arthurclay

"The Killing Fields" is something I recommend every person watch. The Khmer Rouge were one of the most evil organizations on the face of the Earth and without a doubt committed the worst acts of genocide in my lifetime. Even worse than Bosnia and Rwanda. Original estimates put the death toll at one million, later the number was upgraded to two million. The Khmer Rouge were not sub-human, that implies they had some humanistic qualities. They were in-human. To do those sorts of things you must have no heart, no feelings, and no soul. To them, human life is not cheap. It is worthless. And to allow these vermin to carry out this program of degradation and mass slaughter gives the whole world a black eye, not just America. America was involved in Vietnam, which spilled over into Cambodia. We were "responsible" for that, although it most likely would have happened anyway. To allow it to continue unabated for the next decade was the real crime. I suppose the real question here is "Should America be the world's policeman? And if not, who will be?" The easy answer is "No. The U.N. is the world's policeman." But the U.N. has proved itself time and time again to be unreliable at best and at worst completely useless. I honestly don't know if the U.S. has the right to interfere in foreign affairs. But if the U.S. doesn't do something, no other country will. And these kind of atrocities will continue in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere until the world ends.

This is one hell of a true story. Almost too wicked to be true yet true it is. Sean Penn is electric in At Close Range. Penn plays the role with the attitude of a 16 year old, who thinks he's smarter than his dad. He isn't. This becomes obvious about 1/3 thru the film. Christopher Walken is the Main Attraction here make no mistake about that. God he was a perfect choice and I mean perfect. Walken's Big Brad Whitewood is very clever, alluring, charming, and extremely deadly. Penn's Little Brad is like the apple who fell from the tree and rolled down the hill it was on for a quarter of a mile. Walken has a crew that is capable and proficient. Penn has a crew that couldn't even complete high school. Dim bulbs is the term I would use. Walken's men are the suburban versions of Scorsese's Goodfellas. They don't look like thieves, they look like killers who are also professional thieves. At Close Range starts off looking like your basic crime film and then escalates to Walken and his gang committing acts of unspeakable evil that some criminals wouldn't even contemplate. All of these guys were bad bad bad people and whom no one would be sorry to see go to prison for the rest of their lives. Why Walken has not given an Academy Award nomination for this I am still trying to reason out. Perhaps because he was given one for the Deer Hunter I suppose but still one was in order. When you see Walken's face come out of the dark of night into his house's screen door and see Penn, he doesn't show shock. He doesn't show fear. He doesn't even blink. That is the mark of a true master criminal and/or psychotic. He gives him no emotion whatsoever then slowly the Cheshire Cat smile and invites him right in. You can't buy that kind of sinister inhumanity. You have to be born with it or learn it for yourself. And what Big Brad Whitewood did defies belief. Certainly without question one of the best films of 1986.

But it leaves you asking at the end "So what?" Really, so what? The acting was good, the cast was spectacular, and even the script was fine (even if it was loaded with too many curse words). I just feel that a film should never leave you thinking that question. A film should never ever ever do that to the viewer. Which to me is interesting only from the standpoint that any Mamet film I've ever watched has never done that. Not House of Games, not Heist, not even Spartan. So why this film? I suppose it's due to the fact that the audience wants some kind of justice for these dreary souls and they don't get any. Even Spacey's character, who is a jackass by the way, isn't taken down for his bad managing skills and complete lack of salesmanship knowledge. At least give us Baldwin's character's head or somebody halfway important. The feeling that all of these guys were monumental losers with the possible exception of Pacino's Romo just weighed you down and gave you a mixed feeling of disgust and shame. If this is what being a salesman is cracked up to be, then I'm relieved I have never been one.