Far From the Madding Crowd

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Thomas Vinterberg/Starring: Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge and Juno Temple

With costume dramas, one never knows what one will get. Will the film be a dry, airless Merchant/Ivory production or will it be a visually sumptuous delight, like Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibility? It's nearly impossible to predict. But with a talented director like Thomas Vinterberg (Celebration, The Hunt) behind the camera, one can be sure the adaptation will be anything but two hours of stilted dialogue and ladies with bonnets resting daintily on their silky curls.

Given the fact the film is an interpretation of Thomas Hardy's classic novel, we have a good idea of what we will see. But as it's heroine, Bathsheba Everdene (an excellent Carey Mulligan) is keen to express in the film; "It is my intention to astonish you all." One could just as easily believe the mission statement belongs to Vinterberg. In sharing his heroine's resolution; his Far From the Madding Crowd achieves nothing less. Though other versions of Hardy's novel have found their way to the screen, Vinterberg's makes its own statement, visually and dramatically.

Set in rural England in the 1870s', the story's main persona--Bathsheba, inherits a manor; replete with a considerable staff. Bathsheba is hardly a typical landowner for the times, as we see when she attends an auction to sell the bounty of her farm. The exclusively male buyers and sellers look askance at Bathsheba; almost insulted by a woman's presence. But Bathsheba is no shrinking flower nor anyone's patsy; she proves to be a shrewd business person, as one buyer discovers.

We also meet Gabriel Oak (the limitless Matthias Schoenaerts), a hard-working farmer whose property abuts Bathsheba's. Gabriel meets his comely neighbor one day while tending to his vast flock of sheep and is instantly smitten. He wastes little time proposing marriage to her in his forthright manner, which startles Bathsheba. Though she isn't immune to Gabriel's rugged handsomeness, she is quick to assert her staunch independence which comes with an aversion to marriage. In a coquettish moment, she tells Gabriel that he lacks the means to tame her. Dejected, Gabriel walks away.

Not soon after, Gabriel experiences a devastating loss when one of his dogs drives his entire flock off a cliff before he can intervene. An image of golden, morning sunlight bathing a beach littered with sheep carcasses is a fascinating juxtaposition of beauty and grisly death.

Unable to recover financially from his loss, Gabriel is forced to sell his property, leaving him with little choice but to earn a wage on another farm. That he finds himself a shepherd on Bathsheba's estate is one of the story's bitter ironies.

But Gabriel isn't the only landowner who succumbs to Bathsheba's charms, for a William Boldwood (Michael Sheen, terrific as always), whose sprawling estate betrays considerable bounty, also wastes little time proposing marriage. Like Gabriel, William's offer of comfort and prosperity is countered by Bathsheba's articulated disdain for marriage.

Though Bathsheba seems steadfast in her determination to be unwed, a young, handsome soldier named Francis Troy (Tom Sturridge) changes her mind. Startling Bathsheba one night in the forest, he immediately makes his attraction known, causing her to shrink from his advances. But in the days ahead, his good looks and seductive power overcome her, which make marriage inevitable. Gabriel, ever the friend, warns her about Francis; knowing something of his past. Thoroughly charmed by the young soldier, Bathsheba dismisses his reservations.

Earlier in the story, we watched as Francis' wedding to a young beauty named Fanny Robin (Juno Temple) was aborted when the bride inadvertently arrived at the wrong church. Believing himself to be rejected, Francis leaves the church in humiliation and heartbreak. Knowing this, it is easy to regard Bathsheba's marriage to Francis with trepidation.

Gabriel's warning proves to be prophetic, for Francis becomes the most undesirable husband. Showing little but contempt for farm-life and frittering Bathsheba's income on gambling, Francis' life becomes one of dissipation and idleness. But a chance meeting in town with his erstwhile fiance, Fanny Robbin, reawakens his passion for the young woman. Fanny tells Francis the baby she carries is his, which spurs him to action. He promises to help rescue her from the loathsome mendicant's life in which she finds herself. In promising Fanny money to relieve her direly stressed condition, Francis runs afoul of Bathsheba, who questions his need for more money.

As Bathsheba's marriage deteriorates, Francis disappears, leaving everyone to think the worst. Believing Bathsheba to be eligible, Boldwood throws an elaborate party to renew his courtship but his hopes are dashed when Bathsheba reiterates her desire not to marry him. Outside the party, Bathsheba discovers a figure emerging from the darkness, which we see is Francis. Unchastened by his disappearance, his aggressive demands of Bathsheba lead to a violent confrontation that prompts a despondent Boldwood to take desperate action, with catastrophic consequences.

I fell into Vinterberg's story and kept falling. He did astonish and in many ways. Beautiful camera work, performances from several very fine actors and a masterful use of color made Vinterberg's film a fully imagined and aesthetically realized work.

I found Mulligan to be a superb Bathsheba. Mulligan has the kind of face that would drown in innocence if not for fiercely intelligent eyes to counter the onslaught. Bathsheba is at once aware of herself and her unique position of privilege in a male-dominated society but is also naive when it comes to matters of the heart, as her terrible relationship with Francis attests. Mulligan captures this contradiction beautifully.

Schoenaerts is quickly becoming one of cinema's premier actors. In the past few years, I've seen him in wildly divergent roles: as a pugilist in Rust and Bone, as the heavy in last year's The Drop and now as the Job-like Gabriel Oak. What is particularly astonishing about Schoenaerts is his ability to affect accents without a trace of his native Belgian in his voice.

Does Bathsheba maintain her independence after battling for its preservation for so long? Does Hardy and hence, Vinterberg, fail her by having her become love's prey? Does she betray her ideals? Though the story finds a happy ending, I couldn't help but think so, as I'm sure other movie-goers will as well.

I doubt Far From the Madding Crowd will make much of a splash, but I found it absorbing and nicely done. I was glad to be spared the Masterpiece Theater treatment; its cinematic value was very conspicuous. See it while you can in a theater before the T.V. screen denigrates everything that gives it distinction.

Kill the Messenger

**Spoiler Alert**

Director: Michael Cuesta/Starring: Jeremy Renner, Rosemarie DeWitt, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Oliver Platt, Tim Blake Nelson, Andy Garcia, Barry Pepper, Michael Sheen and Ray Liotta

Based on the late Gary Webb's book Dark Alliance, director Michael Cuesta's Kill the Messenger tells the true story of a journalist who discovers the CIA is behind Nicaraguan drug trafficking and distribution in American cities. The real meat of the story is how the CIA used the drug-sale proceeds to finance the Contras war against the communist, Nicaraguan government during the eighties. The film also tells how the government subsequently discredited the story and impugned Webb's journalistic integrity.

Jeremy Renner, who shares a producer credit, plays Gary Webb, reporter for the small time newspaper The San Jose Mercury News. His family has moved from Cleveland following a mini-scandal involving Webb and a female colleague on the staff of the local newspaper. Webb's affair with the woman ultimately led to her suicide, which he and his wife Sue (Rosemarie DeWitt) are trying to put behind them.

After writing a story about the government's illegal seizure of drug dealer property, Webb receives a call from a mysterious woman named Coral Baca (portrayed by the stunning Paz Vega), who agrees to meet him in a diner to discuss her drug dealing boyfriend's arrest. Though Coral uses Webb to help free her boyfriend, she gives him a government transcript accidentally forwarded to her which details the testimony of a powerful drug dealer named Danilo Blandon (Yul Vazquez) during a federal trial. The testimony deals indirectly with cocaine and issues of national security involving the CIA. Sensing the story's enormity and its vast implications, Webb brings his idea for a series of articles exposing the CIA's drug connection to his editor Anna Simons (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who in turn enlists executive editor Jerry Ceppos (Oliver Platt) for guidance and oversight. While the editors are naturally wary of the story's legal fallout, they are also well aware of its power and scope.

Webb follows a lead, which brings him face to face with a powerful drug dealer serving time in a Nicaraguan prison named Norwin Meneses (Andy Garcia). Meneses offers more devastating details about cocaine shipments and CIA activities. Webb's investigation leads him further to a Washington higher-up named Fred Weil (Michael Sheen) who confirms the story's validity though not without some ominous warnings.

As one might expect, the government is on Webb's heels and it isn't long before a contingent of dark suits meets with him to bully and scare the journalist into dropping the story. After making a veiled threat, Webb informs them he will print the story. Webb's gutsy decision endangers himself and his family. To facilitate the spread of his story, Webb creates a website called Dark Alliance; an online collection of articles dealing with the scandal.

The story makes an impact in the newsworld, which earns Webb interviews on major network programs and fulsome praise from his editors. But as Webb pursues the story further, his family life suffers, leading to his exile from his home. His son also becomes aware of the Cleveland affair, which causes acute resentment.

As Webb's story becomes mainstream, the government begins to respond to the story. In a cunning turnabout, the government uses the very same news media that exulted in Webb's success. The government is then able to foment anti-Webb sentiment, which helps create a perception of journalistic fraud in the public eye. It is inevitable that all the sources we see Webb interview for his expose recant their stories, leaving him unable to refute the news media and the government's claims of fraud. Webb's diminished stature weakens his editor's moral support and trust.

The hornet's nest Webb disturbs ultimately leads him to resign from his post at the San Jose Mercury News when it becomes clear he no longer carries the confidence of the editorial staff and the paper's legal counsel.

The whole story of Gary Webb and his muckraking article, while fascinating and important, seems out of place in twenty-first century movie houses. There is a whiff of datedness to it. In this new world of terrorist anxieties and Middle-East upheaval, a story about CIA turpitude in Central America seems almost irrelevant. Though the film subtitles inform us that the government finally released documents confirming Webb's story in 1998, the general public was blissfully distracted by the Monica Lewinsky scandal. It seems that even a mere decade after the events Webb described in his articles, the public was already inured to their shocking implications. If only Webb had posted his story in 1990 and this film had been made soon after, both would have made a more powerful statement.

Cuesta's movie is hardly dull or bad; it is actually quite interesting but this isn't the era of All the President's Men; we're no longer shocked to learn the CIA or the government has had its grubby hands in filth. Vietnam, Watergate and the Iran/Contra affair have erased any lingering doubts we may still have as to our government's capacity for dishonesty and hypocrisy.

The terrific performances, led by an excellent Jeremy Renner, are many, even when screentime is at a premium for some castmembers. Oliver Platt and Mary Elizbeth Winstead are excellent, as is Rosemarie DeWitt. Michael Sheen, Barry Pepper and Ray Liotta are onscreen for a fly's life but they are memorable. Cuesta also keeps the film's pace steady but urgent. Tension is established and sustained

I liked the way the disclosure of Webb's Cleveland affair is made a kind of moral parallel to the exposure of the CIA's immoral operations. Everyone has some dirt under their carpet but to what degree one is accountable for their wrongs, personal or public, either redeems them or, in the CIA's case, leaves them condemned.

I admire Jeremy Renner for wanting to tell Gary Webb's story. I would hate for Hollywood to stop making movies about muckrakers and I would hate it more if said muckrakers stopped being nosy about government malfeasance. The movie is merely a case of too much too late.

The government report must have given Webb a small sense of satisfaction but even up to his death, he still had his detractors and critics. The subtitles tell us his death in 2004 was sucide though he sustained two bullet wounds to the back of his head (!).

Though well-depicted, well-directed and exceptionally acted, Kill the Messenger left me feeling I had just tried on a shirt I wore back in high school, only to find it out of style and hopelessly ill-fitting. If awards were doled out for meaningful intentions, producer and star Jeremy Renner could win a tall, golden statue, but he'll have to settle and hope for healthy box-office instead.