Sorry, this movie sucks

Don't listen to the negative reviews

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The acting in this movie is really good.

Chuck Norstadt (Nick Stahl) is the middle child of his widower mother. He is desperate to go to the military academy that his father attended after failing the entrance test. He spaces out from time to time and everybody looks at him as a little slow. He often fights with his half-sisters Gloria and Megan. Their mother has a new boyfriend in anti-war Prof. Carl Hartley. Justin McLeod (Mel Gibson) is the local bogeyman. All the kids are afraid of his half-burnt face and his dog. The adults gossip about the numerous rumors about the recluse. He's a former teacher and Chuck convinces him to prepare him for the exam.Chuck starts off as an unlikeable brat. Stabbing the tire is too much. On the other hand, it does give a connection between Chuck and McLeod. It bugged me for the first half of the movie that every other word coming out of Chuck is a lie. The mentor relationship does build into something interesting. This is Mel Gibson's directorial debut and he shows a nice confidence. The movie does threaten to be overwrought in the last act but he is able to rein it in just enough.

"The Man with out a Face" is the story of an eccentric teacher with a unique gift of reaching emotionally distraught pupils and fuelling their ability to learn. Calamity strikes his life in the form of a car accident while transporting a particularly responsive pupil home from a competition, who unbeknownst to him had developed a fixation with him. Even though he is an exceptional teacher he is ill-equipped, at the young age of 26, to deal with the ensuing escalation. When he tries to set the boy straight he regretfully is too harsh in the effort and the boy panics causing the accident. It kills the boy and leaves the teacher permanently disfigured.The scaring is symbolic of the internal wound he carries inside from guilt, coupled with the reinforced rejection of society, first in response to the accident, by jailing him for involuntary manslaughter and then as it treats him as a monster due to, first and unchallenged impressions of the appearance of his scars.Years later another struggling young boy enters his life, who will not take no for an answer, and convinces the teacher to tutor him for an entrance exam to a military college he is desirous to attend. His unorthodox style brings perspective and enlightenment to more than just the subjects for the entrance exam but also to the boys life and his own. They find in each other both true friendship and the dignity and lightening effects of grace. Learning to trust in the face of all the apparently well meaning yet paranoid and unruly responses of those who assert themselves to be responsible and clear.This film brings a wonderful insight to the mistaken impressions that can happen in society when the right questions are never asked within the mind and heart of the individual or by officials. And once asked, whether they are clearly heard or not, without the bias of agenda. It also addresses the question of what people believe societal authorities should be acting upon and what they actually are constrained to. How the disconnect between the personal desire for truth to rule the day conflicts with the assumptions made by those in the legal system, which admittedly is driven not by interested in justice but rather the strict application of the code, the way it exists at the time of an offence.The film exposes the nature of the corruption of the individual through the weights of life and error and the rationalization of the fear of facing that nature, in order to see the truth ourselves. The clear truth, the honest truth, that we are all flawed, all monsters and all, contrastingly, capable of extending grace to lift that weight in the lives of others, if we are willing to dare, with a little empathy and simple understanding, enter a path that can result in a better kind of life.This battle, that continues to go on everywhere, between the desire for personal accountability to oneself and through this the collective governing of society by conscience and respect contrasting the desire to throw that responsibility on external representatives who society has dubbed authorities, and through that become victim to the fickle impressions of a few.The resultant situation exposes the the very real hypocritical nature that exists in the dichotomy in most cultures today. Leaving only the impression of dignity, the vainer of office and the shallowness and illusion of control when confronted by the true dignity of someone with moral substance. That which exists in the hearts of those who except the challenge of stepping into the work of needful change.A very good watch, if you will allow yourself the change.Volpe Verte. Aug. 2nd 2014.

Mel Gibson both directs and stars in this moving film as Justin McLeod, a reclusive former teacher who was partially disfigured in a car accident ten years previous, and where a student was incinerated. Ever since, he has lived on the edge of town, an object of fear and ridicule, until one young man named Charles 'Chuck' Norstadt(Nick Stahl) befriends him with the aim of being tutored by him, since his grades need improvement, and Chuck is not afraid. However, his family is still suspicious, and Chuck will uncover the truth about McLeod that will change their lives forever.Mel Gibson does a fine job directing and acting, building a believable portrait of this scarred man who needs a second chance from a society that has wrongly judged him, and a young boy who will have his life turned around, leading to a most fitting finale.

This was a well acted movie, nothing to grandeur to be sure but interesting enough. The film has a boy who actually wants to go to a boarding school which is kind of a nice change of pace, but he does not really have the grades to do so. Well lucky for him there is a recluse living nearby, and he just happens to be a teacher. Well he tries to get this guy's help, but the guy is rather hesitant to do so. He is disfigured thanks to an incident in the past and he is frowned upon by the community. He does take the boy in though as you knew he would have to do seeing as there would not be much of a movie if he did not and the two form a bit of a bond. Not really a big one where the guy makes up for the fact the boy is fatherless, but a student teacher one to be sure. Well something happens and the boy is caught at this mans house by some authorities and there is a big court scene and we learn why the man has lost half his face and why he is frowned upon by the community. Usually I would say this movie is trying to say people unjustly accuse people of things based on appearances and such, but it just does not work in this case as there was sufficient evidence and circumstances to believe the man could have done what he was accused of. Still, Mel Gibson turns in a good performance and it was somewhat entertaining to watch, just nothing that would top any favorite movie lists of mine.