The Bourne Syndrome


Watched "The Bourne Ultimatum" last week. I'm a huge fan of the book trilogy, so I guess its hard to comment on the movie in isolation.

"The Bourne Identity" was probably the first big novel I remember reading. Even back then, it had a great impact on me. When I watched the movie (Identity) a couple of years ago, I relived the book and remembered how brilliant the idea for the character was.

A fishing boat at night finds a man floating at sea. He is bullet ridden, miraculously alive. The saline waters have been a disinfectant to his wounds. He is operated upon by a drunk brilliant village surgeon who manages to save him ... finding a microfilm in the process that catalyzes the story. The setting is simply eerie to begin with, and grabs you the moment you learn that the character does not remember who he is.

The character is left with one and only one resource to begin with - his instincts. He relies solely on them to survive, and notices that he is being hunted assiduously all over Europe. As the pages turn, he discovers he can speak several languages without an accent, finds himself memorizing his surroundings, looking for exits in crowded places, identifying armed people in crowds with absolutely accuracy, finds he is a master of several combat forms, can decompose weapons without thinking or knowing how, and can do so much more without knowing his own name. The inherent tension makes for a stage of immense possibilities.

I guess from a purely objective perspective, Robert Ludlum's genius lies firstly in his ability to not go south after conjuring such a great stage (you simply have to read Identity, Supremacy and Ultimatum to know why), and in his ability to uncover the character for what he is ..... a seriously frightened human trying to stay alive. As a fan of the books, I guess I have to say that the movies do not do complete justice to this aspect of Jason Bourne, notwithstanding Matt Damon's fine effort.

The dichotomy of the character, oscillating from being completely secure in his ability to get through a visible situation, yet completely vulnerable on account of his disability is touching to say the least .... and registers subconsciously given that most human existence touches the ends of the security-fear pendulum at varying intervals. In Jason Bourne's case, it happens on every other page. A must read.

I don't think Ludlum recreated the brilliance in his other books. I remember reading The Scarlatti Inheritance, The Icarus Agenda, The Materese Circle, etc, but Ludlum's situation seems similar to that of Gabriel Garcia Marquez. After you write something like "100 Years of Solitude", the possibility of being so re-inspired has to be an act of God, or a similar improbability :)