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Friday, October 4, 2024
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HOLLYWOOD KILLING THEM SOFTLY
EDITOR'S PICK
`Killing Them Softly` a soft, subtle,
brilliant film
Rating: ****
What is America? A great nation to some and to others an apostle of democracy,
equality and liberty. Brad Pitt, in the last dialogue of Killing Them
Softly says, America is not a country. It`s a business.
It is this notion of the US that the film, succinctly, tacitly and humorously
peels up by looking at one of its `greatest` homegrown `business` - organized
crime.
Aware that Markie (Ray Liotta), the owner of a gambling den had organized a
successful robbery on his own den, a crook hires two small time cons to rob it
again knowing that the blame will go to Markie. With the town`s economy which
depended on gambling, in ruins after this second hit, its crime lords call upon
Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to clean up the mess.
What follows is not just a simple `clean-up` but a complete overhaul and
perception management of the `business` in town.
Killing Them Softly is both a thriller and a comedy. It weaves in
the best elements of both to give you a film that delights at many levels
despite its unconventional treatment.
Instead of focusing on physical action, the film trains its lenses on seemingly
inane meetings and conversations. It is thus filled with beautifully written and
spectacularly enacted dialogues that may seem pointless to the average audience,
but serves to take the story, `action` and the violence forward in subtle but
menacing ways.
Viewers who enjoy a freshly brewed, deep and rich drink will savour this tiny
masterpiece like they have very few modern thrillers or comedies.
Yet, the masterstroke of the film is its brilliant metaphor, its parallel
running and tagging up of the American financial situation with President George
W. Bush trying to fight an economic downturn and incumbent senator Barack Obama
talking of `change`.
What the film insinuates with Bush and Obama talking economics on TV is
something very provocative. It`s well known now that the financial collapse of
the American economy beginning 2008 was an inside job (just like in the film).
In a below-the-belt metaphor to American capitalism, the film suggests that the
assault on the economy was Bush`s doing like Markie robbing his own gambling
den.
And the `change` required to restore order in the nation, comes from an
enforcer, Barack Obama whose parallel is Jackie Cogan in the film.
The only change, however, that a business or a nation as a business will permit,
is the change in profit. And finally when all is done and there`s nothing left
to be said, it all boils down to that one world `profit` as Jackie Cogan and
America talk business and minimizing losses.
Adapted from a 1974 novel named Cogan`s Trade, by George V. Higgins,
this film by auteur Andrew Dominik (of The Assassination of Jesse
James fame) is one of the most deceptively simple film you would have seen
in a long time.
No matter what people say of America, one thing no one can doubt or deny is that
it is a nation of the best politically critical cinema ever made in the world.
And Killing Them Softly, because of its deceptive demeanour, would
stand way up at the top of this list.
