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The Fountainhead (1949)
The Rise of the Individual
The Fountainhead sets off by means of a powerful question: 'Do you wanna stand alone against the whole world?'. This may seem an unusual statement to start a film, yet from that moment on the viewer will witness the path of a man who attempts to precisely do so: striving against the whole world.
King Vidor's film introduces us to an innovative and talented architect, Howard Roark (Gary Cooper), whose artistic conception does not suit the public's taste and who has to face different forces that push him to conform to the conventions of his society. After an unsuccessful beginning in the profession, Roark is hired to design his first big project, but the influential newspaper The Banner, directed by Gail Wynand (Raymond Massey), carries out an aggressive campaign in order to discredit the architect. Only backed up by his ideals and integrity, Roark will struggle to carry on with his career.
As this plot line manifests, The Fountainhead explores an ancient debate – that of the individual vs. society – and its emphasis is overtly on defending the aspirations of the first over the expectations of the second. Thus, the film offers a pessimistic portrait of society – controlled by the powerful and the media and having no mindset of its own – that is fairly down-to-earth. He who does not conform is seen as a danger, not only because he cannot be subdued, but also because he may be an agent of change, and consequently, those who are in power try to erase one's individuality. However, the resolution of the conflict that The Fountainhead offers is not very plausible and it makes the film lose some of its strength. As the story goes on, the viewer follows Roark and is touched by the desolation of the atmosphere created, feeling its lack of oxygen, yet at the end this anxiety is dissipated, so the impact of the film on the audience is reduced. From my point of view, an ending that had left aside poetic justice would have been more effective.
Be that as it may, it can be considered that all the elements of The Fountainhead serve the purpose of conveying the message of the work: the individual is above society. Therefore, the film does not display a lot of camera artifice – it is dominated by two-shots, which let the audience focus on the characters' words and actions, and camera movement is limited and not evident – so that the viewer is not distracted by it, but it is visually beautiful and presents a good work of photography. The narration seeks the viewer's identification with Roark from the very beginning and the dialogues have a special force that impacts the audience, even if they seem unnatural sometimes, especially when the film deals with love. On the other hand, characterization is perhaps the weakest aspect of the work, since it is not very well developed and this may be caused by the fact that the emphasis of the film is on ideas and not on creating complex characters, for they are subordinated to conveying a message.
One may like The Fountainhead or not. One may consider that it is not perfect, that there are better ways of conceiving and creating films. Yet the fact that King Vidor's work has a power that makes an impression on the viewer, a power that attracts or disconcerts him (or maybe both), cannot be denied. And that is also what a film should do.
Arantza Medel Ruiz-Carrillo.