Having just survived small-town and provincial politics, this movie was very inspiring for me and spot on about the dysfunctional dynamics that can exist in small towns and any place that is driven by toxic relations.
So many patterns, the three girls, Lester's Daughter, Lillian's friend Trudy, and Lillian herself. The old men whose leather worn cragged faces, and their prurient tale of men too long without society. This is a study of darkness and light, the study of the good and evil in men, and how these two opposing states are manifest, maintained and even grow. It is a tale of shifting iconic relationships: sons, daughters, wives and husbands, fathers and mothers, and childhood friendships that are shaped by decisions of the past, in the quest to survive at all costs. All of the interactions between the actors in this movie either reveal or indicate patterns, and cycles, and the cinematography, also captures this in another way, so that Blackway himself seems like a force of nature, like a wind that blows, comes, eddies, ebbs and flows, wrecking mayhem wherever it settles, a something one cannot reason with, but have to interact with nonetheless. But in each interaction the question of dignity, the worth of a man's dignity and the willingness to fight for it comes to the fore.
If I were to use a Solzhenitsyn quote to describe both the essence of this film, and the last shot of Anthony Hopkin's character Lester looking out of the window it would be this quote:
"If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?"
And what is destroyed within a man, will that make him better or worse?
Blackway, the antagonist in this tale, was once a cop. Watching this character, I started wanting to know what his back story was. Why was he so dang mad? And maybe there is a little glimmer of a revelation in how he himself became a mere force of nature during the conversation between himself and Lester, wherein he hurls a projected accusation at Lester: "You're just a bad dad."
And did I mention the cinematography? Each scene in this movie made me think that if Norman Rockwell focused on dysfunction in his paintings, this is what it would look like. Such as the old men in the mill's office, sitting around a table. The old men knew each other like hands inside a well-worn leather glove, so not much was needed to be said between them. When Whizzer is asked why Lester would want to go and help out a stranger, he answers, "She could have been one of our daughters". This statement takes on more significance as the movie unfolds.
Throughout the movie hope and resiliency seem to manifest as humility in the casual simple everyday acknowledgment of dignity through conversations; I was surprised at Chris the cook's gleeful sense of accomplishment at being 83 days sober. One of my favorite parts of the movie is how Nate reacts when he realizes he is not going to get paid to help Lillian deal with Blackway.
And while the townspeople didn't do anything really to help, they also did nothing to stop them either. They did function like connecting dots to an endgame, though. They all knew what was going to happen. But they dared not mention it. They were just being neighborly, sharing information, like someone telling of the last sighting of a rabid dog.
In a quiet way the movie is about righteous retribution, and the ending and beginnings of patterns and cycles. It is also about how evil in men can show up as cowardice.
Towards the end of the movie Hopkin's character considers himself evil person number two to Blackway being evil person number one. He blames himself for not doing more to save his daughter from Blackway.
At the end with Hopkins character looking out of the window; I feared for him, will the vacuum left by Blackway's death be filled by another crime lord?
Nate and Lillian's characters, being young, seem like the soul of the town, its promise and its hope. The for sign on the Church made me wonder a bit. Why was it included in the last shots of the film? I think perhaps because through the actions of Lester, Lillian and Nate, the town's soul was not for sale anymore. Sorry to offend, I'm Christian, so I guess it would make sense for me to make peace with a for sale sign on a Church in a movie about toxic compromises.
I think the movie is a very well done and a subtle and profound study of good vs evil, cowardice and bravery and the way these shape relationships. It also reminded me of High Noon, and I loved the very casual way the three characters went about confronting Blackway, being in themselves, together, a force of nature, against the force of nature of evil that Blackway a soul that had made a wrong turn and could not be redeemed. There was a Tolkien quality about it as well. There was a quiet humility in all of their actions, and you can tell they needed each other to do the job.
It is a Solzhenitsynesque gem, and also reminds of Dostoyevsky's approach to writing about good and evil in mankind. Having just experienced toxic provincialism, and seeing the hope of a healthy provincialism, the movie gave me much needed vindication at a time in my life when I am beginning to feel as though we as a species are morally losing our collective minds and soul.
I loved this film; I cannot believe it came out in 2015 and I missed it.
Perhaps it wasn't yet time for me to see it.
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