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    The Gambler

    Reviewed by
    pietroantoni@

    I have NEVER rated a Mark Whalberg production badly because, frankly, his films have been most enjoyable and humane aside the fact I love him as an actor. In real life he's a wholesome, good, Catholic, family man who loves his wife and children, whose acts are genuinely good and benefit all those around him. No calling could be higher than this! Even last years LONE SURVIVOR, based on a true hero's story in the Afgan war won me over completely. THE GAMBLER, in contrast, is feeble at best missing the mark almost completely. I would say any film on gambling can be made with astounding results being the compelling subject it is, a disease, they now call it, a topic that could fascinate. However, this rambling, badly scripted film, with a "non-redeemable" character does not merit much of anyone's attention. Yet, I am trying to find anything that is good to slightly up my score... especially as it is a Whalberg flim! But this remains a mean feat!

    Wahlberg plays this privileged white male out to prove he can feel something is faulty in life from the get go, but assuredly not of his doing. Right from the start it's going to be hard for an audience to identify with a protagonist who is not quite sincere. It's strange how some found this film full of rousing action and energy. I felt the opposite. Wahlberg usually takes such charge of a film. One could never go so far as to call him unwatchable, but the original GAMBLER with James Cahn still makes a better film, overall. One certainty is that John Goodman never gives a bad performance. There's an apparent unease about the film. Everything in life seems or goes wrong but there is little blame put on anything or anyone which eventually becomes total absurdity with Gambler's final line of DENIAL of who or what he really is.

    I hope some will indulge in my trying to explain this film in a rather philosophical manner which I never really like to do. Here I think it's a bit of a necessity. One can dissect this film in EXISTENTIAL terms, (which I did not want to do) but my eye caught some juvenile reviews which required further information coming momentarily! So! Despite everything, one musters some sense of meaning in this disaster called a movie. There is much which is bizarre and meaningless in all realms of society. The problem becomes where or on who to lay the blame. This is where it all gets difficult, no one in society wanting to take blame for anything that is happening globally or on a personal level.

    The quest for liberation and a sense of peace within ONESELF is a lofty aim, but one that does not come easily. The very problem of having to live in a stifling society, an atmosphere akin to a hell created by most of us is all too sadly true, but not much we can do about it, or so it seems. There ACTUALLY IS a solution of sorts IF ONLY ONE WOULD FOLLOW CERTAIN BASIC PRECEPTS of human nature.

    Existentialism, as we know it best in contemporary terms, comes from the FRENCH Sartre and Camus. It's a relatively simple philosophy which postulates that in man EXISTENCE PRECEDES ESSENCE... I believe, this is a simple, straightforward concept, one any older teen or adult will be able to comprehend. ( Let me define my idea of ESSENCE as that desire within anyone to accomplish something worthwhile in life.) It is vital to understand there is no universal essence of man which an individual must strive to attain or conform to. On the contrary, man is a free being (he has liberty/ free will) who creates his own essence as he lives and who, being free, is capable of choosing for himself just what type person he wants to become. One cannot go blaming society in general, be it family, friends or the like. Responsibility rests with the individual himself.

    Because of free will, known from so many sources, including venerable J. P. Sartre, what we do in life, the works we perform (good or bad) will all be a judgement on us. No one, not a solitary individual can go blameless for the choices one makes, for which the responsibility rests squarely on one's own shoulders. IN PLAIN ENGLISH, IF HE OR SHE SCREWS UP, IT IS OF HIS OR HER own DOING, NO ONE ELSE'S. Start applying this to the central character in THE GAMBLER!

    Man is what we call a FREE AGENT who in life will be seen as a hero, a rogue, a coward, a rascal, a saint depending on his actions but more ACCORDING TO HOW OTHERS SEE HIM with his overall behaviour. It is only through the eyes of others that man can see his image. What others see of him are his acts. Through these actions he engages in the world about him. This engagement, in turn, brings about his essence and, at the same, time creates his image in the eyes of OTHERS. It becomes a very testimony not only in this life but in the afterlife.

    This partly explains why existentialism speaks so often of man's anguish. He knows his acts are all important, that they depend on the choices he makes, for which he can offer no excuse, thus totally responsible for them. Humanity, it is true, experiences anguish or pain for the fear or inability to realize this essence before it is too late. One may have good intentions, but taking the wrong road or turn in life, one will be judged for consequent disasters which you, yourself have wrought upon yourself.

    Most individuals would like nothing more from life than the avoidance of any decisions, in other words, abandoning their free will or liberty, living day to day, something sub-human. We, unfortunately, witness this in contemporary society, now quite deplorable. However, we are human with conscious so this can never exist without severe consequence, truly impossible! Avoiding liberty or responsibility in life is nothing more than bad faith. It's of little worth to turn here or there for answers. Don't turn to institutions of society ( be it family, church, government or whatever) for wholesale answers. It is to the self one must turn for GUIDANCE when confronted with life making choices. (TO THINE OWN SELF BE TRUE) Being negligent is nothing more than abdicating one's own power of authenticity while at the same time passing the responsibility of one's acts onto others.

    Look around to observe persons forever finding excuses for an essence being poorly created, blaming everyone BUT oneself for the lack of success in life. Ultimately what is TRUTH, and I repeat this yet again, the individual and he alone is responsible. Even when allowing others to choose for you, the choice is still yours, ironic as it may all sound! NOT CHOOSING BECOMES A PERSONAL DECISION NOT TO CHOOSE OR TAKE ANY RESPONSIBILITY.

    Existentialism rather overstates that it is here on earth one is admonished for one's failures in performing good deeds, the punishment from society itself, all those out there in the dark, so to speak. Daily one senses and feels the scorn for those who shirk their duties, denying said individuals the liberty of changing one's essence ( for the betterment of mankind) once set in what it deems unacceptable or permanent ways. This becomes an extraordinary burden or torment on anyone in a bad way for societal approval is needed but unable to be obtained. We all know persons who wear 'proverbial' blinkers: pretending not to care, sleeping too much, finding distractions in love, liquor or drugs anything but face the sad reality in which one finds oneself. What becomes painful in 'fixes' of self-delusion is the transient nature of it all. We witness countless souls with a life of worthlessness, powerless to change their image of essence and existence, turning more and more infernal by the day. We are meant to lead 'somewhat' good lives while on earth. It is tragic to observe the beings who live in self-deception, those who have chosen a life contrary to the general welfare. It ends not merely at this. Creating a bad essence in life is veritable hell! The suffering is real; it is swift; and worst of all, it is permanent like the real hell, if you believe in one.

    KEY to any understanding of Existentialism is that it does not recognize a hell in the terms we have come to learn. There's an absurdity in it as we recognize our inability to explain its existence much like our inability to see a world without apparent justification, foundation or purpose. What is terrifying to most is not so much the punishment they will incur in an after life, as many, many persons and societies do not believe in any such thing. The absolute fear of most is the punishment that comes on earth, in the here and now... not somewhere down the road. For many it is LIFE ITSELF WHICH BECOMES THE EMBODIMENT OF HELL!

    A summation of sorts: any man who has managed to grasp and accept the fact that he is free, one who has realized what his situation is, and, who has, within that situation, chosen to engage himself in the world around him so to affirm his liberty and free will, becomes a true authentic being though the choice made implies a certain source of anguish. Be not of bad faith or self-deception. It only leads to greater ruin or despair. Do not take your independence for granted. How remarkable to make a life through one's own initiative, to use one's own conscience as judge or mentor. Could anything be more uplifting!

    3
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    pietroantoni@  13.1.2015 age: 36-49 14,540 reviews

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