Subject: Retrospective: The Postman (1997)

From: [email-masked] (Christian Pyle)
Date: 30 Jan 1999 17:31:43 GMT

THE POSTMAN (1997)

a review by Christian Pyle

When I first heard that Kevin Costner was making a movie called "The Postman,"
I thought, "An American version of 'Il Postino?'  Starring Costner?  God help
us!"  When I found out that it was not a remake of "Postino" but an
postapocalyptic epic, I thought, "'Landworld?'  Please, God, make him stop!"

As it turns out, "The Postman" is a much better film than I had expected. 
Despite being set in 2013, the movie is, at heart, a western:  a band of thugs
terrorizes peaceful villagers; a wandering hero opposes the bandits and
inspires others to fight back.  The setting, however, allows that familiar plot
to take on greater significance:  American society has collapsed due to plagues
and wars, and survivors live behind barracades in isolated villages.  The
struggle of a dead society to be reborn has a grand quality and deserves the
epic scale Costner grants it.

Costner's nameless character, a wandering actor, rides in from the vast
wasteland and is soon shanghaied into the service of General Bethlehem (Will
Patton), a former copy-machine salesman turned bandit king.  Our hero escapes
and discovers the body of a dead postman.  Taking the uniform and bag of mail,
he passes himself off as a representative of "the Restored United States."  He
is shocked at the hope that he inspires in the people he meets.  One young
disciple, Ford Lincoln Mercury (Larenz Tate), organizes a full-scale postal
service.  Ford spreads The Postman's message of hope until Bethlehem finds that
the once-meek villagers are beginning to resist his rule.  As war breaks out
between Bethlehem's army and the postal workers, Costner's character steps into
the legend he created and goes from self-centered loner to leader of the
revolution.  His lie of the Restored United States becomes a self-fulfilling
prophecy.

"Postman" is an odd blend of a bleak setting and a message of wide-eyed
optimism (sort of "Sergio Leone meets Frank Capra"), but its treatment of hope
and renewal is compelling.  What could have been another knock-off of "The Road
Warrior" (like "Waterworld" was) surprises the viewer with a sensitively told
story of nobility emerging from rubble.

Tate is the stand-out in the movie's large cast.  Ford Lincoln Mercury
(self-named) is the polar opposite of O-Dog, Tate's character in his debut
film, "Menace II Society" (1993), and Tate makes Ford's innocent belief in hope
as convincing as O-Dog's cynicism and brutality.  His performance sells the
movie.  Interestingly, as Tate moves from his usual street-smart roles to
youthful optimism, the soft-eyed Patton, who usually plays nice guys, proves a
disarming villain.

Olivia Williams makes her film debut as The Postman's love interest, Abby. 
When they first meet, Abby asks him to father her child because her husband is
sterile.  Predictably, the husband is soon eliminated by the bandits, and Abby
is thrown back into the company of the hero.  However, their relationship
develops slowly as the emotional conflicts of both characters are explored
(she, torn by grief, guilt, and anger; he, resisting his destiny).

"The Postman" is Costner's best work thus far.  Perhaps that alone gives us
hope for the future . . . 

Grade:  B+