by Bennett Campbell Ferguson
In 2006, director Gavin Hood
took to the Kodak stage and accepted an Oscar for third feature film, the crime
drama “Tsotsi.” But though that moment
gave him the clout to join the Hollywood elite, it was also the start of a
downfall that has seen his movies inundated with dispiriting receipts and
dismissive reviews. So yes, that gold
statuette is still his to keep, but over time it’s been clouded by the indifference
of audiences who neither understand nor care about his work.
But that doesn’t matter.
Why? Simply put, because I
believe that Mr. Hood is one of the most intelligent and passionate filmmakers
of our time. And while his work may not
be perfect, I think he offers something better than perfection—a raw,
fearlessly emotional style that leaves you at once bruised and exhilarated. Just watch the opening scene of his 2009 film
“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” in which an enraged boy stabs his father’s killer and
then charges into a forest, while Harry Gregson-Williams’ score stocks the
scene with tragic momentum.
That, in my view, is a perfectly directed moment, though
Mr. Hood had to hone his craft on smaller films before he was ready to execute
it. And just as importantly, he needed
to develop his core theme—the ways in which people become torn between
compassion and violence. It’s an idea
present in “Tsotsi,” in which the title character (a young thug played by Presley
Chweneyagae) shoots a woman, steals her car…and finds a baby in the backseat.
Not an
ideal situation, to be sure, for Tsotsi or the baby. Yet because Tsotsi has become sickeningly corrupt
(bullying and humiliation are the least of his crimes; torture and murder are
the worst), his new companion presents a unique challenge—a call for him to
find some fatherly compassion within himself.
And thus, we’re left wondering: will Tsotsi devote his existence to his
newfound responsibility? Or return his
life of killing for profit?
You might think this choice between selfless love and
vicious violence would be easy to make. But
is it? I’m not so sure. After all, Mr. Hood (who was drafted into the
South African military when he was a teenager) seems to understand the
temptation of brutality better than any other director, as his two science
fiction films, “Wolverine” and the recent “Ender’s Game” (an adaptation of
Orson Scott Card’s novel) suggest. The
titular boy soldier of “Ender,” for instance, hates inflicting pain on others, yet
relishes the surge of strategizing, both on the battlefield and amongst his
troops. In fact, you find yourself
getting caught up in the dark thrill of wartime leadership with him…until Mr.
Hood drops the bomb and reveals the true cost of such intoxication. And suddenly, you’re not immersed in escapism
anymore—you’re caught in a nightmare.
But why, you may ask, should you endure such horror? It’s a fair question, though I think it’s
somewhat irrelevant since Mr. Hood clearly understands that sober meaning is
just a pain without some grandly romantic entertainment to wash it down. And in accordance, he’s allowed his films to
become awash with magnificent images—Wolverine standing atop a nuclear reactor
as the Sun rises; Ender drifting through zero gravity; and Tsotsi raising his
hands to surrender, looking almost like Jesus.
Because like all of Mr. Hood’s heroes, he chooses redemption, even if it
means bearing the shame of his crimes.
I have
to wonder if such redemption is in store for Mr. Hood. In a perfect world, he would be allowed to direct
whatever he wanted, but I’m worried that his increasingly mushy reputation will
hamper his career prospects. Yes, his powerfully
shadowy compositions and impassioned anger at corruption and cruelty have made
him a worthy blockbuster auteur (in the vein of Christopher Nolan or Bryan
Singer). But the fact remains that he
will need the support of attentive and thoughtful moviegoers if he’s to
continue directing thematically ambitious and emotionally shattering films like
“Ender.”
And
that, above all, is why I ask you to watch one of Gavin Hood’s films and really
look at its images and listen to its ideas.
Because I believe that while you may not come to love “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”
and “Ender’s Game” (by far his best works) as I do, you will likely find yourself
drawn in, overwhelmed but unable to look away until the final scene. “I’ll find my own way,” Hugh Jackman says as “Wolverine”
concludes. If you make it that far, you
may just realize that Mr. Hood deserves a chance to find his own way too.
No comments:
Post a Comment