Brilliant,cryptic,instructional,innovative, eerie

Rating: 10/10 (5 July 1999)

12 Monkeys is wonderfully acted,has fabulous sets,which show off the Philadelphia skyline,City Hall, and the interior of Wanamaker's store.Brad Pitt,cast against type, puts in a magnificent performance as the sociopathic nutcase,Jeffrey Goines and should have bagged that Best Supporting Actor Oscar.Madeleine Stowe, as the Psychiatrist, Railly is superb and Bruce Willis, in one of his better roles, is convincing as our main character Cole. But to me the screenplay and editing are key here propelling Gilliam's vision.If you want to see genius, look no further.If you haven't seen it,rent it, if just for Pitt's hilarious over the top performance. For those of you who have seen it and are intrigued by the conundrums inherent within the film, read on... 12 Monkeys is a 'tabula Rasa',a blank slate, a Rorschach test all rolled into one.Some elements seem to be incongruous, inconsistent,don't quite fit.Well it's meant to be that way so we, the audience, can interact in Gilliam's Magnum Opus. You will find things in this movie if you look closely and follow the dialogue.It requires multiple viewings to build up the clues along the way.It's like an iceberg,10% on the surface and the bulk of its meaning below the waterline. This may be result in Gilliam's and/or your own subjective impressions. SYNCHRONICITY/DEJA VU MOMENTS: Willis's character Cole,comes before a board of psychiatrists who are assessing his mental state to see if he's psychotic. In 1951,Carl Jung, a Swiss psychoanalyst,contemporary of Freud, published a small paper on coincidences he had encountered with his clients at his clinical practice. He coined the term, Synchronicity,meaningful coincidences that occur when we think of something or notice an element and it manifests itself in the real world. As an example, you think of a forgotten person,the phone rings, and hey presto, its them on the line.12 Monkeys is riddled with such synchronistic moments and motifs. The most glaring one is the motif of monKEY. When Jeffery Goines says he can get Cole out of the institution ,we see the communal TV set showing an advertisement for The Florida KEYs,then the program returns to Marx's Brothers film 'MonKEY Business',Jeffrey acts like a mischievous monKEY fooling around with the other patients and now produces a KEY saying 'I did my part',suddenly he causes disruption and Cole tries to escape.On the way out he gets advice to visit the Florida KEYs.later on in the movie,we have Dr Railly {Madeleine Stowe) tell Cole 'We're booked for KEY west (part of Florida KEYs).Get it,fantastic!!
Cole is trying to find the KEY that will unlock for him where and when his reality is. 'I HAVE TO GO INTO THE PAST ONCE MORE'/PORTALS OF THE PAST (VERTIGO/HITCHCOCK): Railly and Cole at one point flee from the law into a 24 hour movie theatre showing Hitchcock movies.On the screen is a scene from VERTIGO 1958,Hitchcock's bizarre masterpiece.We see Jimmy Stewert take Kim Novak to a cross sectional cutting from a Sequioa tree.She points to a spot on the bark"When I was born" then another "When I die".Tree ring dating. You start at the center work your way out, move forward, so to speak,in time, along a radius line to a particular time and date.You can also move in reverse,back along the radius line and cut another radius opposite to the SAME TIME AND DATE. This inserted movie within 12 Monkeys is KEY.The inference strongly suggests circular time.COLE'S WORLD IS CIRCULAR TIME, that keeps repeating itself over and over.Railly is part of the fabric of his time.Stewert turns to Novak in VERTIGO and asks her"Have you been here before?"Cole tells Railly "I've seen this film before...when I was a child.. the film remains the same...but you change every time you see it.." Intrigued with this idea,I reviewed a tape of VERTIGO. Lo and behold,Novak's character is called 'MADELINE'. But THIS Madeline was somebody else BEFORE she dyed her hair blond.Railly dyes her hair blond and Cole says he recognises her as in his dreams,then Railly says something mindblowing"I REMEMBER YOU LIKE THIS".back to VERTIGO,folks. Stewert relives his past in order to find his Madeline. Vertigo says that Stewert, as a retired detective,is enlisted by an old friend to OBSERVE his wife as his friend believes that his wife is living a past life."If I could just find the KEY IN THE BEGINNING and put it together" Stewert tells Novak.There we have it Vertigo's solutions apply to 12 Monkeys.Genius!!! Cole is repeating events over and over but remembering only deja vu moments and synchronicity, that will not lead him to form a whole.Hence he does not know a particular character in his dream. IMMORTALITY/REINCARNATION: VERTIGO'S Kim Novak is under the false psychiotic illusion that she is reincarnated.Cole at the end of 12 Monkeys, becomes immortal to repeat his life over and over.Question is whose's controlling this and more importantly why? 'WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN' /VERTIGO: The so called scientists of 2035 look like a sinister bunch but behave like 'clowns' wrongly sending Cole back through time.They seem to be making mistakes,but they're not. In order to have Railly believe Cole they have to send him back to 1916 so Railly can believe the physical evidence (Cole's antique bullet).In VERTIGO Novak writes a confessional letter to Stewert explaining that he was a victim of an
elaborate plan to conceal the truth from him.The scientists in 12 Monkeys appear not to know what happens to Cole and rely on his OBSERVATIONS.However Cole's friend Hose recognises Cole at the airport FROM BEHIND AND DISGUISED BY RAILLY. In Vertigo Novak at one point asks Stewert 'Why are you doing this?',the exact same question Cole asks Railly in the movie theatre.Asking why must Hose give Cole a gun? Well,if only because the scientists are tracking him and his moves and know he left a gun behind at Goines estate carpark.So the scientists are manipulating things ,but how far.Why then do we hear someone say "I'm Jones..in insurance".Work it out. This is why I love movies like this,they're intelligent.Gilliam is taking over where Hitchcock left off. I give this movie 20 out of 10.Remarkable work.