Point break (1991)

There are few actors who reach up to the standard set by the late Mr. Swayze. In Point break (1991), a surfer-crime-drama movie directed by Catheryn Bigelow, he meets his match. His acting skills in this film are almost exceeded by another Giant in the history of cinema, by his younger, promising colleague, K. Reeves. What a presence! What subtlety! I must say Point break is one of those rare pieces of film making - nourishment for the soul - to really find its way straight into the heart of the viewer. An FBI agent called Johnny Utah (Reeves) attempts to catch a gang of bank robbers. He has reason to suspect they are surfers. He hits the beach to dissolve this mystery. By necessity, he has to learn the art of surfing. On the beach, he meets Bodhi (what an apt name for this spiritual surfer!) who is a fearless surfer but also something of a philosopher. The moment they meet, it is obvious that this is the seed of an impossible love story that might never reach its fulfillment. The interaction between Mr. Swayze and Mr. Reeves is simply heart-wrenching, "seeing one's rare magnificence in someone else", identification, repulsion, impossible desire. The chemistry between them - it's friction that defies words.
Ms. Bigelow has created an existential tour-de-force about conscience and the depth of male companionship and the impossible situations - tragedies, even - that life confronts us with. As Bigelow herself confessed: like no other movie, it captured the Zeitgeist. Point break is a work with deep philosophical and spiritual roots; a film about what it means to be human. One reviewer places it firmly within a history of heroism from Aristotle to Nietzsche - and he also suggests it's a film to be understood from a Hegelian perspective (the dialectic of master and servant), which makes perfect sense once you give some thought to the relationship between Johnny and Bodhi. "The master prefers death to a life without honor and beauty, a life of mere survival."
Mr. Swayze, with his rare gift for embodying complex characters, lends this piece of human drama a multifaceted face. Not only does Swayze impress us with a convincing physical edge; agile, at ease, on top of the situation - he also has an intuitive understanding for his character's haunted psyche. Bigelow's film, and Swayze's character in particular, offers a meditation on the eternal questions about freedom, fate and the bonds of society. As one reviewer put it: the films that comprise Bigelow's ouvre cannot be dismissed as mere action flicks, "entertainment", her films embody Ideas.
To mention but one memorable line: "If you wanna go to the ultimate, you gotta pay the ultimate price, is not tragic dying doing what you love" And another: "Fear leads to hesitation. Hesitation causes your worst fears to come true." And another: "I know Johnny. I know you want me so bad it's like acid in your mouth. But, not this time."
Like no other film, Point break explores the complexity of human desire.
"Yo Johnny! I see you in the next life!"