Customer Reviews

Trauma [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Ben has a car accident, and wakes up after 7 days in a coma believing his wife was killed in the crash, and his mental and emotional disturbance over her death is interwoven with the murder of a famous pop singer. The plot is a little muddled and one has to see this rather dull film twice to completely follow the thread of it. Staying awake the first time around can be a bit of a challenge, as "Trauma" is full of scenes of Ben as he meanders about in a delusional daze. Jobless and looking like a vagrant, he shuffles through his clippings of the pop star, and fiddles around with his ants and spiders. "Trauma" is not an easy film to watch, not because it is all that disturbing, but because it is boring. A recent film that can be compared to it is "The Machinist," which is far creepier and disquieting to view.

Colin Firth is excellent as the delusional Ben, as is Mena Suvari as Charlotte, the gentle, trusting soul that befriends him. Other good actors in the cast include Tommy Flanagan ("Braveheart") as Ben's buddy Tommy, and Brenda Fricker has a small part as a clairvoyant. Directed by Marc Evans, with some clever cinematography by John Mathiesen, no amount of spooky sounds in the soundtrack or mysterious elements can save this film and make it even mildly interesting. Recommended only for avid Firth fans, otherwise this one is a dud. No DVD extras are included other than Spanish subtitles, and total running time is 94 minutes.

TRAUMA is one of those films that invokes mixed responses from audiences depending on their expectations: it seems to polarize people into love/hate categories. While not a great movie, TRAUMA has the courage to pose a storyline that is more involved with the interior aspects of a mind altered by physical events. We are asked to observe the world through the eyes of a battered brain which happens to belong to a man with a tattered past. If linear stories are preferred then this is not a film to recommend. For those viewers willing to crawl inside the malfunctioning mind, this film is mesmerizing and full of rewarding moments.

Ben (Colin Firth) is seen in the opening flashbacks driving a car at night with his wife Elisa (Naomie Harris). There is a car crash and Ben awakens from a coma in a hospital, convinced that Elisa is dead. He wanders the hospital, drawn to the morgue where the caretaker (Cornelius Booth) enhances the mystery of the place. Ben learns from the TV room that a famous singer Lauren Parris (Alison David), for whom Elisa has been a dancer, has been murdered. His mind disintegrates and everything that follows is a mélange of delusion mixed with bits of reality that exquisitely define how the post traumatic stress syndrome can be driven to psychosis if not recognized and treated.

Ben leaves the hospital (or does he?) and continues his art career in a vast building undergoing reconstruction (a building that has been a hospital....), befriended by his mate Roland (Sean Harris) and by his landlady 'Charlotte' (Mena Suvari). More flashbacks (mostly childhood memories) occur as Ben talks things out with a 'psychiatrist' (whose face we never see...) and during episodes with channeler Petra (Brenda Fricker) he is informed that Elisa is not dead. Ben becomes a suspect in the murder of Lauren Parris and his chasing after evidence ultimately leads to a series of disasters, a series of metaphors and delusions, all of which find Ben sitting back in the hospital where he started.

Did any of this story really happen, or was it the fabrication of a mind traumatized to the brink of breaking? That is left for the viewer to decide. Though plagued with some static moments and a lot of conversation buried in background music and sounds, Director Marc Evans with writer Richard Smith take us on a suspenseful journey, made all the more bizarre by some extraordinary camera work and tremendously inventive settings. Not a movie for everyone, but for those willing to enter the Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome mind, this case study is rewarding. Grady Harp, June 05

OK... I'm a Colin Firth fan, straight up I'm letting y'all know that my opinion of this film may be a bit swayed by that fact, but the movie was awesome. It was excellent just because of the way it viewed Mr. Firth's character. Basically... ::SPOILERS:: POSSIBLY.... He thought he was insane, then discovered he wasn't insane, but because he originally thought he was insane he was slowly becoming insane even when he realized he really wasn't, and to stop from becoming insane he killed off the only thing he felt that was finally driving him to the edge, which turned out to be a real person, and that, in the end, really did drive him insane. *gasp* So amazing, I can't even begin to describe it. Go Mr. Firth!!!!!!

Other than Colin Firth's compelling performance, there is little else to recommend TRAUMA. A puzzling mind game passed off as "artistic film-making", the movie never rewards its audience with the payoff of what was real and what was Firth's fantasies. A movie that fails to accomplish a true resolution is merely an exercise in cinematic self-absorption, which is what TRAUMA achieves. Firth does a good job considering his role is so poorly conceived.

Nothing is wrong with `Trauma' as far as the actors and technical aspects are concerned. Colin Firth shows compelling acting as the suffering protagonist who survived a car accident, and John Mathieson's noir-ish cinematography is simply riveting. Except that, however, `Trauma' is likely to leave most audiences only puzzled and unsatisfied after the end credits roll. As for the film itself, it goes on and on without giving me during its course any sense of mystery, drama, character study, or whatever that is worth spending my time.

Colin Firth plays Ben, who wakes up from a coma that lasted one week after his car crash that killed his wife Elisa (Naomie Harris, '28 Days Later'). In spite of the constant therapy and the presence of a lovely girl named Charlotte (Mena Suvari), Ben's mental condition gets worse and worse, and he begins to suspect that what he sees and remembers does not necessarily reflect the reality that everyone else shares. In addition to the premise that is no longer original, the film introduces a murder case of internationally famous actress (or singer ... sorry I forgot which) that does not convince me at all. And the most surprising thing is, Ben might be the prime suspect of the murder! But how? and why?

The script is laden with so many bits that do not simply gel - beside the things I pointed out above, Ben must meet a seer (played by Brenda Fricker) who says something very predictable, and his estranged sister who is just forgettable. There are also big red ants crawling all over, paintings that imply nothing special, and the CCTV surveillance images that only remind that the film is set in UK. All these gimmicks are used in the short films directed by film school students. The difference is, probably they know what they are doing better.

I simply detest the ending that only wants to be shocking (which it is not), and sincerely wish that Mena Suvari find a new agent who can help her out of the string of bad career choices that are getting more and more serious damages to her career these days.

I have never written a review and suspense/thriller is my least favorite genre. Having said that, I watched this movie because of Colin Firth. I think he has been generally underated for years. What pleased me about this film was his absolutely compelling performance. It is a tour de force. Yes, the sound quality was not great, but that did not detract from the power of the internal journey depicted by Mr. Firth. For anyone who ever enjoyed the dashing Mr. D'Arcy...watch this film and see the diligent and concentrated performance of a truly gifted actor.

Trauma is a traumatic mess, where you're unable to hear the speaking parts because it's so low. The DVD itself is bad because unless you can read Spanish subtitles, you're out of luck hearing certain parts. Firth is good, but Suvari is as bland as cardboard.

If you saw the trailer like I did, you expect someting else, the guy who did it should get an award just for that, the movie itself is just plain boring, nothing ever happens, all the time you're trying to figure out just what in the world is really going on, and the ending is about the only good thing about this one,only because you're so tired of all the so called psychologycal drama. What really hurts is all the time they killed to get to the truth behind all this mess, I hit the wall watching this one, expected a whole lot more, and it just didn't deliver.

An interesting study of a troubled mind. Not quite sure if all of the lead character's marbles had rolled to one side before the "Trauma" but it seems he was always a few cards short of the proverbial deck. I wanted to root for him but was increasingly suspicious of his sanity and virtue. A bit confusing as to what was real and unreal even at the end. Interesting to see a darker side in Firth's acting abilities. The fact that you're not sure of his character is a testament to his abilities and his facial expression at the end is creepy and suitably demented.

TRAUMA is a minor supernatural frighter that stars Colin Firth as a man who awakens from a coma to learn that his wife has died in the car wreck that also nearly killed him. After getting involved with another woman, Firth starts having hallucinations of his dead wife, visions that begin to drive him mad.

It shoulda been better!


Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 imdb viewer poll rating.

(4.6) Trauma (UK-2004) - Colin Firth/Neva Suvari/Naomie Harris