It's all in the mind !

Rating: 9/10 (4 March 2007)

This is what the pangs of guilty conscience can do to a human being , playing havoc with his mind, life, and reducing him to a mental wreck. Do we realize the integral part of peaceful slumber in our life, or only when we lose it, that we desperately try to get it at any cost ? And still it can elude us, no matter what ! Alone, but not lonely, in his earlier phase of life, Trevor is a handsome, healthy man, working though with machines all the time, his sense of humor still intact. One unforeseen Hit and Run car accident by him, killing a young boy on the road, and the life is never the same for him again ! Every thing goes weirdly psychotic, his work life, his love life, and his very existence, until and unless, there comes the moment of realization, that confessing to the crime committed by him, may not be deliberately perhaps, but not reporting it, and running away from the reality, has given him the insomnia of the worst type ,does he fall to sleep after all. Though quite heavy in the atmosphere, sequences, and the deterioration of the main character, Trevor Reznik, superbly enacted by Bale, the director achieves his goal of taking the viewer through the turmoil, the mental agony, the confusion, cleverly maintaining a thin line between the reality and the delusions of Trevor's world created by his disintegrating mind. The casting is perfect, carefully chosen, and every one making justice to his or her role. especially ,John Sharian , playing the role of Ivan, has given an awesome performance. The dialog is thoughtfully written, and naturally delivered, the sexual content is in place, and not out of the context, or unnecessary to the plot line. one must watch this movie for this amazing actor Christian Bale, who has emaciated himself, to the extent of showing every damn rib in his body ! Perhaps the only flaw one might think of ,is the period of one long year, which takes the offender to surrender to the law, and the police not able to reach him, though the accident takes place right in the middle of a busy street, with every possibility, that people , or the shop keepers have seen the driver, and the car too. still they are not bothered to trace him ? Perhaps, the script writer could have reduced the period of one long year, to a few months , to make it more realistically acceptable. but then, the emphasis is more on the journey of the human mind through hell, created by his very own guilt complex, which is simply soul stirring . Hope this movie does not give insomnia to some of us , after they are through the experience !