UNDER THE VOLCANO
d. John Huston, 1984

26 July 2009

The source novel for UNDER THE VOLCANO was recommended to me over 30 years ago, when I was certainly far too young to appreciate the material. Perhaps now would be a good time to approach it.

Whatever the strengths of the novel, the film has at its core an asset which a novel, by definition, simply could not have: a wrenchingly realistic, painstakingly nuanced performance by Albert Finney as a late-stage alcoholic. Sterling Hayden's turn as Roger Wade in THE LONG GOODBYE has long been my exemplar for a realistic portrayal of late-stage drunkeness. However, Hayden was tasked with filling no more than 20 minutes of screen time. In UNDER THE VOLCANO, Albert Finney spends nearly two hours onscreen, as his character struggles to maintain a balance between "the shakes of too little, and the abyss of too much."

Finney knows that an alcoholic's face is a mask, but a mask which reveals the character's true emotions rather than concealing them. This is how he plays it, consistently, and without a moment's lapse, throughout the film.

If the film has a weakness, it is that it succumbs to a strangely melodramatic ending after nearly two hours of pure, character-driven realism. (Whether this lapse is a facet of the novel or not, I do not know.)

Coming only days after seeing BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA, I feel like Mexico has entered my cinematic world atlas in a highly emotional way.