Fight Club is one of those movies that hits the spot without missing an inch of it. The nameless narrator (Edward Norton) is an insomniac office worker who lives a materialistic life. From the very beginning the movie comments on the capitalist nature of society by portraying how consumerism moves the world, but is unable to give relief in the end. Flipping through catalogues of new furniture for his apartment is the narrator's only personality trait. To fight against his insomnia he starts attending to support groups. By lying to people, pretending he has conditions he does not have, the narrator finds relief - the emotional acceptance he finds in the support groups is enough to allow him to sleep at night. The emotional complexity of the character is nothing unrealistic. David Fincher makes a subtle, yet clear, comment on the nature of materialist societies where no one really listens to each other nor care about each other. The system doesn't care about anyone, the distance between people - especially enhanced by how they function in the capitalist world - is a major plot point. However, when the narrator is finds someone who's a faker just like him he loses his emotional escape - " Her lie reflected my lie. Suddenly, I felt nothing. I couldn't cry, so once again I couldn't sleep".
Shortly after Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) is introduced into the story, the main character loses everything he valued. Deprived of his possessions he seeks solace in the company of a man who is the polar opposite of what he is. If the narrator is a worker who's way too worried about his condo and his job, Tyler is a freewheeling soapmaker who couldn't care less about all those things. The contrast between them is clear; Tyler refuses any consumerist logic from the narrator whilst making he see how futile is the lifestyle he was leading - "Right. We are consumers. We're the by-products of a lifestyle obsession." The characters portrayed here are so different because one of them is free, while the other is not. Tyler, in a nihilistic way, helps the narrator realize that his existence is meaningless enough - something that is clearly displayed in the capitalist world - that all they can do is giving up everything. The self-destruction promoted by the Fight Club is ironically what allows the narrator - as well as many other frustrated men - to find solace in their mundane life. Little by little the narrator is stripping himself off his previous beliefs about job, about behavior and the value of things. It's interesting to note that the narrator doesn't quit his job immediately, picturing how hard it is actually to cut ties with the system - he eventually does though.
Many subtopics are discussed through the movie. We see the narrator and Tyler, now living together, talking about many things. They talk about how both had an absent father, how both lacked a sense of direction in life at some point and were told to follow the common sense - "He says, 'get a job'. So, I'm 25, I call again and say, 'now what?' He says, 'I dunno. Get married". The nature of the system we live in tells us what to do since the moment we're born, while both of them agree on that, they also agree that this is all a great waste of time. It's important to notice though that both them had no significant connections with other people, especially with women as Tyler comments - "We're a generation of men raised by women. I'm wondering if another woman is really the answer we need".
As the club grows the movie delves even deeper in those reflections about what really matters in life - "Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy s**t we don't need". Tyler becomes the source of inspiration for everyone who attends to the fight club; everyone is much more like the narrator, but they're striving to be more like him. At some point, Tyler decides that the club is meant to be something bigger - what he would call Project Mayhem. While the original Fight Club was something kept like a secret idealized to give some sort of freedom, through self-destruction, to its members, Project Mayhem is about declaring a fight against the system. The frustrated collective consciousness was the straw that broke the camel's back - "We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pi**ed off". However, the narrator starts to slowly go against what Tyler was meaning to do - kinda of recalling a bit of his past self and a sort of respect for the authority of society - and when this happen it's the moment the movie reaches its climax.
The genius of the movie is displayed when we discover that Tyler Durden and the narrator are the same person, they have always been the same person. Due to his declining mental health and his rather meaningless life, he created an alter-ego - someone capable of manifesting everything he wasn't as a system abiding person. The contrast created by Tyler's different personalities is amazing to watch as the truth unfolds; and the ambivalence created when we discover the truth about Tyler Durden is even more marvelous. This movie portraits very well how a person can reach the extremes of their mind in a system that overlooks the relevance of your very existence - when you become just a number, just a braindead member of society, having your hopes and wishes constantly ignored. In the end Tyler recovers his sanity only to see that his actions can't be reverted - so he only stands by and watches. The final scene is beautiful; what could be bettar than watching the system crumbling before your eyes while "Where is my Mind" plays? This movie is a masterpiece and it is so entrancing because of how real it is - in the end the movie shows many things we know and think but tend to keep hidden. It is provocative, funny and thrilling and most importantly: It is so damn real. The plot aged perfectly and I don't think it is going to get old so soon - this movie is a must watch.
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