Category: Josef Sommer

THE CHAMBER

By Marc S. Sanders

Having recently read John Grisham’s fifth novel, The Chamber, I opted to watch the film adaptation directed by James Foley. 

First, allow me to say that Grisham’s novel is primarily stale and boring.  That’s only because his nearly five-hundred-page best seller is occupied with a lot of legal procedurals and tactics necessary to get a convicted, racist murderer off of death row before his scheduled date of execution.  Grisham permits moments where his characters can bond, become forgiven or get even more revolting with each other.  In between though are efforts of appeal after appeal.  It’s likely how it works.  A motion is carried out.  It’s rejected.  On to the next in line.  In fiction though, this is terribly redundant. 

James Foley’s film does not work that way, however.  In fact, it’s a much worse experience.

A grey bearded Gene Hackman with oily, stringy hair and tobacco-stained teeth is Sam Cayhall.  He’s a former member of the Ku Klux Klan who is sentenced to the gas chamber for the murder of two young Jewish boys who accompanied their father, a Mississippi civil rights attorney in 1967.  The father lost both legs and years later he took his own life.  Sam is considered solely responsible for bombing the lawyer’s office building. 

Chris O’Donnell plays Adam Hall, a twenty-six-year-old attorney eager to take on Sam’s case and get him off death row.  Sam will finally meet his grandson but he won’t be very welcoming.  Adam is adamantly against capital punishment and he’s repulsed by his grandfather’s past, but that is not enough to send the old man to the chamber.

IMDb trivia documents that screenwriter William Goldman (Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid, The Princess Bride) walked away from the film after six drafts.  Another credited screenwriter used a pseudonym to keep his name disassociated with this picture.  John Grisham considers The Chamber the least favorite of his film adaptations thus far.  I can imagine the suffering with trying to assemble something compelling on film.  Frankly, I don’t think it could ever be accomplished.  This stuff is either boring or ugly or both.  Try and project it on a screen and it will not deliver a message like Schindler’s List or Do The Right Thing.

Gene Hackman suffers the most from this film.  His character is clearly there, but the script and directing and even his primary scene partner, Chris O’Donnell, are not up to par.  Hackman puts in the energy with an old man white trash dialect.  He has the expected hateful outbursts of a Klansman.  His appearance is convincing too.  However, nothing he has to say is important.  He’s actually not hateful enough, even if he’s freely uttering the N-word or being derogatory towards the Jewish people who run the legal firm that Adam works for.  As well, the script does not offer empathy for him or enough remorse of his past sins. 

Chris O’Donnell is supposed to be the idealized grandson in the mid-1990s who feels shame for his family’s history of Klan participations and crimes going all the way back to his great, great grandfather.  Hardly any opportunity is offered for the young actor to feel this way.  He barely gets angry or empathetic when he shares scenes with Hackman.  Instead, his moments are wasted with a young staff member of the Governor, played by Lela Rochon. She has too large a role, especially when Gene Hackman could be doing more. The two prattle on about topics that result in no consequence. 

Faye Dunaway plays Hackman’s daughter, now a wife to a Southern aristocratic banker.  She’s a recovering alcoholic, which is assumed to be a residual cost of her father’s misdeeds.  Dunaway, this once great actress, has no connection to either Gene Hackman or Chris O’Donnell.  It’s as if she is not listening or properly responding to either of them when she appears.  Then again, O’Donnell is not lending his best towards Hackman either.  He’s very flat, very plain.  His character from Scent Of A Woman went on to legally represent his racist grandfather.  His Robin, the acrobatic DC superhero, has more personality and drive than this guy.

Thematically, John Grisham builds his thrillers off of what southern American law mandates.  Precedents become obstacles for his protagonists to overcome, or the characters have to learn to embrace what’s at their disposal.  However, it’s tempting to hinge on racial divides to serve as antagonism.  That’s tricky because if you emulate the hate and racism too much, then it looks glamourized. 

James Foley provides many exterior shots of uniformed modern-day Nazis and Klansmen marching outside of Sam’s penitentiary.  Others are there to applaud the death penalty for the old coot.  These are just visuals though.  They say nothing except enhance the image and platforms these sects stand for.  If a film is to bring prejudice to the forefront, then the screenplay or book better have something important to say.  Let’s study the science of hate and where it stems from.  Let’s focus on those who fight against such cruelty.  The Chamber just marches itself towards an inevitable conclusion with nothing gained in the process.

Fortunately, the author’s novel uses its five hundred pages to span the last four weeks before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, and in that time his grandson learns more of what transpired in the convict’s past.  Then the author delves into how Adam grapples with what he learns.  James Foley’s film only flashes back to one very ugly incident.  From there, it’s hardly discussed and it is definitely not focused on enough.  Foley stages the murderous events but his film has nothing to say about any of these things afterwards.  Adam hardly ever gets disgusted or even a little angry.  Sam never regrets or even champions what he’s responsible for.  These are just scenes from a book reenacted for a Hollywood film, and devoid of any emotional weight.  Do something guys!!!!!  Shock me!!!!

I have to credit what Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert observed about the film.  The racist, former Klan member, Sam Cayhall, steps out of his cell and walks down the hallway. A series of hands belonging to African American prisoners shake Sam’s hand through the bars, and they pump their fists in allegiance for their fellow prisoner.  In what world would this happen where the black occupants applaud the cellmate racist buddy?  Forgive the term, but I’d expect they would lynch this guy for what he did before entering this prison.  This kind of staging is an insult to the intelligence of what hate stands for in this country, where it was back in 1996, or nearly thirty years after the movie was released.  Why is The Chamber whitewashing what really happens? 

I was not fond of either the novel (a boring drag of a read) or the film (an insult lacking insight or sensitivity), but at least John Grisham did his homework. Racism is not to be sugar coated for what is genuinely ugly in this world.

SILKWOOD

By Marc S. Sanders

As the 1980s were setting its stride, Silkwood might have been one of the earliest in a line of films to focus on the union worker who fights back at the billion-dollar corporation.  Some might unfairly regard the movie as The China Syndrome, Part II. Other well-known pictures of this mold are even more familiar to me like Michael Mann’s The Insider.  However, director Mike Nichols, working with a first screenwriting effort from Nora Ephron who partnered with Alice Arlen, showcases the aggravation on not just Karen Silkwood, the real life potential whistleblower, but also her friends and co-workers in a one factory town just outside of Oklahoma City.

Karen (Meryl Streep) lives with her boyfriend Drew (Kurt Russell) and her best friend Dolly (Cher) in a run-down house in the middle of nowhere.  They ride to work together at the local plutonium manufacturing plant where they dress in scrubs and gloves. Punch in, punch out kind of days, and often they are expected to work double shifts and weekends.  Karen works an assembly line where she places her hands in rubber gloves and assembles dangerous combinations of chemicals in an enclosed box.  It’s also routine that before you leave your station you wave your hands over a sensor to ensure you have not been exposed to radiation.  There’s even sensors you walk through as you enter and leave the plant.  When those sensors go off, a calm kind of film seemingly turns into a horror movie.  The last thing anyone could ever want is to get “cooked.”

Karen does not live a perfect life.  Her three kids reside with their uncompromising father in Texas.  Money is not ideal.  Dolly is a slob and has also invited her girlfriend to live with them.  Karen can manage with all of this, but when she observes some unconventional activities around the factory she gets up the nerve to head the union for better protection and working conditions.  However, the further she goes looking at files and photos, jotting down notes of what people say and do, plus taking trips to Washington DC, and getting phone calls from attorneys at night, she becomes more and more isolated from Dolly and Drew, along with the rest of her close-knit workers.  Karen is not just risking her job, but everyone else’s jobs and worse her own life.

The attorneys lay it out to the townsfolk and the union of the horrifying statistics that go along with radiation exposure.  The tiniest fraction of a miniscule of exposure to the smallest crumb of chemicals could increase a human’s bearable limit towards radiation and cancer.  The sad irony is that the more that is learned, the more the people of this area smoke and smoke some more.  Granted, this story takes place in the early 1970s, though.    

The company is primarily represented by an intimidating Bruce McGill.  He’s great in everything he does and is worthy of an Oscar nomination somewhere.  M Emmet Walsh has no lines but his presence is enough to shake you; the slimy guy you easily recognize from every other movie you have seen.  While the company’s overbearing intrusion is shown plenty, the script for Silkwood focuses more on how these working people get by.  They are treated unfairly and in dangerous working conditions, but they also know this is the only place that offers steady income in the area.  Without this factory, the whole town would be left in dire straits.  Karen is repeatedly told or implied to leave well enough alone.

Meryl Streep notches another harrowing performance on her resume and bears such a departure from more sophisticated characters found in Sophie’s Choice and Kramer Vs Kramer.  Karen Silkwood is not educated and she bears an unmistakable white trash dialect but she’s also not stupid and the more progress she makes at exposing the plant’s shortcomings the more unfairly she is treated with department transfers and workplace shake ups that she is indirectly blamed for.  Potential threats on her life begin to build, but she only upholds a bravery.  You really observe the strength of Meryl Streep.  She’s at the top of an elite class of actresses at this time that also included Sally Field, Jessica Lange and Glenn Close.

Cher plays Dolly in her first on screen role.  The variety act performer probably subjected herself to a bigger departure than Streep.  She was not a professionally trained actress at the time.  Mike Nichols insisted on no makeup along with her hair unkept and flat, while dressed in green chino pants and baggy sweatshirts.  The new actress carries herself so well without the usual glitz that accompanies her.  Her scenes with Streep are workshops in acting technique. 

Kurt Russell delivers another understated performance.  One of the best actors out there who has never been enough of a critical darling.  Drew is likable and Kurt Russell plays him as a settled in match for Streep’s portrayal of Karen.  Watch how they tangle up in each other’s arms in bed or when he snaps at her as she carries on her crusade while he’d rather things be left alone.  His timing is perfect for the script.

Mike Nichols keeps his film calm, except when the go by the numbers narrative must be disturbed.  A radiation cleanse with high pressure hoses will make you wince.  The factory alarms will terrify you.  Meryl Streep accepts the physical taxations necessary for this setting.  Nichols gets in close with his camera to show how cleansers dressed in scrubs and masks rub Streep down until her skin is a burning red.  I distinctly remember how her right ear appears in this scene, getting flushed by something just short of a fire hose, and the aftermath of her sitting in a chair is so discomforting while a company doctor assures her that there’s not much to worry about as long she brings in her urine samples daily.  In fact, soon all of the employees are tasked with delivering their urine samples.  What kind of place is this?

While Silkwood is based on a true story with a burning question left behind, I do not want to reveal too much.  Many have seen Silkwood since it was released over forty years ago, but as the third act begins, the fallout only becomes more disturbing and Mike Nichols directs a horrifying sequence built primarily on the pealing of old wallpaper.  That’s all I want to suggest. 

Karen Silkwood was a very unlikely crusader.  She probably never envisioned what she would become and what she would fight for.  Yet, she uncovered horrible truths that should not have been occurring under the eye of billion-dollar corporate America.  After watching Silkwood, I can only imagine what else was there to turn over.

NOTE: Another good reason to watch Silkwood is to discover early performances from some amazing character actors who were either just starting their careers or continuing to hide in the crowd. 

Scavenger hunt for Anthony Heald, James Rebhorn, David Strathairn, Ron Silver, Fred Ward, Diana Scarwid, Bill Cobbs, M Emmet Walsh, Craig T Nelson, Tess Harper, Will Patton, Richard Hamilton and Josef Sommer.

WITNESS

By Marc S. Sanders

Recently, I viewed The Last Emperor and one issue I had was that it was challenging to comprehend the in-depth culture of the people it depicted. I really wanted to learn and pass the final exam with flying colors. Sadly, this was an AP class that I just wasn’t qualified for.

Now that I have watched Witness for the first time in many moons, I can honestly say there is an approach where you can get absorbed in a thrilling crime drama while also appreciating the core values of the community the film focuses on, namely the Amish who reside in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s a much easier film to learn from. That’s for sure.

Peter Weir directed Harrison Ford to his only Oscar nomination to date. Ford plays police officer John Book, opposite Kelly McGillis as Rachel Lapp, a widowed Amish mother traveling by train from home to visit family. At a layover stop in Philadelphia, her young son Samuel (Lukas Haas, in one of the best child performances I’ve ever seen, so bright, observant and wide eyed) witnesses a murder committed by a decorated narcotics police officer (Danny Glover). When Book gets wind of who the cop is, all three of their lives are in danger and they are forced to flee and hide back at the Lapps’ home among the Amish community. Book, however, has taken a gun shot wound following an attempt on his life. The Amish see no choice but to heal him, especially at Rachel’s insistence.

Weir, with a marvelous script by Earl & Pamela Wallace and William Kelley, shows the intersection of two extremely different ways of life where an “Englishman’s” belief in aggressive tactics conflicts with the peaceful nature of people looking to never get involved with any other culture. A romance may seem inevitable between the two leads but it’s a difficult one to embrace. It’s truly forbidden, not simply by the elder Amish and their respective code, but both Book and Rachel know it can’t happen either.

Because we are aware of this forbidden romance that seems to break through anyway, there’s a terrific dance scene at night lit only by headlights within the barn. Ford and McGillis really shine through in this scene as it is the first escape from the fear they have for their lives and the code they honor and are reluctant to violate. It’s the best scene in the whole film. It presents possibilities for different people to interact despite the barriers that prevent such feelings and actions. They laugh and swing naturally. It’s a different kind of moment for Harrison Ford, unconventional when compared to a large majority of the action film roles he’s widely recognized for.

With a biting soundtrack of suspense from Maurice Jarre, Peter Weir also focuses on the theme of intrusion. When the climactic and certainly expected shootout sequence on the farm is to begin, it’s frightening and disturbing to actually see men in suits holding shotguns amid an unarmed society. There’s a masterful shot at dawn of the three men marching down the hill quickly approaching the farm. These aren’t cops being covert. These are cops storming a palace of peace and tranquility. It’s hard to watch because of the stain it leaves.

Josef Sommer is the lead dirty cop and he plays a great villain, truly an uncelebrated bad guy character, as the years have gone on. He’s a decorated officer who comes off with an intent that looks like it’s noble, until nobility will no longer work and intimidation has to set in. Weir shoots Sommer at a lower angle to give him an imposing height.

Ford is terrific. You see some of the Han Solo vibe in the character. He’s a tough cop after all, but then he transitions into an awakened man healed by the more primitive methods of the Amish and their drive to simply build and nurture. Another good moment occurs when Book contributes to building a barn with the other men. He shares lemonade with them. Assists with lifting the framework and hammering along. Two communities are no longer clashing. They are now blending.

McGillis is also very good in her role. She is determined to honor her background, but questions if she is capable of sin and defends her position later.

Witness gives an in depth look into the daily life of the Amish, literally how they farm, build and dress. Book wakes up with them before sunrise to milk the cow and he experiences what they endure from pesky tourists looking for photo ops. It makes for some funny moments as well as an opportunity to cheer for the stand he eventually takes.

Another funny moment is when Ford dons the Amish attire for the first time; it doesn’t exactly compliment him well at first. Book’s adaptability to his new community is awkward to grasp.

Witness presents a bird’s eye view into a very private way of living, and I saw a very large picture.

Beyond that, it’s also a crackling, good thriller.