The Passenger (1975)
“The passenger” follows a day in the life of a man named David Locke,who is a journalist that has been sent to cover an interview in Africa, but he makes little progress with the story. He then discovers the body of a strange man who happens to look like him. Locke decides to steal that guy’s identity and be him. However, he finds out that the man was an arm dealer after being in dangerous situations. He meets a young student only referred to as The Girl in the movie, that travels with him.
The movie begins with Locke in an African village surrounded by desert. He hires a boy to lead him out to desert, and then another man leads him elsewhere and abandons him. In that scene, the camera was slowly moving showing us the desert that surrounded him. The light showed true colors of dunes, and the shots were taken from distance in a way that showed emptiness that surrounded him.
The hotel where Locke comes back to was quite empty. There is a worker, and another resident, a man named Robertson. Locke walks into Robertson’s room and finds him dead. Without planning, he switches identities with Robertson. In that scene, while Locke was swapping their passports, we could see a glimpse from the past of how Locke and the dead guy met, and the conversation they had. At first, it was not clear what happened. Locke was switching the photos in their passports, and then I see him speaking to a man. The way the camera moved instantly from Locke sitting on a chair to speaking to the dead man was quick. I had to replay that scene again to understand how he arrived to where he was. Also, in that same scene, Locke never discusses what will his next step be. We see everything through action. And the camera slowly captures his movements and surroundings. According to Passenger Commentary SC.mp4, “one thing that this sequence doesn’t do is that it doesn’t tell you what he is doing.” We also see a picture of a woman that Locke grabs, but we are not told who she is. We discover who she is as the story continues. The main sound from that scene was the fan. We could hear it moving air. That scene also captured a fly. I think that makes the movie very believable. All those elements are consistent with his location. The clothing was also an important component in this movie, not only did Locke steal Robertson’s identity to pretend he was him, he also went on to wearing Robertson’s blue shirt to look exactly like him.
Locke meets a young woman, whose name is never given in the movie. She decides to travel with him. Her character seems very honest and nice. She reacts genuinely to all events, and is presented as a very trust worthy, drama free individual. She is loyal to Locke, and cares about him deeply. Her behavior shows her feelings of affection towards him.
Locke’s wife and associate begin to suspect and investigate about his death, and somehow, they want to meet this Robertson guy who was with David at the hotel. The new Robertson meanwhile decides to go meet certain appointments that the old Robertson had made, and when he goes, he meets two men that were wearing suits and truly looked like criminals. Locke then discovers he is a gun dealer. Lock’s character is well played. The look on his face showed how surprised he was when he discovered the truth about his new chosen persona. He manages to stay calm throughthat scene. We could see him sweating and stumbling over his words. Even though he did not know what was being discussed at first, he played along with it. His behavior tells us that he is panicking inside. The two men’s behavior also tells us who they are in this movie.
The final shot of the movie was where Locke goes to a hotel and falls on the bed. The camera moves slowly back and forth towards a window with iron bars. We can see through that window the girl walking back and forth, and then two men that Locke met before appearing as well. Everything happens so fast that we never see how Locke dies. What fascinates me about this movie is that the entire story is told by actions, and cameras movements.
In the end, “The Passenger” is about a man that wanted to escape from his own life, but just couldn’t. I think that Locke’s behavior and what he did was always going to back fire at him. Therefore, I agree with statement by Martin Walsh, “Such a radical severance from the structures of one’s identity leads clearly to disaster.”
References
http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature-articles/michelangelo-antonioni-the-truth-about-the-passenger/
http://diaryofascreenwriter.blogspot.com/2012/11/antonioni-discusses-passenger.html
Passenger Commentary SC.mp4
https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC08folder/PassengerWalsh.html
http://sensesofcinema.com/2015/feature-articles/michelangelo-antonioni-the-truth-about-the-passenger/
http://diaryofascreenwriter.blogspot.com/2012/11/antonioni-discusses-passenger.html
Passenger Commentary SC.mp4
https://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/onlinessays/JC08folder/PassengerWalsh.html