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Phenomenon (film)

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Phenomenon
Phenomenon theatrical poster
Directed byJon Turteltaub
Written byGerald Di Pego
Produced byBarbara Boyle
Michael Taylor
Charles Newirth
StarringJohn Travolta
Kyra Sedgwick
Forest Whitaker
Robert Duvall
CinematographyPhedon Papamichael
Edited byBruce Green
Music byThomas Newman
Distributed byTouchstone Pictures
Release dates
July 3, 1996 (USA)
Running time
123 min.
LanguageEnglish
Budget$32,000,000 US (est.)

Phenomenon is a 1996 drama, romance, and fantasy film written by Gerald Di Pego, directed by Jon Turteltaub, and starring John Travolta, Kyra Sedgwick, Forest Whitaker, and Robert Duvall.

In the film, an amiable, small-town everyman is inexplicably transformed into a genius with telekinetic powers. The original music score is composed by Thomas Newman. However, it included 'I Have The Touch' by Peter Gabriel and "Change the World" by Eric Clapton and Babyface. It was filmed in Auburn, Colfax, Davis, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Sonoma County, and Treasure Island, all in Northern California.

Plot summary

George Malley (John Travolta) is a man whose life is transformed by a strange flash of light he observes on the evening of his 37th birthday.

Over the course of the following days, George starts to experience an extraordinary form of genius-level intelligence, rapidly absorbing vasts amounts of information, formulating new, revolutionary ideas, and even exhibiting telekinetic abilities.

George tries to use his new intelligence for the good of his community. At first local town folks are intrigued and amused by George's new abilities, but as they increase, community members gradually become afraid of him, with the only exceptions being love interest Lace Pennamin (Kyra Sedgwick), town physician Doc Brunder (Robert Duvall), and best friend Nate Pope (Forest Whitaker). Matters are complicated further when the government begins to take an interest in his newfound genius.

While participating in a town fair, George wants to publicize his revolutionary findings to the community with the hopes to make people's lives better; instead, the townsfolk are more concerned with seeing a display of his telekinesis, and a frenzied press conference ensues, overwhelming George, knocking him down. Soon after, another great flash of light appears to George and he loses consciousness. He awakens in a hospital where Dr. Brunder explains what's been causing his change. He has an astrocytoma brain tumor that has spread out like a hand, with threads of it everywhere. But, instead of destroying brain function, so far it's been stimulating it. Thus, George has more area of active brain use than anybody ever tested because of the tentacles from the tumor (a version of the ten-percent myth).

The tumor is claimed to be what caused the dizziness and illusion of light experienced by George, rather than a mystical or extraterrestrial source, but this is never definitively concluded, leaving the viewer to speculate. As a result of the tumor, George doesn't have much time to live. Government-employed doctors propose cutting George's life even shorter by examining his brain before he can die a natural death, and argue that if he objects to their plan, the objection itself would be proof that he is mentally unfit to make such a decision, and that the government would then proceed with the examination anyway. Held against his will--allegedly just for observation, but really until the government can put its plan into action--George eventually escapes, hoping to continue his research. He hopes that seismologist Dr. Ringold (Jeffrey DeMunn) from UC Berkeley might continue his experiments and, ultimately, complete the research he'll never get to finish.

After returning home, George gives Nate notes which basically served as a journal and gives him some other notes to deliver to Doc Brunder. He then retrieves his scientific research and, literally, runs to Lace's house. There, he aims to give his final farewells to Lace and her children, Al and Glory (David Gallagher and Ashley Buccille, respectively). When the children realize that George has basically returned there to die (in peace), they are emotionally overwhelmed by this and run off. George goes to them, and in one scene, comforts them by using an apple as a metaphor: no matter what, an apple will rot and decay if thrown on the ground, but if they were to take a bite out of it, the apple would become a part of them, and they would carry it with them forever. By doing this, he expresses the last wishes of a terminally ill man - that he hopes to leave those around him with some of his love and wisdom, as well as easing their sadness at his inevitable departure.

Later that day, George lays out a blanket in the shade of a tree, where he and Lace then lay down together to share a final emotional bond. Finally, George tells her "It's happening", indicating that his moment of death is imminent. With tears in her eyes, Lace lovingly embraces him as he quietly dies in her arms, giving him the peaceful death which he had hoped for.

Dr. Ringold arrives the next morning to speak with George again, but he's too late. Lace then gives him George's incomplete research notebooks, indicating that he hoped Ringold would be able to finish the scientific work which George had started.

The movie ends approximately one year afterward at the town's local bar, where the townsfolk gather to celebrate George Malley's birthday. Many of them are showing off their newfound crop bounties, which resulted from using George's agricultural innovations that he freely shared with them. The ending also reveals the positive impact George has had on people's lives; such as Lace's son learning to play chess with Doc Brunder, or Nate's romance with his Portuguese Angel.

Trivia

George has a moment in the movie where he looks up at some trees and stands very quiet. According to a production assistant to the movie, this was a part of a subplot which was cut. George is having a “realisation of the present God”, an enlightenment as to the connections of all living things to one another. The tree symbolises this connection between the world, life and its balance. At the end of the movie Lace stops to look at a tree in much the similar way as George did. She too has a “realisation of a present God”, an enlightenment that has passed from George to Lace by the way he acted and through his presence. She shares the understanding of the world he had. Between these two scenes there was supposed to be some exposition to this effect, but it was never included in the movie. The two scenes are therefore somewhat disjointed.

Cast

Phenomenon II

On November 1, 2003 a television movie titled Phenomenon II was broadcast on the ABC Network. It was directed by Ken Olin and starred Terry O'Quinn, Jill Clayburgh and Christopher Shyer as George Malley.

Although it was billed as a sequel to the film, Phenomenon II is actually a partial-remake of the original film, essentially retelling the original story while adding new characters and introducing a sub-plot involving the NSA. The open ending of the telefilm suggests that it may have served as a pilot for a new TV series, though a Phenomenon series has not materialized.

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