FALLING DOWN

In FALLING DOWN, an uptight, increasingly unstable man dubbed D-FENS, from his personalized license plate, makes his way across Los Angeles on June 12, 1991, and becomes more and more destructive and aggressive as he encounters the violence, chaos and general rudeness of modern city life. Some of the “wrongs” that D-FENS attempts to right occur: when he pulls the trigger on a bazooka, blowing up men and construction equipment on a highway that he deems not to need repair work; and, when he stabs a man to death in an army surplus store because of a disagreement and because the man antagonized him by breaking his daughter’s birthday present, a charming merry-go-round music box. D-FENS is en route to see his ex-wife (who is terrified of him) and his daughter on her birthday. An LAPD detective, finishing his last day on the force, observes a pattern in D-FENS’ encounters and sets out to stop him.

The cinematography follows the progressive storyline as the viewer travels along the various routes taken by D-FENS through colorful Hispanic, Italian and other ethnic neighborhoods. Despite two competent actors, Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall, FALLING DOWN turns out to be a politically correct message movie that tries to justify aggressive violence in the light of modern man’s frustrations. What D-FENS and others like him need, is the peace of God to cope with contemporary life (John 14:27).