Frank Pierce is a member of the Nork York paramedics, serving the Hell's Kitchen district he is witness to some terrible incidents. As he starts to crack under the pressure of the job, and getting no help from a succession of zany partners, Frank may just find solace with an ex-junkie girl who's father he brought in dying of a heart attack.

Martin Scorsese can never be accused of not being adventurous, after dabbling in Eastern spiritualism with 1997s Kundun, he returns to New York and tackles a wing of America's tortured heroes. Based on the novel by Joe Connelly, Bringing Out The Dead is at times a difficult watch in many ways, but it's haunting poignancy is told with brilliantly adroit ease from one of America's famed directors, whilst it has to be said that the humour that is in there is darkly genius in its execution. We are along for the ride with haunted Frank for three days (and nights) as he and his borderline bonkers partners deal with overdoses, heart attacks, drunks and a notably cynical virgin birth! As Frank starts to see ghosts of people he couldn't save in the past, Scorsese and his team treat us to an adrenalin fuelled nightmare, the editing (Thelma Schoonmaker) is swift and explosive like, Robert Richardson's cinematography framing certain aspects of this journey with impacting deftness, and then we have the soundtrack.

Scorsese is always a man who takes great care in sound tracking his movies, in fact few modern day directors can touch his knack for a perfect soundtrack. Fusing Motown with 70s Punk Rock would seem an odd combination, but all of it works as the paramedics start to feel the strain and (in some cases) as the mania takes hold. It's rare to hear a New York Dolls track in a movie, to hear a Johnny Thunders solo track is as rare as a dog that speaks Norwegian, and here the use of Thunders' You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory is pitch perfect, impacting so. Such is the use of early Clash standards as our protagonists feed off each others precarious mental conditions, it's a soundtrack to savour basically.

Nicholas Cage plays Frank Pierce, and it's a great performance full of restraint and honesty, it's the sort of performance that his detractors tend to forget about such is its emotive simplicity. Tom Sizemore (wonderfully manic),Ving Rhames, John Goodman and Patricia Arquette fill out the cast and all do fine work, but I'm sure they would be the first to acknowledge the excellence of Paul Schrader's screenplay. This piece is far from being a masterpiece, but with it's intensity sitting side by side with a paramedics need for coping, it's clear that Scorsese and his talented team have made one of the most astute and undervalued pieces of the 90s. 9/10

Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage) is a NY paramedic haunted by the people he can't save. It's a grimy downtrodden portrayal of the underbelly of an ignored society. It's the early 90s from director Martin Scorsese but it is reminiscent of the 70s of Scorsese's past.

Nicolas Cage puts up an impressive performance as the haunted man. The series of co-stars does divide the mood of the movie. I rather let him have just one partner. The changes cause disruptions in the flow of the movie.

Disruptions may be what Scorsese is looking for. The bluesy meandering feel of the movie is highlighted by the Nicolas Cage narration. We're looking at a maestro conductor in Scorsese. The movie has the feel of a composition.

Contrary to what the name suggests, "Bringing Out the Dead" is not really about dead people. It tells the story of New York paramedic Frank Pierce (Nicolas Cage),who is feeling haunted by the ghosts of the people whom he failed to save. Some reviewers compared this movie to "Taxi Driver". That's partly true, but the true similarity is in its gritty portrayal of New York. From Frank's point of view, we definitely see New York as an eerie, almost dreamlike, place, whereas we always saw the real (albeit disturbed) world through Travis Bickle's eyes.

As for what I thought of the movie, it wasn't a masterpiece by any stretch, but we can all safely say that Martin Scorsese has never made a bad movie, per se. Cage's icy performance adds to the strangeness of everything.