2. Stage of complete disapperance.
Nihilism,1:Rejection of all religious and moral principles.
2: Belief that nothing really exists.
By Jake Bleese @2005
Pictures credits: Andrew Vitchell, Yahoo-E Groups, Vanishing Point and Tom Jasiewicz
Thoughts and running commentary on the movie, Vanishing Point, 1971
Vanishing Point 1971, is a movie classic. It is the story of Kowalski, a man whose spirit has been badly damaged. A man who is cynical about what it means to be alive. A man whose experiences with corruption turn him into an Anti-Establishment figure, a loner ranger, a rebel,a man who prefers his own company most of the time,a man who lost the love of his life to a tragic accident, or suicide. Kowalski has an Nihilistic personality, he must though, like all of us, once of believed that life held infinite promise. Flashbacks during key moments in the movie remind us why he no longer seems to believe in anything but the loneliness of the road. K is trapped in an endless loop of going nowhere whilst never standing still. K no longer believes that anything is real or can last.
And yet you feel his soul yearns for freedom, freedom from this life and its pain, he has a need to escape, vanish even and if he can't find freedom in this life, he is going to find it in the next, but like the end song says, 'Nobody knows'.
And perhaps this is what we all yearn for, an escape from all we know, to disappear. from what we are never quite sure, yet the feeling remains...
The Climax of the film sees Kowalski's soul go free as he rams his White Dodge Challenger R/T into a nazi-police roadblock ( the blades of two bulldozers across the road) just inside California...after being chased by the highway patrol rednecks across Colorado, Utah and Nevada.
This movie, for reasons I don't full understand, has affected me deeply on a conscious and sub-conscious level. It profoudly moves me, and has had some influence on my life. I don't fully understand why, but I guess that there is something of Kowalski in all of us, a yearning for a life which offers comfort and meaning, not one which wrecks and has you wondering why, what the hell is it all about? Something or Nothing. No doubt about it, the film asks existensial questions, even if it doesn't supply the answers. To be or not to be? Kowalski found his answer for sure, whether he liked it or not is another question.Kowalski's story begins two earlier in Denver, Colorado. In a strange scene at the beginning of the movie, we see Kowlaski racing towards his fate in the White Challenger (Sunday Morning), as he does so, he passes himself on route to Denver in a Black Chrysler Imperial saloon which he delivers on the previous Friday night,just prior to setting out on his last ride in the Challenger. As the cars pass, the Challenger simply fades off the screen. This, remember is two days after he has delivered the Chrysler. Or, is it two days before the Challenger arrives at the same point. Is it a premonition, or a slip in time, are events running backwards or forwards. In any event the film begins with this seemingly paranormal event, distortions in the time/space continuity are theorectically possible, so let's suspend rationality and enter the world beyond. In any event, Kowalski passes himself in Cisco, and this certainly marks his point of no return, for when he takes the OA5599 onto the road, his ride ends where it began in a sense. Having reached Denver on a rainy Friday night. As he crosses the railroad, you hear the bell warning on an oncoming train. The bell reminds of the tolling of a Church bell, and has a symbolic meaning I think, for whom the bell tolls....
Kowalski hands over the Chrysler, and with so much as a brief pause, asks Sandy ( the guy at Argo Car delivery) what he has going for Frisco that very night. Sandy remarks, don't you know your going to kill yourself one day ! He's reluctantly offered a 1970 Alpine white Dodge Challenger R/T. The car has the now legendary licence plate, Colorado OA5599. As he powers out of the delivery garage, and turns the first corner, you sense he is on his way to his vanishing point. The end is the beginning, and beginning in the end...
Kowalski exits Denver, at the outset of his fateful journey of no return...
Page 2:The chase is on !!
Page 3: Welcome to Nevada
Page 4: Into the Desert...
Page5: Angel, Speed, the shack and girl
Page 6: Calling me home
Page 7: The death of Kowlaski
