I love Paul Thomas Anderson in a platonic and brotherly way. THERE WILL BE BLOOD is one of the few movies I would call a masterpiece without fear of committing hyperbole. It took the natural coarseness of Upton Sinclair and blew it out of proportion, into something larger than life. When the trailers for THE MASTER came out, I knew I would love it. PTA has this uncanny, spontaneous, seemingly involuntary way of creating beauty. There is nothing forced about his movies (and especially his later ones), they are graceful and seamless in their purpose. THE MASTER might be his purest, most transcendent film so far and yet his most difficult to grasp. That's why I mulled it over for a week or so before writing this review. When the credit rolled, first thing that went through my mind is an image of director Terrence Malick shaking his fist at a cinema screen and cursing heavens. I'll get back to the signification of this, but keep the visual in mind.
THE MASTER has been hailed as "PTA's take on scientology". That's not entirely wrong, but that's not exactly it either. In a movie of half-tones and echoes, the only constant is the characters and their journey. Freddie Quell ( Joaquin Phoenix) is a broken war veteran, roaming aimlessly on the East Coast, going from job to job and getting drunk on paint thinner when he returns to America. That will eventually lead him back on a boat (where he spent the war) and right to Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). The latter is the leader of a cult called The Cause (that cult that sounds a whole lot like scientology) and he sees Freddie's arrival as a sign of destiny. He will try to break that wild, carefree spirit and mold him to his ways, but Freddie is far from being within reach. He retracted to a small, dark place inside his mind and won't let anybody disturb his fragile balance without causing a storm.
The big question surrounding THE MASTER is: what is it really about? Believe me, this is a valid query. It's about scientology, sure, but it's not a political film. It's not really judging or condemning any beliefs. The movie will most likely leave you baffled, convinced to have witnessed something beautiful and yet, you won't be sure what. Since I'm a practical mind aiming to answer questions rather than ask them, I have formed an answer to this very much metaphysical question. Take it for what it's worth, for I don't pretend to be in the secret of the Gods here. Maybe I shouldn't have an answer. Maybe this movie was made to raise questions first and foremost (and it's probably right), but here is my theory anyway.
This is a recurring image in THE MASTER. I have my theories about that too.
THE MASTER is a movie about the powerful, yet inconclusive nature of faith. About how it changes humans and not the fabric of life or destiny itself and as mostly rational beings, it's in our nature to doubt. I think the common misconception about THE MASTER is to see it from the perspective of Freddie's faith only. It's a movie that bends the classic storytelling notion of point-of-view, but doesn't quite break it. Every character is struggling to find themselves within Lancaster Dodd's system of beliefs. Dodd being the first, as Freddie's presence openly challenges his power over his community and the validity of his teaching. This is why he cannot let Freddie go. He needs to break him to his will, in order to assert his power over his followers and to keep the strength of his belief in what he does.
What Lancaster Dodd knows that Freddie Quell doesn't is that a man who believes is twice as powerful as a man who doesn't. If you swing, thinking you'll hit a home run, you'll swing twice as hard as if you're afraid to get beanballed. You might not hit anything, but you will generate the power to. The beauty of Freddie Quell as a protagonist lies in his longing for an unbroken state. He is smashed into pieces and if he has faith in anything is that he'll find a way no to be anymore. That's why he needs Lancaster Dodd and The Cause, to give him direction like a family would. The basic state of "unbrokenness" is to be part of something greater than yourself and the smallest unit that's greater than an individual is a family. That's what Freddie is longing for. But the things Freddie did as a faithless, aimless individual might be beyond repair. Faith can help him, but will only go so far.
THE MASTER is a tremendous, insidious and dreamlike experience, but it wouldn't work so well without the work of its actors. Joaquin Phoenix came back to acting after a four years break, especially for this movie. You will realize his much you missed him when you'll see him interpret this confused, raging, emotional mess that is Freddie Quell. But this performance wouldn't have been that good, I think, without the help of Phillip Seymor Hoffman, who pulled the best out of him. Phoenix, Hoffman and Anderson are a dream team put together. Amy Adams also is on her A Game as the young, malleable wife of Lancaster Dodd, but she's a bit more in the background as the movie focuses on the Quell-Dodd existential confrontation.
I don't know if my theories about THE MASTER are right, but I feel strongly about them. What I do know for sure is that it's a beautiful film that probably drove Terrence Malick mad by its gracefulness of discourse. His movie THE TREE OF LIFE was his attempt to dig for similar answer and yet the end-product was a lot less cohesive than Paul Thomas Anderson's movie. THE MASTER is subtle, smart, loaded and yet very watchable movie about faith and the power of belief. Its discourse is not hermetic or deliberately intellectualized. Whether or not you will think about it long enough to draw conclusions, it's going to work you up and that is to me the highest possible purpose art can achieve. THE MASTER is endearing in its challenging nature. Chalk it up as another masterpiece for Paul Thomas Anderson. It's a triumph for cinema, storytelling and philosophy in art.
FIVE STARS
