“Deja Vu” a fascinating political fantasy

Minor spoilers ahead

If the title “Deja Vu” is an Americanization and technical misspelling of the phenomenon known as “déjà vu,” that’s because it’s a thoroughly American film. (It’s spelled correctly in the ads, by the by.) I don’t mean that as a put-down in relation to some preternatural draw to explosions and gunfire, but as a genuine compliment for something that could have been made only by people who are deeply concerned about the various tragedies to strike the United States in the past few years. At its most important moments, “Deja Vu” fights for a modicum of understanding, all while knowing that it may never come.

The movie begins with a banner that reads “Katrina only made us stronger,” greeting a ferry full of returning Naval officers and their families in New Orleans, shortly before it explodes and claims several hundred lives. Terrorism is correctly suspected; however, the terrorist in question is homegrown Carroll Oerstadt (Jim Caviezel, unsurprisingly—and perhaps self-consciously—playing another fellow with a God complex), a backwoods far-right-winger convinced that his actions serve as a blow to the U.S. government with some “collateral damage.” But, of course, no one knows that just yet. An FBI agent (Val Kilmer) confronts investigating ATF officer Doug Carlin (Denzel Washington) with a way to find the culprit red-handed, so-to-speak: the government has stumbled onto a unique surveillance system which allows them omnipresence for all actions from precisely four-and-a-half days ago. However, Carlin is quick to learn that this technology isn’t just a window into the past, but a portal...

In assessing the state of the union and its most destructive domestic events, “Deja Vu” equates terrorist attacks with natural disasters in the sense that they are both larger-than-life untouchables that can finally be touched (and understood, in terms of magnitude and scope) by its average man’s fantasy/science-fiction premise. It counters that premise, however, by equating political extremism with terrorism, not just in the McVeighesque Oerstadt but even in the good-guy government’s well-intentioned actions, where there is a pervasive feeling that there’s still something wrong with this level of surveillance. Take into account a scene where Carlin finds out that there’s a portable version of the past-camera. He eventually uses it to navigate the busy streets of New Orleans and follow Oerstadt’s tracks. The thing is, the whole sequence is put into play after a note is foolishly sent back in time and results in tragedy; the opportunity to correct the mistake is long gone, so once you find out where he’s going and what he’s up to, are you really going to be able to do anything about it? It makes for one of the most fascinating car chases I’ve ever seen, divided between oncoming traffic and an unassailable quarry.

That sense of fascination permeates the rest of “Deja Vu,” especially notable in the half-romantic angle between Carlin and Claire (Paula Patton, looking a little like Halle Berry but an infinitely better actress), one of Carroll’s victims whose past ends up being spied on for the vital clues. Carlin’s voyeurism results in some demented sense of responsibility, a strange throwback to “Vertigo” and “Rear Window” where the James Stewart surrogate is simultaneously attracted to a stranger and compelled to rescue her, who is at once a victim of borderline-perverted scrutiny.

When it is eventually revealed that people can be relatively safely transported to that point from four-and-a-half-days ago, it doesn’t feel like a cheat (maybe an inevitability), but it does feel like something that has taken a 180-degree turn from its somewhat pessimistic scenario. It even completes with an ending typical for director Tony Scott, with those explosions and gunfire and ticking clocks. But even now, you have to contemplate all the implications of “Deja Vu.” Its slam-bang finish is an even sadder burst of anger, frustration and wish-fulfillment towards those disasters, gleefully pumping terrorists full of lead with the full knowledge that reality doesn’t have the luxury of turning back the clock, and, what’s more, that there is no glaring supervillain behind Hurricane Katrina.