The Man Without a Face (1993)

User Rating:

6.5/10   

Director:

Mel Gibson

Writers (WGA):

Isabelle Holland (novel)
Malcolm MacRury (screenplay)

Release Date:

25 August 1993 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

A fatherless boy had almost given up all his dreams... until one man believed in him enough to make them come true.

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Boy | Suspicion | Boarding School | Love | Coming Of Age

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Mel Gibson	...	Justin McLeod
Nick Stahl	...	Charles E. 'Chuck' Norstadt
Margaret Whitton	...	Catherine Palin
Fay Masterson	...	Gloria Norstadt
Gaby Hoffmann	...	Megan Norstadt
Geoffrey Lewis	...	Chief Wayne Stark
Richard Masur	...	Prof. Carl Hartley
Michael DeLuise	...	Douglas Hall, Gloria's Boyfriend
Ethan Phillips	...	Todd Lansing
Jean De Baer	...	Mrs. Lansing
Jack De Mave	...	Mr. Cooper
Viva	...	Mrs. Cooper
Justin Kanew	...	Rob Lansing
Sean Kellman	...	David Taylor-Fife
Chris Lineburg	...	Scott Pearson

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for mature subject matter.

Runtime:

115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (DuArt)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Iceland:L | Netherlands:6 (re-rating) | South Korea:12 | France:U | Australia:M | Finland:K-10/7 | Germany:6 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:10 | Spain:T | Sweden:11 | UK:12 | USA:PG-13 | Argentina:13 | Singapore:PG | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Bath, Maine, USA

Company:

Icon Entertainment International

Trivia:

Mel Gibson's directorial debut.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): The method that McLeod gives for finding the center of a circle will not always work. He also says and draws that the line perpendicular to the midpoint of AB goes through C, which is extraneous and incorrect.

Quotes:

McLeod: "Why the System Should Be Changed" - exclamation point - "by Charles E. Norstadt" I had no idea you pondered such weighty matters, Charles E.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Saturday Night Live: Alec Baldwin/Tori Amos (#21.11)" (1996)

Soundtrack:

CH'ELLA MI CREDA

Brilliant coming of age tale

I didn't know anything about this movie before I have watched it because it was never released in my own country, as well as book was never published. I am not a big fan of Mel Gibson, I thought that he is just average but too overrated actor. So you can understand why I didn't expect too much from this movie. But now, I want to apologize to Mr. Gibson. In this overlooked masterpiece he proves himself incredibly good both as an actor also as a director. The story was absolutely great, realistic and touching. Relations between two main characters – former teacher and young student boy (perfectly played by Mel Gibson and Nick Stahl) were shown as great as it possible. It was for sure best Mel Gibson performance ever. Young Nick Stahl acting also looked incredibly good as Chuck Norstadt. All supporting casts also did a very good job in their roles Director and whole cast team brought to us incredibly powerful atmosphere of total misunderstanding in Chuck family and in the whole town. People can't understand and worst of all they don't want to understand other people, who are not like all ordinary people in their small town. If you're not like all – you're odd and nothing more. This movie teach us never judge people only by appearance and groundless suspicions, teach us always look inside the people. It was very strong, powerful and important messages. All dialogs were very well written and very memorable. In addition to this cinematography and soundtrack were very good.

So, I consider The Man Without a Face as a stunning excellent film, best Mel Gibson film, one the best of the year and one of the best movies I've ever seen. If you're a Mel Gibson fan or simply love films with excellent story and perfect acting I highly recommend this film. Thanks a lot Mel and all people involved in this masterpiece.

My grade 10 out of 10 or A+++

Thanks for reading and sorry for my bad English. Feel free for mailing me about any of my posts and comments here.