FALLING DOWN

[Yazza-94]

Hello everyone,
I think the movie was great, and the story was touching. It was funny in some parts and in other parts was a little bit sad, so it was a mixture of feelings. For example, when D-Fens went to a burger place and took out his gun suddenly, because the burger was small and juicy. That was my favorite scene. On the other hand, when he went back home in Venice and started watching the videos of his daughter, that was sad. He divorced his wife, so when we started watching the movie they're divorced already. In the movie, his aim is to celebrate his daughter's birthday, and at the end he decided to kill all of them. There are some parts of the story where awkward things are happening. He's making his way to Venice, where his family's house located, and on his way he below up a street, killed an old man, and caused lots of trouble. On the same day, Prendergast was retiring from the police, but first he wanted to capture D-Fens. However, both of them have something in common. They both gave up something, D-Fens gave up his life, and Prendergast almost gave up his career. Also, they both lost their daughters at the end.

[alkndri]

My favorite scene in the movie is towards the end on the pier. It was a showdown between Prendergast and D-Fens. It turns out that D-Fens thought he was in the right, he was surprised that he was the bad guy, but I think this was all acting, he knew what he was doing. He wanted to commit all those crimes. He did everything he did consciously. He did it for his daughter. He wanted to be killed, so his daughter gets his insurance by default. It was his last present for his daughter, and it was all he could give her. He had no money, he wasn't mentally stable. However, he decided to give her whatever he had left. That's why he got the water gun and acted like he was gonna shoot, to make Prendergast shoot and kill him.

[jhhan]

Falling Down tells us about drawbacks of developed countries and big cities. Terrible traffic jam, skyrocketing prices, gangsters, beggars (gap between the rich and poor), gun problems, and so on. The mood of the movie was somewhat gloomy and, at first, I couldn't get familiar with the character's weird behaviors. D-fense had disgusting point of view toword the city he lived and also toward his life. He gradually accumulated his rage and finally exploded it. It was hard to understand his abnormal behaviors, but the movie showed some hints of his backgrounds. He divorced and couldn't see his daugther for a long time and was kicked out of his job. Every situation made him frustrated and the city seemed so cruel to him.

My favorite scene was the hamburger scene. I also had a similar experience that I couldn't buy a lunch menu because of the time, so the scene reminded me of it and was super funny. Of course, he went too far, but it was somewhat satisfying and thrilling!

It is true that D-fense was mad and short-tempered, but one big reason of his behavior was the heartless modern society. Even though economic development brought us richness of life and large opportunites, it also gave us human alienation and feeling of emptiness. To survive in job and maintain family life have been more and more difficult, and city life, once regarded as a paradise, has been darker and darker. It is hard to blame D-fense solely and we must think about 'What made him so mad?'

I think this movie is worth watching many times and is hard to appreciate it fully at one time. There are many symbols which have important meanings and it would be interesting to find them all. D-fense's life was a tragedy and we must not ignore his sacrifice and should do our best to prevent similar accidents.

Thank you for reading my notes!

Teacher's note: Thank you for an economically viable response.

--mike http://www.moviesgrowenglish.com

[Kade]

I liked the this movie for two reasons, First, because the story line occurs in Los Angeles city, where I live now. And the other one, that it tells the story about a man who broke bad which how we feel from time to time under the pressure we face from different things in our lives, so we can somehow relate to the story.

[KimBH]

I like this movie. D-Fens, the main charater of this movie, is a salary man who divorced from his wife, Beth. He wants to see his daughter on her birthday, but Beth denies it. D-Fens decides to go to see his daughter, and he faces many troubles.

When I saw his anger at first time, it makes me laugh. However, when the anger is getting harder, it makes me uncomfortable, even though I really enjoyed this movie.

[Manayo96]

I really enjoyed this movie. Onestly, sometimes it was scary because it is unusual to be criminal from a normal person. It seems that a maincharacter killed many people without any emotion. However, he wanted to see his wife and his daughter, and celebrate her birthday. When he could meet with them, I was impressed little. However, he is a criminal. So, they had to escape from him. I had a pain in my heart.
Thank you.

[Kiyomi]

To be honest, I don’t like this movie, because it is a very violent action. I don’t like to watch a scene which someone is killed. Anyway, I can say the topic of the movie and the story are really interesting. I want to recommend the movie to my friends.

Anyone have stresses in the present world. And, D-Fens was not able to endure these stresses. Moreover, his crazy acting and his behavior of falling down from a way of human look like “London Bridge Fallin' Down”. I saw a decoration of the London Bridge on a table of an old policeman, and D-Fence bought a present which looks like a London Bridge good for his daughter. These London Bridge goods seem to suggest D-Fence’s crazy behavior. It is interesting point.

In addition, personalities of D-Fence and an old policemen are also interesting. They are similar, but they are difference too. Their backgrounds are similar. They have a lot of stresses from the world. However, D-Fence was mad and de-stressed with his way which he want to do. On the other hands, an old policeman just endure and endure. I believe the contrast is one of main points in the movie.

Thank you.

[Claire9]

hello everyone:

Is the world fair? Maybe it is not fair for D-Fans. D-Fans is pressure、 frustration、lost.
He could not find people to talk and complaints. I think it has problem by himself. Why did he divorce?
It may was he didn’t love his wife anymore or he was derailed. Why he lost the job?
I think not only from the background, military factory was layoffs when the cold war ended.
It may be he didn’t work hard. If D-Fans told to me about his life, I will just say:” I sympathize with you.”
Or “dude, this is you ask for it” When bad things happen, do not get frustrated. found the reason, and do not make the same mistake. Life is beautiful.