A Spanish conquistador battles a Mayan army in a forbidden
temple to help save his beloved queen from the torture chamber of a power-hungry
Church inquisitor. A present-day medical researcher battles to push the
knowledge of his field to its very limits in order to save the woman he loves
from dying of a terminal illness. And in the future, a space traveler rides with
a massive tree enclosed within a sphere into a nebula, where they both seek a
rebirth. These are the stories of The Fountain, intertwined together like the
roots of a tree that form a larger story about the battle against death itself.
Using the Mayan myth of the fountain of life as the basis for this film,
director Darren Aronofsky weaves a poetic story that centers around his wife and
muse, actress Rachel Weisz. Weisz plays the besieged Spanish queen, as well as
the focal point of one man’s obsession to not only save the love of his life,
but to cure the human race of aging and death itself.
The film jumps back and forth through the three different time periods, telling
its complex story in a stately fashion and answering some of the questions,
while leaving many others up to interpretation. Hugh Jackman is very good as the
protagonist in all three time periods. And Rachel Weisz is very
sympathetic--especially as Izzi, the brave young woman afflicted with a terminal
illness in the present day story. The Fountain is very mind-bending and trippy,
with the enigmatic ending leaving the viewer something to ponder over for days
after seeing the film. Yet it’s also a very poignant and moving story; those
who’ve lost a loved one might find a special resonance in it.
The DVD is very sparse as far as the special features are concerned. You get a
series of excellent ‘making of’ documentaries that can be viewed as one long
program. There are no audio commentaries; perhaps this is so because Aronofsky
wants us to seek the answers to the film’s riddles within ourselves, or maybe
he’s one of these filmmakers who just prefers to let his work speak for itself
(or maybe there’s a special edition DVD on the way). Yet the film itself is
worthy of buying on DVD without any special bells and whistles. If you’re an SF
fan who enjoys more challenging fare, such as 2001, then you can’t go wrong with
taking a trip to The Fountain.
--SF
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