Deja Vu
I’ve seen this movie…
The theme of time travel is very common in the history of cinema, as we have already discussed in this site. Despite this abundance, the theme was explored in a curious way by director Tony Scott in the movie “Deja Vu” (USA, 2006).
The film’s title refers to a French expression, which means “already seen”, which expresses a feeling of having already lived the same situation before. I know fans of “The Matrix” will repeat Trinity’s speech (“it’s a fault of the Matrix”), but the senses are different. In “Deja Vu”, the meaning is classic, about the feeling of repetition of an event already occurred.
The movie’s story begins on a sunny day in New Orleans, when the crew of an American navy ship boards a ferry for a festive schedule. In addition to the sailors, their families are present in the atmosphere of a celebration party. Suddenly, the barge explodes, causing a huge number of deaths and injuries.
Amid the confusion of wounded and rescue groups is the police officer assigned to investigate the crime, Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington). He works for DEA, the US government agency that investigates crimes related to Tobacco, Alcohol and Firearms.
As Doug investigates, he begins to experience feelings of déjà vu about a murdered woman, Claire Kuchever (Paula Patton). In the process, he ends up discovering that these sensations are much more than they appear.
Through a mysterious agent named Pryzwarra (Val Kilmer), Doug is introduced to a very secret government project that could observe events four days before the present moment. The group tries to discover the perpetrator of the attack through these observations.
Gradually, Doug manages to track the criminal, getting his hands on him. The perpetrator of the attack is Carroll Oerstadt (Jim Caviezel), a cold and bloodthirsty murderer, who devised and executed a refined plan of revenge.
But Doug is not satisfied with just arresting the killer. Despite everything pointing to the contrary, he believes that he will be able to change what happened. This becomes even stronger when he discovers that the machine is not only capable of observe the past, but also of being a portal, although nothing alive has been transmitted before.
Even risking his own life, and going against all odds, he gets into the machine, trying to save Claire and all the innocent lives that will be lost if he fails.
Although the subject of time travel always confuses those unfamiliar with science fiction themes, “Deja Vu” manages to keep the viewer’s attention through the various action sequences, some of them mind-boggling, like driving a car against the road, guided by images four days ago.
The special effects are highlighted by the beautiful photography of Paul Cameron, who abuses of burst light, bringing a suffocating atmosphere and at the same time full of energy. The film was shot in New Orleans after the tragedy of hurricane Katrina in September 2005. It was even considered to change the location, for fear that the reconstruction works would not finish in time for filming to begin.
The DVD edition comes in a quality above the standard. The anamorphic widescreen screen format and Dolby Digital 5.1 sound in English, Portuguese and Spanish were maintained. In addition to the film, the disc features as Extras: a movie trailer, Extended Scenes: Extended Scene of the Consequences of the Ferry, Comments from the Director of the Extended Scene, and the Surveillance Window: Film with Comments Behind the Scenes feature.