The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

The Man Without A Face (1994)Plot In A Paragraph: Chuck (Nick Stahl) wants to leave home, but can't make the grade for military school. Then he finds out the disfigured recluse named McLeod (Gibson) living nearby is an ex-teacher.It's a very touching and sad movie, and it doesn't fall into some of the clichés that you would expect. Nick Stahl gives a great performance and I think it features one of Gibson's best performances. Without going into spoiler territory, I hate a lot of what happens during the second half of the movie, and I was close to tears at the end. It took me a while to recognise where I knew Chucks sister (Gabby Hoffman) from... Eventually I placed her in one of my top 10 movies of all time (Field Of Dreams) There are small roles for Geoffrey Lewis and Richard Masur.Hamlet showed Gibson wasn't scared of taking chances; and instead of a safe choice Gibson chose this character driven movie as his first directorial effort. The Man Without A Face grossed $24 million dollars to end 1993 The 67th highest grossing movie of the year.

Justin McLeod has been living the life of a recluse for seven years, ever since he was horribly disfigured in an unfortunate event. Known by the locals as "Hamburger Head", he's the subject of many rumors and wild stories. Chuck is a young boy determined to get into the same military school as his father, despite his mother's protests and his half-sisters' mocking, even if it means studying all through the summer. Desperate for a tutor, Chuck encounters the reclusive McLeod, and together they begin to help each other deal with a world that has shunned them both.......Despite what you think about Gibson the man, you cannot deny the mans body of work as a director, and his debut, in my opinion is his greatest ever achievement. Here Gibson literally changes his while screen persona, and this is probably why it under performed at the box office, people were not ready for a serious Mel, let alone disfigured.But despite McLeod being the source of many a scary story, he is the most humanistic, the most holistic character in the whole movie, and although for most of the first act he is the boogeyman, thanks to camera angles and long shots, the second and third act portray him superbly.What scares the townsfolk the most about McLeod isn't the stories about him, it's the normality about him when he encounters folk, the lengths he goes to to stay away from folk, so I feel it comes as a pseudo relief to many when the Sheriff takes Chuck home from his house, their false fears have falsely been confirmed.The performances are tremendous, and the final scene is tear-jerking. It's a wonderful movie.

There are such special people in our lives that we cherish regarding them as those who left an undeniable trace on our memory lane. These people left a bit of themselves in us not through words but deeds that awed us. Yes, example speaks far more powerfully than words. Such is the theme of this wonderful movie where you cannot see everything if you rely solely on the basic senses. Amidst a lot of reviews on the movie, Roger Ebert's observation occurred most convincing to me: "this movie's theme is trust" while "the most striking element is the intelligence of the language."Chuck Norstad is a simple youngster, there is nothing unusual about him. Yet, some delicacy of his character and inner conflicts resulting from his upbringing, the absence of a man in the family, some confusion stimulated by female dominance in his house do not allow him to listen to his own inner voice, his male voice. An ambiguous situation in his home truly considers a serious obstacle. His peers, therefore, ignore him and mock him. His destiny, however, grants him with a wondrous gift, a teacher like no one else, one Mr Justin McLeod, misunderstood terribly by the locals, a man seemingly living as a recluse within the walls of his own world, a tutor, a friend, a face that will always be with him from the moment they fist meet. Yet, far is the way from overcoming the fear of "otherness" of this man to friendship of uncommon and unpredictable price...The movie's major strength, apart from the two wonderful performances that I am going to discuss later, lies in the austere form it takes. That is clearly revealed in the language (somewhere, images speak more than script, elsewhere, the script is clever and very much corresponds to the feelings of particular scenes). It is no preaching, prescriptive picture of human relations, it is no wordy script delivered with considerable pomp, it is just a simple, natural and genuine depiction of growing friendship that does not take into account any borders, like age difference, some background rumors or any other prejudice. Consider, though, that this friendship, which is also tutorship, does not exclude any storms of diverse emotions, torments, confusion. It is no oasis of idyll in the boy's escape world. It is natural, growing under the custody of mutual loyalty and honesty. And performances?No wonder that all the supporting cast appear in the shadow of the two leading characters, Nick Stahl as Chuch and Mel Gibson as McLeod. What a wonderful duality the two deliver in their roles, what a splendid bunch of diverse human emotions!Nick Stahl gives a tremendous performers for his age delivering all that is necessary for is role and supplying us with additional assumptions about the boy of his age. The difficult age of puberty is handled in a respectively subtle manner. In one scene, we see him looking at the Playboy magazine and there is a slight indication of the strong connection between the visual and mental stimuli. What this boy sees is deeply carved in his psyche, what he experiences is deeply influenced by his ever-going unpredictability. However, he is most interesting in the relation with Justin McLeod: the growing trust, the growing desire for loyalty, mutual understanding and, foremost, ability to think on his own. He is a good student who has a good teacher, the one who helps him, inspires him to discover the complexities of the world around, including hard, witty, challenging, rewarding moments. Mel Gibson is impressively captivating as a disfigured character, a man of great inner conflicts and intense abandonment, yet, a man who can beautifully capture the very essence of good vs evil. One of the most memorable moments is when he recites Shakespeare's MERCHANT OF VENICE to little Chuck and focuses on the aspect that, seemingly, refers to his personal situation. Inspiring and touching. His early meetings with Chuck are most interesting, though. The growing confidence endangered from time to time by some vague, even bizarre reactions memorably build up emotional resonance of the relation that is crucial for the story to be rightly interpreted. We do not find out much about his past, that does not matter. We are to conclude as the boy is to conclude who the man is once you get to know him in reality and put aside all you have merely heard of him.An educational film highly worth seeing! A movie that captures the gist of those few human relations that deserve to be called 'friendships.' Yes, a human being can be far more to another human being than just a sheer stranger, someone who meet and pass by, whose face you easily forget. He can be a unique 'face,' somewhere out beyond the edge of the crowd, which, for some short period perhaps, gives freely and generously moments of grace.

This film is underrated, but being underrated can be a good thing because it might mean that behind the low rating hides a movie that isn't given the deserved credit. Here's a prime example of that.'The Man Without a Face' is a funny, human, sensitive, touching and harsh movie. It is a lesson of life and it deals a lot with life's problems and serious stuff. Besides, there is also a lot of comedy, which is a surprise for such a serious film. But the combination of these different elements is effective.Mel Gibson is someone I tend to find overrated, as an actor and as a director. But with 'The Man Without a Face' he made a great movie and proved that after all he is worth something as a director and as an actor, thanks to his great acting as Justin McLeod.Nick Stahl is brilliant as Chuck Norstadt. I love his acting, he really convinces in whatever he does in this movie, he's truly that expressive. Chuck is so funny: his hilarious lines, his strong personality, his devilish sense of humor and the extremely goofy facial expressions he does when he is completely "in the moon". He is also very inquisitive, determined and stubborn, It's also funny that, although he is 14 years old, his face is very childish, making him look much younger than he is. However, Chuck is also a troubled and enraged boy. I can't blame him: with a father like he had, a mother like that and an older half-sister like that, no wonder he is a little crazy. Only his younger half-sister is decent.The film can also count with the help of a nice soundtrack (with soft instrumental music and a great oldie song - "Born a Woman" by Sandy Posey), as well as the simple fact that it takes place in Maine - which means it has beautiful vistas, all natural. It is also worth for the old cars and those acquaintanceships in family and with neighbors and friends. Like I said before, this movie is a lesson of life. You can actually learn a lot from it. It's interesting what is possible to learn from it.Title in Portugal: 'Um Homem Sem Rosto'.