Nietzsche once wrote \Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders."" In ""The Machinist"" Christian Bale's Trevor is a tormented man who seeks to forget because he is constantly paying for his mistakes with unending insomnia and mental anguish.
""I haven't slept in a year."" As Trevor utters these words, the audience finds it hard to disbelieve him; his weight has dropped to 120 pounds, his face is gaunt and his complexion is ghost-white. His mind seems to be elsewhere all the time; he seems to always be between a state of dementia and near death. As if that weren't enough, he is blamed for an accident at his plant and believes that his other coworkers are plotting revenge for it. He is also tracking a coworker, Ivan, (John Sharian) who Trevor meets but no one else has heard of. Entangled in his web of confusion are Stevie, (Jennifer Jason Leigh) a prostitute who wants something more from Trevor, and Marie, (Aitana Sanchez-Gijon) a waitress at the airport diner that Trevor visits every night.
To say any more would be pointless; the movie reveals the whole story in due time, peeling off layer and layer of story as Trevor experiences it until only the truth is left. We see the events through Trevor's eyes, delusions and all, and get flashes of memories as they appear to him, leaving the audience to discern what is real.
So many movies have relied solely on trick endings and last-minute twists to make their movie work. ""The Machinist"" rises above that; in a sense, the plot is really secondary. What really matters is that when we see the terrified look in Bale's eyes we see that he is just as confused and frightened as we are. The story is there, but we care more for Trevor than we care about how he found himself in this position to begin with. We want to see him get out of whatever trouble he is in, but at the same time sense that he can never really escape, and that adds to the emotion of the film.
Bale plays the role of Trevor on just the right tone. His intensity rises to the film's climax-he shares the audience's frustration as each fact revealed leaves a series of new questions unanswered. His paranoia grows as he slowly suspects everyone in his life to be conspiring against him. In Trevor we see a man on the edge, and Bale knows exactly how to bring it out. It must be a physically exhausting role to play-Bale is always on-screen, not to mention the 60 pounds he lost to play the role-and only enhances the tiredness that we see in Trevor.
Director Brad Anderson directs this film with the kind of artfulness that is rare for someone with as little directing experience as he has. The film itself has a washed-out look to it and is painted in shades of blue and gray that only adds to the sense of sadness and angst that we can see in Bale's face. With all of the trick photography and memory flashes, the audience settles into the same kind of tension that Trevor portrays as his entire world begins to work against him.
""The Machinist"" is the kind of movie that probably takes at least two viewings to totally dissect and consume the story so that it makes sense, and even then some parts will never truly be accounted for. That is by design. But when the story is unlocked, it's as rich and deep as any novel could be, complete with symbolism and all. The best chance to understand it is just to take it all in and, like Trevor, hope that it will all make sense after a good night's sleep.
