July 03, 2004

Eulogy for Brando

They say that Marlon Brando died today. I don’t know whether or not to believe them. I heard it on NPR, which should be a reliable source, but I’m not so sure they weren’t mistaken, or even deliberately fooled. Brando’s been fooling us for years. He’s peerless in that respect, absolutely.

I always believe Brando, even when I know better. He’s such a great liar; he seems to deserve it. I trust him completely, the way he trusts himself, so I let him break my heart even when I know he’s just pretending. I’m devoted, even when I can tell that he’s bored, and not really trying. I am astonished by his work even when he’s not playing a character in the cast of the movie he’s actually in – instead he’s somewhere else entirely. Except then suddenly he isn’t. And when he isn’t gone, he is just so completely dominant, so entirely human, and psychologically devastating. He is whole and sound, in every manner. Who is this man? Whoever the hell he wants to be, that’s who. No. He is whoever he is paid to be.

Brando’s ambivalence about his vocation is well known. He hasn’t done publicity in years, and has said that he always felt like a huckster. He claims to be embarrassed by the riches he receives for doing relatively little. But it’s not like he didn’t cash those checks, and then still ask for more.

Perhaps that’s why he seemed increasingly diminished after each career-defining role. He knew it was superficial, and he did it anyway. He didn’t deny it, but he did resent it. And he resented us -- for taking what he offered, his bullshit as well as his best work, and then sometimes not being able to tell the difference, or not even caring.

It must have been strange, being able to pretend so well. And it had to have been a little disconcerting to realize the depth of that power, and then take responsibility for it. I don’t mean to say that Brando was a victim of his great talent, though it may true.

I wonder how he felt when he realized that he could lie better than anyone, ever. I imagine he must’ve become confused, a time or two at least, when he said something that he knew just wasn’t true, and meant it. Where did he end and where did the character begin? I haven’t the foggiest. The fact is there isn’t a single thing about the man that I know for certain. Marlon Brando is just another character now, and that may be the greatest indignity of all. Do you suppose he knew?

For what it’s worth Mr. Brando, I’m very sad tonight. And I suspect it is true that you are gone, this time for good. I’d like to thank you then, for your life’s work. And I want to apologize; it seems somehow that you ended up with the short end of the stick.

I have to tell you that it didn’t surprise me at all when I heard that your lungs failed. I knew sooner or later you would die of suffocation.