at the same time it's not easy to peg what he'll do next as an actor, which step he might cross or double-back on. While his co-stars are very good in their parts, he dares to overshadow them with a tour-de-force. Under the Volcano pits its character into hell, and Huston brings us, without going overboard with stylistic flourishes, right along with him.

Under The Volcano was originally a complex novel written by real-life alcoholic Malcolm Lowry. Film director John Huston also had a passing acquaintanceship with the bottle and a sensibility for grasping the dark, mystical side of Mexican culture. This all adds up to potent cinematic symbolic imagery underlining terrific performances from Finney, Bissett and Andrews. 8 stars

I don't think I have ever seen a movie quite as deliberately and aggressively depressing as "Under the Volcano." In fact, I can hardly even imagine a more unpleasant film. It should be required viewing at AA meetings, as the central character could almost be said to be the tequila and mescal that Geoffrey, the nominal lead, guzzles from beginning to end. There is no plot to this movie. But there is Albert Finney, and that's just enough. It is a performance that saves "Under the Volcano" from director John Huston's almost sadistically morose tale. If there has ever been a better celluloid depiction of raging alcoholism, I haven't seen it. Finney is by turns funny, morbid, loving and spiteful. Did I mention that he drinks? Yes, he drinks. He drinks in bars, at home, at bullfights and even on carnival rides. His drinking isn't excessive, it's superhuman. Joining Finney in Mexico is his estranged wife, Yvonne, played by Jacqueline Bisset. Hers is an even more incomprehensible character: bright, beautiful and seemingly sane, Yvonne returns to Mexico in hopes of salvaging a marriage that I for one can't believe ever took place. There is no chemistry between Finney and Bisset. The other principal character, Geoffrey's half-brother Hugh, has also just arrived in Mexico from Spain, where he claims to have fought in the civil war. He and Yvonne had an affair once, but it's clear that neither intends on rekindling it for fear of sending Geoffrey even further into besotted self-pity and self-loathing. Bisset and Anthony Andrews, who plays Hugh, are fine actors, but their characters are preposterous and superfluous. Geoffrey doesn't deserve either of their affection, and the harder they try, the harder he resists. I am not a fan of the "feel good" movies of redemption that so often fill theaters these days. But "Under the Volcano" is the ultimate "feel bad" film. If not for Finney's truly amazing performance, I wouldn't recommend this film to friend or foe. But Finney takes one of the hoariest clichés in cinema and inhabits it convincingly, refreshingly, heart-breakingly. Because of him, you will not easily forget "Under the Volcano," however much you wish you could.