“The Fall”
Starring Catinca Untaru, Lee Pace
Released: May 30, 2008
Available on DVD

WATCH THE TRAILER

A visual pleasure — best enjoyed on the big screen but not to be missed on DVD.

“THERE WERE FIVE of them: the Indian, the ex-slave, an explosives expert, Charles Darwin, and the masked bandit.”

So begins the story at the heart of director Tarsem's "The Fall," one of the selections last week at Roger Ebert's Film Festival at the Virginia Theatre in downtown Champaign.

I love stories. Growing up I devoured Brothers Grimm tales. I have seen the movie version at least a dozen times. I admit that movies that center on other stories, such as “The Brothers Grimm” or “Big Fish,” can be confusing. Still, I like them!

Although story films require a tremendous amount of concentration for my easily straying mind, dazzling cinematography helps keep me focused. “The Fall” takes some effort to follow, but it is beautiful and well worth it.

In 1920s Los Angeles, Alexandria (played by Catinca Untaru, who was a guest at Ebertfest last Saturday) is a little girl who is in the hospital with a broken arm. She is an immigrant who injured herself picking oranges to support her family.

Alexandria meets a man named Roy (Lee Pace), who is also in the hospital because he injured himself in an accident and is now paralyzed from the waist down.

Roy and Alexandria embark upon an unlikely friendship. Alexandria keeps Roy company as he tells her an epic story. As the story unfolds, Alexandria begins to find the parallels between the epic and Roy’s life, and the real reason Roy has taken a liking to her — she can steal morphine for him.

While the movie is a little confusing at first because the director jumps right in, it develops into something wonderful. Roy begins an elaborate story to trick Alexandria into getting him pills so he can commit suicide. Alexandria eventually realizes that she is part of the story and that the story is Roy’s life.

Roy was a Hollywood stuntman, with a good income, pretty girlfriend, and dog. While on location, he performed a stunt involving a horse and train that left his legs paralyzed. Before coming to America, Alexandria had her own share of tragedy: Her family's house was burned down and her horse was taken. Alexandria sees the pair as friends; she looks up to Roy, while Roy is just using her.

The best part of the film is the unpredictability of it. I did not anticipate that Roy would have a somewhat “bad guy” image, nor did I think Alexandria would become involved in the epic. I could not predict whether the end would be happy or sad since there is constant reason to suspect either outcome.

While I enjoyed “Big Fish” and “Brothers Grimm,” “The Fall” stands out. The music is much better, the tale is sweeter, and it is visually stunning.

Tarsem, who attended Ebertfest last year to talk about another of his movies, “The Cell,” uses this film to explore human relationships, but through strangers who are united by a traumatic experience. We see characters grow. Alexandria is a naïve yet forgiving girl, while Roy feels terrible about having hurt her.

The epic tale and the story of the lives of Alexandria and Roy in “The Fall” are intertwined, and it is beautiful to see them come together. Roy’s inspirational yarn about heroes on a quest to free a princess and rid the world of an evil governor turns out to be a plot to manipulate Alexandria. How can this be sweet? Trust me, when it comes together it is, admittedly in a twisted way.

At Ebertfest I was shocked to hear that few images in “The Fall” were computer-generated. The movie, from start to finish, is absolutely breathtaking, with much of it seen through Alexandria’s vivid imagination. The beginning credits are tastefully done, the costumes are elaborate, and the scenery is gorgeous. The movie was filmed in more than 20 countries and took four years to complete.

“The Fall” is a stand-up film! I highly recommend it.

Originally released nationwide in May 2008, "The Fall" is no longer in theaters, but it is available on DVD and can be purchased here.

"THE FALL" AT A GLANCE

• Starring: Catinca Untaru (as Alexandria), Lee Pace (as Roy Walker/ Blue Bandit)
• Directed by: Tarsem Singh
• Written by: Dan Gilroy, Nico Soultanakis
• Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
• Rated: R
• Runtime: 117 min.
• Theatrical release date: May 30, 2008
• DVD release date: Sept. 9, 2008
• Summary (from IMDb): In a hospital on the outskirts of 1920s Los Angeles, an injured stuntman begins to tell a fellow patient, a little girl with a broken arm, a fantastical story about five mythical heroes. Thanks to his fractured state of mind and her vivid imagination, the line between fiction and reality starts to blur as the tale advances.