The Man Without a Face (1993)

Gripping story with well-crafted characters

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Chuck wants to leave home but can't make the grade for boarding school. Then he finds out the disfigured recluse living nearby is an ex-teacher. I own all 4 of Mel Gibson's movies that he directed with the best being Braveheart always followed by Apocalypto and The Passion of Christ which i found very interesting not that interesting for a sequel tho and then we have The Man Without a Face this is his directional debut and i think it's one of his most underrated works and it's kinda overlooked a lot from people and maybe even critics i chose to review it now cause Hackshaw Ridge his new movie comes out today and i said why don't i review this? The Man Without a Face is a film about an ex-teacher who has a disfigured face and he starts a really good friendship with this kid Charles E. 'Chuck' Norstadt played by young then Nick Stahl who later on starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003) and Bruce Willis in Sin City (2005) and besides those 2 this is definitely comes in 3rd place as my favorite film that he stars in and the friendship between Justin McLeod (Gibson) and Chuck (Stahl) was pretty spot on and very inspiring as a film and it has to do with good writing and good pacing that Gibson created is one of his most underrated works and so far all 4 of his movies that he has directed i really liked them i hope that his new film is good too which it will be definitely and Hollywood needs to forgive him he might be crazy but he has a lot of talent and i can't wait to see where he will go next.

Mel Gibson both directs and stars in this moving film as Justin McLeod, a reclusive former teacher who was partially disfigured in a car accident ten years previous, and where a student was incinerated. Ever since, he has lived on the edge of town, an object of fear and ridicule, until one young man named Charles 'Chuck' Norstadt(Nick Stahl) befriends him with the aim of being tutored by him, since his grades need improvement, and Chuck is not afraid. However, his family is still suspicious, and Chuck will uncover the truth about McLeod that will change their lives forever.Mel Gibson does a fine job directing and acting, building a believable portrait of this scarred man who needs a second chance from a society that has wrongly judged him, and a young boy who will have his life turned around, leading to a most fitting finale.

The movie I reviewed was The Man without a Face starring Mel Gibson as Justin McLeod and newcomer Nick Stahl as Chuck Norstad. The movie was set in scenic upper class neighborhood in Cranesport Maine. The movie focuses on a twelve year old boy, Chuck, who has experienced a difficult childhood, never knowing what really happened to his dad, and a mother that was more interested in finding a new husband than raising her son. Chuck's dream was to get into military school but unfortunately he was unable to pass the entrance exam. Through circumstances, he ran into Justin McLeod a passed educator that was disfigured in a car accident that killed one of his students. Because of his close relationship with his past student, it was implied that his relationship may have been improper so he gave up teaching and lived in isolation. The theme of this movie was based on the relationship between Chuck, a struggling youth without a father figure and a teacher who truly cared about educating his students. As their relationship builds to a true friendship through relentless hours of studying and practice test, Chuck prepares for the entrance exam. Eventually rumors in the small community began to swirl, and once again the relationship he has with his student is again in question. While there is no merit to these accusations, it is deemed by the authorities that they should no longer have contact with one another. Chuck goes on to be successful and graduate military school while Justin McLeod stands in the background demonstrating his undying support for his friend. To develop the theme, there are several scenes that demonstrate Chuck's troubled upbringing, through fights with his sister and a lack of assistance from his mother. While other scenes show the town talking about Mr. McLeod and the circumstances that disfigured his face. All of these scenes helped to isolate each of these individuals leading them only to lean on each other. A movie with a similar theme was Gran Torino. While the movie was not based necessarily on a relationship, it focused on an individual and a group of people that their nationality that did not fit in to current society. The two relied on each other and carried each other through the difficult time. The director chose various techniques to demonstrate the relationship between the two friends. First, the camera angles were direct close-ups that helped the audience understand what they were feeling. There expressions on their face made you love them, understand their pain and hoping the relationship would last forever. The setting also helped you to understand their isolation. Often their talks were in beautiful settings, alone with nobody around. The theme of this movie identified the need we all have to be understood and have people that truly care about our success. The relationship they built was based on a true friendship that could not be altered by influence from the outside. I can only imagine how good the world could be if we all could find the person who brought out the best in us.

I should perhaps point out that my comments below are based solely upon the film. Unlike a lot of reviewers, I have not read the original novel by Isabelle Holland- indeed, I had never previously heard of either the book or its author.Mel Gibson's first film as director is set during one summer in the late sixties. Charles Norstadt, a twelve-year-old boy, is on holiday with his mother and two half-sisters on an island off the coast of Maine. He has ambitions to attend the same military academy as his late father, who he believes was a war hero, but receives no encouragement from his mother, Catherine, who regards military schools as "fascist" and is firmly convinced that her son is too stupid to pass the entrance examination.Charles makes the acquaintance of Justin McLeod, a painter living in a large house on the island. Because of his reclusive nature, and because his face has been horribly disfigured in an accident, McLeod is treated with a mixture of fear and mockery by his neighbours, particularly the local children. Charles, however, discovers that McLeod was at one time a teacher, and asks him to tutor him for the entrance exam. The gruff, taciturn McLeod is at first reluctant, but he gradually warms to the boy, and a close friendship grows up between them. Charles comes to see him as a father-figure, especially after he makes the unwelcome discovery that his own father was not a war hero but an alcoholic who abandoned his family and later committed suicide.Gibson initially wanted to cast another actor as McLeod, but was eventually persuaded to play the role himself. I think that that was the right decision; I have not seen all his films as an actor, but of the ones I have seen I think that he gave his best performances in this one and in Zeffirelli's "Hamlet". McLeod is a complex character who is more than an innocent victim. He is also haunted by feelings of guilt arising out of the car accident in which he was injured and his passenger, one of his pupils, was killed. It is these guilt feelings which have led to his becoming a recluse and to his refusing to have plastic surgery to correct his disfigurement. His mentoring of Charles can be seen as an attempt to make amends for his past. The young Nick Stahl is also very good as Charles.Gibson has the reputation of being one of Hollywood's more conservative figures, and there are conservative aspects to "The Man without a Face". Although the film is set during the Vietnam War, a time when all things military were regarded with deep suspicion by a large section of American public opinion, Charles' ambition to attend a military academy is presented as a laudable one. The politically liberal Catherine is too wrapped up in her own emotional needs to consider those of her children. She has been married several times (her three children all have different fathers) and many of Charles' emotional problems stem from his unstable family background and the lack of a father-figure in his life. The title "The Man without a Face" can refer to the disfigured McLeod, but it can also refer to Charles' father who is "without a face" in the sense that his son has no mental image of him.In another respect, however, the film can be seen as having a liberal theme, although not in the narrowly political meaning of that word. The local people's distrust of McLeod does not derive solely from his disfigured appearance. He is also rumoured to be a paedophile, and his friendship with Charles is therefore seen by many, including the local police chief, as deeply suspicious. I note that one reviewer actually concludes that McLeod is a paedophile and that another thinks that the film would be more interesting if he were to be portrayed as one. I think both these viewpoints are wrong. It seems quite clear from the film that the relationship between McLeod and Charles is platonic and non-sexual. If it were otherwise McLeod would be a detestable character rather than a pitiable one, and the film's key theme- that of not judging people, particularly those who are in some way different, on the basis of suspicion, rumour and unfounded accusations- would be fatally undermined.Of Gibson's four films as a director I think that "The Man without a Face" is, together with the very different "The Passion of the Christ", the best. It is a well-told human drama, a sensitive exploration of the teacher-pupil relationship and of the corrosive effects of suspicion and prejudice. It is certainly better than the overblown and overrated "Braveheart" for which he won an Oscar. 8/10