Home  | Yellow Pages  |  Jobs  |  Homes  |  Cars  |  Classifieds  |  Register  |  Sign On  |  Contact Us | Site Search: 
 Location: Homepage > EditorsCorner News Bookmark Macon Daily | Make Us Your Home Page   
 News Channels
  Headline News
  Local News
  Sports News
  Financial News
  Health News
 Quick Links
  Classifieds
  Auto Services
  Business Services
  Dining
  Home Services
  Health Services
  Nightlife
  Personal Services
  Values in Smallcaps
 Entertainment
  Attractions
  Community Calendar
  Current Events
  Letters To The Editor
  Lotto
  Movies
  Opinion Poll
 MAO Exclusives
  Business Directory
  Cartoons
  Columns
  Contest Entry
  Games
  Home & Garden
  Horoscopes
  Linked Websites
  Obituaries
  Pet Obituaries
 Weather
  Local Forecast
  Radar
 Contest Entry
Tim Robbins wages crusade against noise
By: Silvia Aloisi
Wed Oct 24, 2007 5:58 AM EDT

(Pic)- Tim Robbins smiles during a photocall to promote the film "Catch A Fire," in Madrid January 15, 2007 (Enlarge Pic). REUTERS/Sergio Perez

ROME (Reuters) - Have you ever dreamt of smashing up that car in your neighborhood whose burglar alarm has the bad habit of going off in the middle of the night?

U.S. director Henry Bean used to do that just that, breaking into other people's cars to disable their alarms, so he could get a good night's sleep. He ended up in court and in jail, until he decided to stop and make a film about it.

"Noise", Bean's provocative second film, casts Tim Robbins as David, an upper-class family man driven insane by New York's loud sounds -- grinding garbage trucks, horns honking, back-up beepers and worst of all, car alarms squealing at all hours.

He becomes so obsessed with noise that he turns into a black-clad vigilante, "The Rectifier", waging his own crusade on those damn alarms shattering his quiet.

After ending in jail and nearly sinking his marriage, he decides to try to go about his fight legally, collecting signatures for a petition which he hopes will get the issue on the ballot at an upcoming council election.

The initiative is hugely popular but is blocked by the city's slimy mayor, played by William Hurt, forcing David to resort to an extreme strategy to make his point.

"Going out to break into a car whose alarm had been going off for hours, getting arrested, going to jail, appearing before a judge, all that happened to me, I did that," Bean, who lives in New York, told reporters after his film premiered at the Rome festival to critical acclaim.

"When I got arrested I had already been doing it a lot. I had been doing it for years. But when I spent the night in jail and it cost me several thousands dollars, I began to think I wasn't getting anywhere by pursuing it in this way," he said.

"I confess that a couple of times I could not control myself afterwards and I went out and did it again and didn't get arrested those times ... In fact you'll never find a policeman who will tell you that these things (car alarms) do any good whatsoever," he said.

METAPHOR FOR POWER

The film is Bean's witty, often laugh-out-loud funny second installment in a trilogy exploring religious, political and artistic fanaticism.

His first film "The Believer", about a Jewish man who becomes a neo-Nazi skinhead, won the Grand Jury prize at the Sundance festival in 2001 but was so controversial that no major U.S. distributor picked it up. Bean has also worked as a writer for films such as "Basic Instinct 2".

Despite his own personal battle against car alarms, which according to Bean "should be totally illegal", the director said his film was, above all, about the disconnect that he feels exists between those in power and their citizens.

"For me, noise becomes a metaphor for power. The noise that I have to listen to, that I have no control over, that invades my house, my ears, my thoughts... in a way that's how our governments are," he said.

"We live in a world where the governments are extremely unresponsive to what the citizens want."
 
 Comments Post your own Comment 
Use of this website signifies your agreement to our Terms of Service. Please contact management immediately with any suspected instances of abuse..

  Be the first to write a comment for this article!

 
Post a Comment

You must be registered to post a comment. Registration with our website allows you to comment on news stories and gives you the chance to win free stuff !!

Logon Name Forgot logon name?

Password

Comment

Our website gets almost 2 million hits every month! Call 478-474-3482 or e-mail us today for great advertising opportunities!

Click here to post a classified ad with no line or word limits for 30 days for only $20!




Get a FREE business webpage (or website link) and free advertising with a listing in our Business & Website Directory! Get Linked Today!

Macon Area Online/The Macon Daily serving Middle Georgia for over six years now!

After visiting this website you MUST click your back button to return to The Macon Daily!

 Current Weather
Local Forecast
 Post Your Ad Now!
 Advertisement
 Partners
We support the United Way


Click The Seal Above To Make Payments To MAO!
Copyright 2000-2007 Macon Daily 
Questions, comments? Contact us, About us
Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service, Privacy Policy
Macon Daily.com
Refresh often, this website updates throughout the day | Macon Daily is published daily. This is issue # 6761.
Site designed and hosted by
Net Macon