Bringing Out the Dead (1999)

IMDb plot summary: Haunted by the patients he failed to save, a monumentally burned-out Manhattan ambulance paramedic fights to maintain his sanity over three increasingly turbulent nights.

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Starring Nicolas Cage, Patricia Arquette, and John Goodman.

Bringing out the Dead is a 1999 Martin Scorsese movie starring Nicolas Cage as an ambulance driver and paramedic. We follow him over the course of three nights and see how he is perpetually burned out and absolutely not in a state of being able to function as an effective first responder. Throughout his various trips with various partners, he also spend some time getting to know the adult daughter of a man he brings in to the hospital, played by Patricia Arquette. This is such a sad, difficult movie, and it is especially adept at its use of lighting  to lean into Cage's exhausted mental state. As we follow him around and hear his musing on death and life and meaning, we're also seeing a truly broken medical system. Many of the people he picks up along the way need a social worker or a mental health advocate more than they do a trip to the ER, but this is all we have to offer them. The mood of the movie sat with me long after the credits rolled. It's a tough watch but it is an impactful one.

How it entered my Flickchart:

Bringing Out the Dead > The Blues Brothers

Bringing Out the Dead > Dark Passage

Bringing Out the Dead > The White Tiger

Bringing Out the Dead < Dead Ringers

Bringing Out the Dead < Dick Tracy

Bringing Out the Dead < Romancing the Stone

Bringing Out the Dead < The Bride Wore Black

Bringing Out the Dead > Revengers Tragedy

Bringing Out the Dead < The Fallout

Bringing Out the Dead < Big Hero 6

Bringing Out the Dead < Leap of Faith

Bringing Out the Dead < The Great Muppet Caper

Final spot: #465 out of 3839, or 88%.