The Stand

"And I saw a pale horse,

And a pale rider upon it,
And the name of the horse was pestilence,
And the name of the rider was death."

Revelation 6:8

My Dadsy is the biggest Stephen King fan I know; he has collected all of his books. When I was smaller I tried to follow in Daddy's footsteps by attempting to read one of the classics, but I had hardly reached the 2^nd chapter when I realized that these books were sensationally scary! As I got older I made it my duty to watch the books that they'd turn into films; my favourites being: The Shining and Pet Semetary. Only till recently however, had I had the pleasure of watching the iconic film 'The Stand'.

Just as the opening quote of the film read, it is quite rudimentary at what the film would be about. Yes, it was about 'the last days'; and I can see how this 1994 film set the bar of may 'end of the world' type films that would follow after. Stephen King seems always to be ahead of his time; a genius in his own right, talented, and down-to-earth being a native of fisherman friendly Maine. His stories alive with familiarity and calm, quickly followed by the unthinkable dread that somehow many of us actually find relatable, and this is why I believe his films are always thought-provoking and interesting.

What is the deal with crows and black cats? Who ever made that the staple of scary? Oh, wait, I suppose it must be again the brilliant Stephen King. J I loved the way he incorporated the crow appearing right before things would go wrong, so as to prepare the audience to know that something ghastly was about to happen.

There were 4 parts to 'The Stand' which although necessary, quite long. Probably like his books; they're a good read, but a long read, and for his fans, I suppose that's never is a problem. The story was separated into 4 parts: The Plague, Dreams, The Betrayal and then…simply episode 4. J The Plague introduced the main set of characters, and depicted the places around the United States that were being affected slowly one-by-one. It opened with an escape, or so the family fleeing though, followed by prisoners suffering behind bars, families, animals, and then it seemed that everyone was dead. Dreams focused on the few people who survived the Plague and how they began picking back up the pieces, and truly being resilient and building themselves up again. The Betrayal reminded me of the Judas and Jesus story of one of his 12 disciples that felt it necessary to turn the prophet in to the wolves and lead him to his death. And the 4^th part with few of the main characters left, left us with hope and faith that good always prevails over evil.

There were many things in the film I found comical though; one certainly being the music and soundtrack. I don't know if it was intentional, but even for built up frightening moments, there was still cheerful upbeat music playing, with no bloodcurdling or suspenseful music in site. I found it also comical yet I'm not complaining that the majority of black/African American actors were all messengers or on the 'good-side', as Ruby Dee who played Mother Abigail, (a 106 year old who liked playing the guitar from Nebraska) had a tremendous part at being the old woman that would appear in their dreams, welcoming them home and to come towards the light, she kept saying, "You come and see me, you and all your friends!" Then also, Ossie Davis who played Judge Richard Farris, a wise, calm man who became one of the chosen disciples of Mother Abigail in the 'New World'. There was even a man who walked the streets and rang a bell, that told everyone to repent now for the end is near, he wasn't so lucky to survive though. The only other man that wasn't seen in a positive light (which is usually the case in films' portrayals of people of colour) was 'The Rat Man' played by Rick Aviles, who was one of the right hand men of Randall Flagg played by Jamey Sheridan. I found it quite funny to see the dark character/demon wearing tight blue jeans and feathers in his hair.

The film was painted with many fascinating characters, like 'The Trashcan Man' played by Matt Frewer who enjoyed seeing things blow up. Miguel Ferrer who played Lloyd Henreid in the film who was a prisoner that was starving to death behind bars and kept his pet rat under his mattress, who also died along with most people during the plague, just in case he needed a bite to eat. My favourite characters though; because I felt their parts were insightful and striking were the characters: Nick Andros played by Rob Lowe, who was a deaf and mute man, I found him to be rather graceful, elegant and yet so poignant in the film; because even though he didn't believe in God, he believed in goodness, and he didn't have to be overly animated to show his heart or feelings throughout the entire film. I also love-loved Bill Fagerbakke who played the 'slightly' retarded character Tom Cullen, whom I deemed hilarious in the beginning because he always said, "M-O-O-N, that spells x" or "M-O-O-N that spells let's go!" He spelt everything in the movie Moon, regardless of what situation or object he speaking about; it brought great comic relief, however towards the end, when he looked out at the moon, he said, "M-O-O-N, that spells Moon;" which turned out to be a pleasant and heart-warming switch, to show that even though Tom was considered slow by many, he knew what was going on. J

Although I didn't find Stephen King's 'The Stand' as chilling as some of his other cult films, I enjoyed the spiritual twist and new-age non-coincidences and questions it brought about. People lay dead about in every episode, but even through immense tragedy, others still came together and 'stood strong' sending messages in dreams, through feelings and intuition, and one line of the film that remained with me went: "It's important to keep the mind empty, it's the only way one can move forward…"