Sissy Spacek, Martin Sheen in Badlands |
For those who watch crime films about serial or mass
murderers for the “kill” moments, Badlands
and Zodiac will disappoint. And I’m betting I’m not the only viewer to
feel that both films are tremendously well done and worthwhile, yet
unsatisfying because they convey only the senselessness of the acts. There is
no answer to the question, why? Because of this, I suspect they more honestly
convey the sad truth of it all.
Director Terrence
Malick’s Badlands (1973) takes us
back to the 1950s to tell the story of real-life spree killer Charles
Starkweather and his 14-year-old girlfriend — outcast and naive romantic. The beauty of this film certainly isn’t the
story, nor any powerful lesson one can learn from it. It is the way the story is told. There is a
great deal of quiet, minimal dialogue and powerful cinematography. We are there
with them, sharing their isolation, their connection with each other and their
disconnection from the world. The Starkweather
role is played intentionally and effectively with shades of James Dean by a
very young Martin Sheen. I’m not
sure anyone but Sissy Spacek could
have convinced us that a smart sensitive young woman could overlook cruelty for
so long, despite the charming package that contained it. In any event, the audience might find itself
lost in time and suspended in a place where only the two characters exist.
While Badlands is
kind of a gritty fantasy, Zodiac, (2007),
despite attempts to market it as a “thriller,” is neither fantasy nor thriller.
It is as close to a documentary as a scripted, acted film can be. Directed by David Fincher, Zodiac takes us back to 1969 when a killer began to focus his
senseless killings in and around San Francisco.
We are witness to the inevitably gruesome aspects to remind us of the
level of the horror, but we are given much more information on how the killings
affected those – the police, the media and their families and the entire city —
who are drawn into and for some, destroyed by the madness. Here, detail is important and the filmmakers
get it right. We are inside the city’s
Hall of Justice where investigators feel the immense pressure of a city scared
out its collective wits. We are inside
the offices of the San Francisco
Chronicle to witness its internal struggles and moral dilemmas. And we, the
audience, never know more than was known as the story unfolds. Expert casting: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark
Ruffalo, Robert Downey, Jr. and Anthony Edwards. Brian Cox also appears as San Francisco’s legendary lawyer, Melvin Belli. The film was based on the book by Robert Graysmith.
As an accompaniment, beer strikes the right mood for Badlands. So, to bring San Francisco into the picture,
go for Anchor Steam.
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