Before his first growl as the Caped Crusader in Batman Begins, Christian Bale did a little indie flick in Barcelona Spain that may be his defining performance. "The Machinist," an English-language Spanish film, puts Bale in the role of Trevor Reznik, a lonely single insomniac who works in an industrial machine shop. Reznik is the type of guy who is obviously afflicted; he's dramatically underweight, manic, and deathly afraid of his pickup truck's cigarette lighter. Bale plays it with a stupefied sincerity that makes the character feel both likable and pitiful. You feel sorry for him because he's going crazy; but you relate to him because unlike most crazy people, Reznik knows he's losing his mind and is doing what any sane person would do to try to keep it together.
Director Brad Anderson tells the story in jolting pieces through the eyes of the protagonist. It's a plot-twist thriller that depicts- in excruciating sympathy- a man struggling with sin and the unshakable fear that his sin will find him out.
Jennifer Jason Leigh plays Reznik's paid girlfriend, and Spanish actress Aitana Sánchez Gijón plays the inaccessible love interest that may be his ticket to redemption. Barcelona, Spain stands in for an "American city on the west coast," and the machine shop's (Barcelona's old power station) three chimneas set an ominous stage. The villian, played by John Sharidan, is creepy in a kitchy, David Lynch-inspired way.
The Machinist is a good movie. You need to see it because A) it's a "foreign" film that you don't have to read, and b) it is the most honest picture of guilt-sickness you'll ever see. Despite it's weighty theme, The Machinist ends with a surprising sense of resolution and fulfillment. Watch it with friends, and the conversation afterword will natually center on the spiritual.
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