|
Israeli film critic Nissim Dayan said in his morning
show on Friday 12.10.2009 that Jodie Foster, who started her career as the
child-prostitute in "Taxi Driver", has graduated and took upon herself the role
of the ruthless avenger played by De Niro in the same Movie. Being the person who
subtitled this Movie when other subtitlers refused to touch it, I remember
that back then I actually rooted for De Niro (who in my opinion hasn't aged
gracefully, see "Stardust"; Incidentally, Jodie Foster's choice of Movies hasn't
been that great lately either.) But it is surprising that the radio show did not
mention the mythological "Death Wish" (I refer here only the first Movie in the
series, the others are not worth mentioning) starring the even more mythological
Charles Bronson, which was one of the first, the strongest and by far the most
controversial of the Movies dealing with Vigilantiism (taking the law into one's
own hands).
So what have we here? Foster plays Erica Bain, a woman who has it all - a
successful radio show, a hunk of a boyfriend (Naveen Andrews, an English actor
of Indian origin who played Sayid the Iraqi in "Lost", this time without the
beard, and by the way, he is seven years younger than Foster) who is in love
with her and is going to marry her. One night, while planning their wedding,
they both go for a walk with their dog, and are brutally attacked by a gang of
criminals. Her boyfriend is murdered, and she is hospitalized for a long time.
The physical wounds heal, but not the mental ones. She decides to buy a gun (for
self-defense, of course) and learn how to use it, while taking the first steps
towards restarting her career, until one day she witnessed the murder of a woman
by her former husband, and when the murdering husband notices her and attacks
her, she shoots him and kills him (just too bad she can't do it before he
actually murders his wife, but of course it does not matte).
But that was just the appetizer, and her next victims are two punks who pick on
subway passengers. All the other passengers flee the car like rabbits, and is
she is the only one who stays put. When the punks attack her, she shoots them
(even though by her own admission, the sight of the gun alone was probably
enough to scare them away) .
The third time she tries to rescue a girl kidnapped by a violent rapist who
imprisoned her in his car. Her intention is supossedly just to get the girl out
of the car, but when the rapist tries to run her over she has no choice but to
kill him, and she does it like a pro. The girl, by the way, returns the favor...
Meanwhile, her path crosses that of the detective who investigates these cases,
who is frustrated by the fact that the law ties his hands and prevents him from
moving against an especially violent and nasty criminal who not only murdered
his wife for agreeing to testify against him, but also got custody of their
daughter. This criminal, who does not even "belong" to her, becomes her fourth
victim.
Just as the incriminating evidence against her pile up and the detective is
about to expose her, the unbelievable happens - one of the men who assaulted her
is arrested. Now she can identify him, have him and his friends arrested and put
an end the bloodshed, but she decides to kill him by herself...
This kind of story usually has two possible endings. Either the detective who
exposes her ignores his personal feelings and arrests her, or he looks the other
way and lets her go on about her business. I will not reveal which option was
chosen by the writers, since they are both equally corny, even though there is
some element of surprise.
If there was an attempt to discuss the issue of vengeance and vigilantism, and
really present the different points of view (note that in her radio show, Erica
rudely silences both sides), I think the attempt was unsuccessful. Just ask
Bernard Goetz. |